Rhetoric & Style

Literary Devices

June 2026 9 devices

Device	Greek	Etymology	Definition	Example	Effect	Family
Enthymeme	ἐνθύμημα	en (in) + thymos (mind) — an argument held in the mind	A syllogism with one premise left unstated, to be supplied by the audience from shared belief or common assumption	“We cannot trust him — he lied before.” (Unstated: those who have lied before cannot be trusted.)	Creates complicity — the audience completes the argument themselves, making it feel self-evident rather than imposed	Logic
Diacope	διακοπή	dia (through) + koptein (to cut) — to cut through	Repetition of a word or phrase with one or more intervening words placed between its two occurrences	“Bond. James Bond.” / “To be, or not to be, that is the question.” (Shakespeare, Hamlet)	The gap between repetitions creates suspense; the return of the word lands harder than a direct echo	Repetition
Epizeuxis	ἐπίζευξις	epi (upon) + zeuxis (a yoking) — immediate yoking together	Repetition of a word or phrase in immediate succession, with no words intervening between the occurrences	“The horror! The horror!” (Conrad, Heart of Darkness) / “Words, words, words.” (Shakespeare, Hamlet)	Urgency and obsession — the word becomes a drumbeat, conveying an emotion too large for a single utterance	Repetition
Hysteron Proteron	ὕστερον πρότερον	hysteron (later) + proteron (earlier) — the later put before the earlier	Logical or temporal reversal: stating the later event before the earlier in an expression or argument	“Put on your shoes and socks.” / “Let us die, and rush into the thick of the fight.” (Virgil, Aeneid)	Foregrounds the final outcome or consequence, making it feel more vivid; can be darkly comic, poetically charged, or urgently emphatic	Logic
Hyperbaton	ὑπερβατόν	hyper (over) + bainein (to step) — to step over	Any intentional departure from standard syntactic word order; the umbrella term covering most figures of displacement and inversion	“Object there is none.” (Poe, The Tell-Tale Heart) / “This I must see.” / “Him I fear.”	The displaced element receives unexpected emphasis from its unusual position; creates rhetorical elevation and an air of formal artifice	Syntax
Anastrophe	ἀναστροφή	ana (back) + strephein (to turn) — to turn back	Inversion of the customary sequence of words within a clause, especially verb-before-subject or adjective-after-noun	“Speak the truth you must.” / “Into the forest deep they walked.” / “Good at this she was not.”	Creates an archaic or elevated register; the unexpected order forces a beat of attention onto the displaced term	Syntax
Hendiadys	ἓν διὰ δυοῖν	hen (one) + dia (through) + dyoin (two) — one thing through two	Expressing one complex idea through two coordinated nouns or adjectives, where one would normally modify the other	“Sound and fury” (= furious sound) (Shakespeare, Macbeth) / “bread and salt” (= salted bread) / “nice and warm” (= nicely warm)	Spreads emphasis equally across both terms simultaneously, producing a productive ambiguity that enriches rather than confuses meaning	Syntax
Polysyndeton	πολυσύνδετον	polys (many) + syndeton (bound together) — many bonds	Deliberate use of multiple conjunctions in close succession, well beyond what grammar or convention requires	“We shall fight on the beaches, and on the landing grounds, and in the fields, and in the streets, and in the hills.” (Churchill)	Accumulative and relentless — each addition feels inevitable; creates a sense of enumeration without end, overwhelming by sheer addition	Conjunction
Asyndeton	ἀσύνδετον	a (without) + syndeton (bound together) — without bonds	Deliberate omission of conjunctions between coordinated clauses, phrases, or words that would ordinarily be connected	“I came, I saw, I conquered.” (Caesar, Veni, vidi, vici) / “Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears.”	Speed, compression, decisiveness — each item stands alone as if self-sufficient; the list moves fast and feels authoritative	Conjunction

No devices match.