Rhetorical device - Definition and Overview

A rhetorical device is a technique, sometimes called a resource of language, used by an author or speaker to induce an emotional response. These emotional responses are central to the meaning of the work or speech, and should also get get the listener (or reader's) attention.

A partial list of rhetorical devices

• Anacoluthon, an abrupt change in sentence structure
• Analogy
• Diction, the choice of words based on their connotation and precise meaning
• Epithet
• Imagery, also known as detail
• Metaphor
• Parallelism
• Organization, the purposeful division of a work into components, either explicitly or subtly
• Rhetorical question
• Simile
• Symbolism, in which a (usually recurrent) object or character represents an idea.
• Syntax, also known as sentence structure

Additional Information

Online Resource of Rhetorical Devices (http://humanities.byu.edu/rhetoric/silva.htm) Handbook of rhetorical devices (http://www.virtualsalt.com/rhetoric.htm)

This category comprises articles pertaining to narratology, the study of narrative and narrative structure.