Rhetorical Devices Project

Helps to understand literary terms.

1. By: Caitlyn Maher Literary and Rhetorical Devices Project

2. Apostrophe A figure of speech that directly addresses an absent or imaginary person or a personified abstraction, such as liberty or love. “YOU don't know about me without you have read a book by the name of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer; but that ain't no matter .” This is an apostrophe because the author is talking to an imaginary person. The author doesn’t say anyone specific about who he is talking to except for the use of the word YOU.

3. How to remember Remember it like an imaginary friend. It’s like the author is talking to someone that doesn’t exist.

4. Metonymy Greek meaning “substitute name,” metonymy is when the name of one object is substituted for that of another closely associated with it. “…and a little later I participated in that  delayed Teutonic migration  known as the Great War”(3). Gatsby substitutes “the Great War” by saying it was the “delayed Teutonic migration

5. How to Remember List frequently used metonymies: Examples: “I will give you my word” “The pen is mightier than the sword” “The White House decided” rather than “The President decided”

6. Conceit Conceit is a figure of speech in which two vastly different objects are likened together with the help of similes or metaphors . The comparison between hair and vines have nothing to do with each other until you describe what his hair looked like and compared them. He was most fifty, and he looked it. His hair was long and tangled and greasy, and hung down, and you could see his eyes shining through like he was behind vines . From The Adventures of Huckle berry Finn by Mark Twain.

7. How to remember Think of conceits that you would remember. Compare two things that have nothing to do with each other and see how they are similar. Share with the class. Ex. Life is like a box of chocolates. Ex. High s chool is like a spork . It’s a crappy spoon and a crappy fork, and in the end its useless.