Rhetorical Devices

A Thread

A great writer is one who understands, uses and makes an arsenal of rhetorical devices their own.

And yet you rarely hear any talk of what these are & how they work.

Let’s fix that

𝗔𝗹𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻

The stringing together of several word that begin with same letter.

‘Old Marley was as dead as a door nail’ makes zero sense but any phrase that alliterates tends to be memorable and believable.

Power to the people. Burn your bra. Etc.

𝗣𝗼𝗹𝘆𝗽𝘁𝗼𝘁𝗼𝗻

The repeated use of one word in different grammatical forms.

The song title ‘Please Please Me’ by The Beatles is an example of this.

That’s Please (adverb) followed by please (verb)

Shakespeare likes this device to: ‘the rain it raineth every day

𝗔𝗻𝘁𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘀𝗶𝘀

First you mention one thing: then you mention another.

Oscar Wilde used this a lot. e.g:

‘The well-bred contradict other people. The wise contradict themselves.’

Successful twitter gurus do this constantly. Obscure twitter gurus do this rarely.

𝗠𝗲𝗿𝗶𝘀

When you name the parts of a thing rather than just say the whole. Redundant words for the sake of words but effective.

Searching high and low
Lock, stock and barrel.

Lawyers use merisms constantly and not just when drafting a Last will and testament