Rhetorical literary terms

Logos

The means of persuasion by logical proof

Ethos

A persuasive appeal based on the projected character of the speaker or narrator.

Pathos

persuading by appealing to the reader's emotions

Alliteration

the occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words.

Allusion

A reference to a well-known person, place, event, literary work, or work of art

Anaphora

the repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses

Antithesis

the direct opposite, a sharp contrast

Apostrophe

A figure of speech that directly addresses an absent or imaginary person or a personified abstraction, such as liberty or love.

Colloquialism

a word or phrase that is not formal or literary, typically one used in ordinary or familiar conversation.

Connotation

an idea or feeling that a word invokes in addition to its literal or primary meaning.

Denotation

The dictionary definition of a word; the direct and specific meaning

Diction

A writer's or speaker's choice of words

Epistrophe

the repetition of a word at the end of successive clauses or sentences

Euphemism

An indirect, less offensive way of saying something that is considered unpleasant

exemplum

an example or model, especially a moralizing or illustrative story.

Hyperbole

exaggeration

Imagery

Description that appeals to the senses (sight, sound, smell, touch, taste)

Irony

the use of words to convey a meaning that is the opposite of its literal meaning

Mesodiplosis

Repetition of the same word or words in the middle of successive sentences.

Metaphor

A comparison without using like or ask

Mood

Feeling or atmosphere that a writer creates for the reader

Oxymoron

A figure of speech that combines opposite or contradictory terms in a brief phrase.

Parallelism

similarity of structure in a pair or series of related words, phrases, or clauses

Personification

A figure of speech in which an object or animal is given human feelings, thoughts, or attitudes

rhetorical question

A question asked merely for rhetorical effect and not requiring an answer

Simile

A comparison using "like" or "as

Tone

Attitude a writer takes toward the audience, a subject, or a character