alliteration
the repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words
ex: peter piper picked a peck of pickled peppers
allusion
brief reference to a person, event, or place (real or fictitious) or to a work of art
ex: "let both sides unite to heed in all corners of the earth the command of Isaiah" (Isaiah in the Bible)
anaphora
the repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive/consecutive phrases
ex: "... not as a call to bear arms, though arms we need-- not as a call to battle, though embattled we are..." ("not")
antimetabole
the repetition of words in reverse order
ex: "ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country
antithesis
contrast of ideas/words in a parallel construction
ex: "if a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot help the few who are rich" (many/few & poor/rich)
archaic diction
old fashioned words
ex: "beliefs for which our forebears fought" (forebears)
asyndeton
omission of conjunctions between coordinate phrases, clauses, or words
"we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship..." (taking out the "and")
cumulative sentence
sentence that completes the main idea at the beginning of the sentence and then builds and adds on
hortative sentence
sentence that exhorts, urges, entreats, implores, or calls to action
ex: "let both sides explore what problems unite us instead of belaboring those problems that divide us
imperative sentence
sentence used to command
ex: "ask not what America can do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man
inversion
Inverted order of words in a sentence
ex: "united there is little we cannot do... divided there is little we can do
juxtaposition
placement of 2 things closely together to emphasize similarities or differences
ex: "the nations of asia and africa are moving at jet-like speed toward gaining political independence, but we still creep at horse and buggy pace toward gaining a cup of coff
metaphor
figure of speech that compares two things without using like or as
ex: "and if a beachhead of cooperation may push back the jungle of suspicion...
oxymoron
a paradox made up of two seemingly contradictory words
ex: "peaceful revolution
parallelism
similarity of structure in a pair or series of related words, phrases, or clauses
ex: "let both sides explore... let both sides, for the first time formulate serious and precise proposals... let both sides seek to invoke..." ("let both sides")
periodic sentence
sentence whose main clause is withheld until the end
personification
giving human qualities to non-human things
rhetorical question
figure of speech in form of a question posed for rhetorical effect rather than an answer
synecdoche
figure of speech that uses a part to represent the whole
ex: "in your hands, my fellow citizens, more than mine, will rest the final success or failure of our course
zeugma
use of 2 different words in a gramatically similar way that produces diff often incongruous meanings
ex: "when you open a book, you open your mind
abstract diction
words that express ideas or concepts as opposed to concrete details (love, loyalty, freedom etc)
declarative sentence
a sentence that makes a statement/declaration or states a fact.
in jfk it's used to explain who he is and introduce him