RHETORIC DEVICES
Simile(明喻): A simile makes a comparison between two unlike things having at least one quality or characteristic in common. The two things compared must be dissimilar and the basis of resemblance is usually an abstract quality. The vehicle is almost always introduced by the word "like" or "as". " O my love's like a red,red rose.——Robert Burns"
Metaphor（暗喻）: A metaphor, like a simile, also makes a comparison between two unlike things, but the comparison is implied rather than stated. Some say it the substitution of one thing for another, or the identification of two things from different ranges of thought. Contrary to a simile in which the resemblance between two unlike things is clearly stated, in a metaphor nothing is mentioned. It is often loosely defined as "an implied comparison", " a simile without 'like' or 'as'".Metaphor is considered the most important and basic poetic figure and also the commonest the most beautiful.
"the picture of those poor people's live was carved so sharply in his heart that he could never forget it."
"there was a medieval magnificence about the big dining-hall"
Metonymy(借喻): Metonymy is a figure of speech used in rhetoric in which a thing or concept is not called by its own name, but by the name of something intimately associated with that thing or concept.
"sword and cross in hand, the European conquerors fell upon the Americas."
"when the war was over, he laid down the sword and took up the pen."
Onomatopoeia（拟声）:Onomatopoeia is a word that imitates or suggests the source of the sound that it describes.
"creak, squeak, rumble, grunt, sigh, groan"
Personification（拟人）:A description of an object as being a living person or animal as in."The sun shone brightly down on me as if she were shining for me alone"
Hyperbole（夸张）:Hyperbole is any rhetorical device or figure of speech that employs exaggeration. It may be used to evoke strong feelings or to create a strong impression, but is not meant to be taken literally. "More haste,less speed."
Antithesis（对偶，对仗）:Antithesis is a counter-proposition and denotes a direct contrast to the original proposition. In setting the opposite, an individual brings out of a contrast in the meaning by an obvious contrast in the expression.
Irony（反讽）: A sense of speech in which the intended meaning of the words used the direct opposite of the usual sense.
Comparism(比较):relation based on similarities
Contrast（对比）: Contrast refers to a type of distinction made between two (sometimes more) concepts. it refer to the differences
Synecdoche(提喻): when a part is substituted for the whole or the whole is substituted for a part, synecdoche is applied.
"the farms were short of hands during the harvest season"
"he had to earn his daily bread by doing odd jobs."
Euphemism（委婉语）: it is the substitution of a mild or vague expression for a harsh or unpleasant one.
"to die to pass away, to leave us, one's heart has stopped beating,gone
old people senior citizens"
Alliteration（头韵）: it refers to the appearance of the same initial consonant sound in two or more words, such as "proud as a peacock " and "blind as a bat " alliteration is often used in poetry to give emphasis to words that are related in meaning:
"wherefore feed, and clothe, and save,
from the cradle to the grave,
those ungrateful drones who would
Drain your sweat——nay,drink yoiur blood?" ——Percy Bysshe Shelley
Parallelism:Parallelism means giving two or more parts of the sentences a similar form so as to give the whole a definite pattern.
It must not be the whole of the rhetoric devices. These just the devices I learned and summerized here . I'm welcome some of you supplement and i will add some others to it too.
[ 此贴被蔚蓝幽雪在2010-10-08 22:01重新编辑 ]
