In
rhetoric
Rhetoric is the art of persuasion. It is one of the three ancient arts of discourse ( trivium) along with grammar and logic/ dialectic. As an academic discipline within the humanities, rhetoric aims to study the techniques that speakers or w ...
, a scheme is a type of
figure of speech
A figure of speech or rhetorical figure is a word or phrase that intentionally deviates from straightforward language use or Denotation, literal meaning to produce a rhetorical or intensified effect (emotionally, aesthetically, intellectually, et ...
that relies on the structure of the sentence, unlike the
trope, which plays with the meanings of words.
[ (Scheme, in poetry end rhetorics) ]
A single phrase may involve both a trope and a scheme, e.g., may use both
alliteration
Alliteration is the repetition of syllable-initial consonant sounds between nearby words, or of syllable-initial vowels if the syllables in question do not start with a consonant. It is often used as a literary device. A common example is " Pe ...
and
allegory
As a List of narrative techniques, literary device or artistic form, an allegory is a wikt:narrative, narrative or visual representation in which a character, place, or event can be interpreted to represent a meaning with moral or political signi ...
.
Structures of balance
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Parallelism – The use of similar structures in two or more clauses
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Isocolon – Use of parallel structures of the same length in successive clauses
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Tricolon – Use of three parallel structures of the same length in independent clauses and of increasing power
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Antithesis
Antithesis (: antitheses; Greek for "setting opposite", from "against" and "placing") is used in writing or speech either as a proposition that contrasts with or reverses some previously mentioned proposition, or when two opposites are introd ...
– The juxtaposition of opposing or contrasting ideas
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Climax – The arrangement of words in order of increasing importance
Changes in word order
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Anastrophe – Inversion of the usual word order
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Parenthesis
A bracket is either of two tall fore- or back-facing punctuation marks commonly used to isolate a segment of text or data from its surroundings. They come in four main pairs of shapes, as given in the box to the right, which also gives their n ...
– Insertion of a clause or sentence in a place where it interrupts the natural flow of the sentence
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Apposition – The placing of two elements side by side, in which the second defines the first
Omission
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Ellipsis
The ellipsis (, plural ellipses; from , , ), rendered , alternatively described as suspension points/dots, points/periods of ellipsis, or ellipsis points, or colloquially, dot-dot-dot,. According to Toner it is difficult to establish when t ...
– Omission of words
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Asyndeton
Asyndeton (, ; from the , sometimes called asyndetism) is a literary scheme in which one or several grammatical conjunction, conjunctions are deliberately omitted from a series of related clauses. Examples include ''veni, vidi, vici'' and its Engl ...
– Omission of conjunctions between related clauses
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Brachylogia – Omission of conjunctions between a series of words
Repetition
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Alliteration
Alliteration is the repetition of syllable-initial consonant sounds between nearby words, or of syllable-initial vowels if the syllables in question do not start with a consonant. It is often used as a literary device. A common example is " Pe ...
– A series of words that begin with the same letter or sound alike
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Anaphora – The repetition of the same word or group of words at the beginning of successive clauses
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Anadiplosis
Anadiplosis ( ; , ''anadíplōsis'', "a doubling, folding up") is the repetition of the last word of a preceding clause. The word is used at the end of a sentence and then used again at the beginning of the next sentence, often to create climax.
E ...
– Repetition of a word at the end of a clause at the beginning of another
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Antanaclasis – Repetition of a word in two different senses
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Antimetabole – Repetition of words in successive clauses, in reverse order
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Assonance – The repetition of vowel sounds, most commonly within a short passage of verse
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Asyndeton
Asyndeton (, ; from the , sometimes called asyndetism) is a literary scheme in which one or several grammatical conjunction, conjunctions are deliberately omitted from a series of related clauses. Examples include ''veni, vidi, vici'' and its Engl ...
– Lack of conjunctions
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Chiasmus – Reversal of grammatical structures in successive clauses
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Climax – Repetition of the scheme anadiplosis at least three times, with the elements arranged in an order of increasing importance
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Epanalepsis – Repetition of the initial word or words of a clause or sentence at the end of the clause or sentence
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Epistrophe – The counterpart of anaphora
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Consonance – The repetition of consonant sounds without the repetition of the vowel sounds
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Polyptoton – Repetition of words derived from the same root
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Polysyndeton – Repetition of conjunctions
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Symploce – Combination of anaphora and epistrophe
See also
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Trope (linguistics)
*''
The Elements of Eloquence''
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Glossary of rhetorical terms
References
External links
Schemesfrom ''Silva Rhetoricae''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Scheme (Linguistics)
Figures of speech
Rhetoric