If registers of speech were dress codes, I’d clothe anadiplosis in “poetic-formal.” Poetic-formal because anadiplosis is stately—stately, in part, because it forces the prose to slow down. Back to the ...

Last week we took up these five simple rhetorical devices for attracting and holding the attention of readers or listeners: (1) repetition; (2) serial enumeration; (3) cumulation; (4) allusion; and (5 ...

Rhetoric may seem abstract and old-fashioned until you realize that all your favorite rhymes and tunes and lines depend on it. Have you ever asked yourself why Obama is so rousing at a rally? It’s ...

Repetition can be the most underrated rhetorical device in TV, film and literature. Things like metonymy and symbolism are far sexier compared to something as mundane as what basically amounts to “the ...