Tropes vs. Rhetorical Figures

In poetry, there are two branches of figures of speech: rhetorical figures and tropes. From the Greek tropos, meaning "turn, direction, way," tropes twist or play on the meanings of words and phrases. On the other hand, rhetorical devices are more straight forward. While they do not play on the meanings of words, they do play on the sounds. The goal of the rhetorical device is to persuade one towards a particular point of view or emotion; therefore, sentences employing rhetorical figures are used to provoke a emotion and/or action.

Here's a look at the most commonly used figures of speech:

Figures of Speech

• Rhetorical figures

• alliteration - two or more words in close proximity begin with the same sound. (example: He's one cool cat).
• assonance - two or more words in close proximity contain the same vowel sounds.(example: He's one cool dude).
• consonance - two or more words in close proximity that end in the same sound. (example: He struck a streak of bad luck).
• onomatopoeia - The formation of a word from a sound associated with what is named. The word tries to imitate the sound. (example: "boom" "sizzle" "cuckoo")
• apostrophe - An address to an absent person or an abstract element. (example: "o, wind!" or "O western wind, when wilt thou blow/ That the small rain down can rain?")
• pun - A play on words by exploiting the different possible meanings of a word. (example: "Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight" [grave here means "serious" but also hints to those who are marked for death.]).

• Tropes

• metaphor - comparison between two seemingly unlike things that have something important in common. (example: He was a lion in battle).
• simile - comparison between two unlike things using the words "like" or "as." (example: Her eyes are like diamonds.)
• metonymy - An idea or word is substituted with a concept closely associated with it. (example: We use the term "Hollywood" when referring to the U.S. cinema industry.)
• synecdoche - Parts of something represent a whole. (example: "All hands on deck." 
• personification - Giving inanimate objects human-like qualities. (example: "The leaves danced in the wind.")

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