Below, you can find a couple of Advanced Writing Techniques, Poetic and Rhetorical Devices to be exact.

This post contains some examples and a brief explanation, however, you can check the videos for a more detailed analysis.


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Basic Descriptive Writing

Advanced Descriptive Writing


Advanced Writing Techniques – Narrative Devices

POETIC DEVICES

Cacophony / Dissonance 

  • Creating harsh and contrasting sounds to evoke a feeling of noise or chaos.

E.g. The girls chucked a can of coke down a well; it clanked and banged as it bumped into the bricks on its way down. 

E.g. The geese honked and squawked as they squelched towards us through the bog, flapping their wings and slushing mud

Euphony

  • Creating harmonious sounds to evoke a feeling of peace or beauty.

E.g. The lilting harp soothed our ears, and soon everyone was yawning and sighing, ready for sleep

E.g. The lake was low, and light lept along its banks, signalling the morning sunrise.

Kenning 

  • Giving a name that connotes action/behaviour to an object or person, always ends in -er.

E.g. That little shoelace pouncer, that cream stealer, that night-mewing tight ripper is now asleep, purring contentedly on my lap (cat). 
E.g. To make it seem a bit scarier, the boy decided to call his toy sword ‘Death Bringer’.

Find an in-depth explanation of Poetic Devices in the video below:

 


RHETORICAL DEVICES:

Litotes (Understatement) 

  • Downplaying the importance or drama of something by using tentative negative phrasing or a double negative. 
  • A type of verbal irony.

E.g. That was no ordinary school day. 

       Double detention wasn’t too bad in the end. 

       The weather was far from ideal. 

Antithesis 

  • Two opposite phrases or ideas placed directly next to each other.

E.g. I love doughnuts, but I hate cookies. 

     The girl sang beautifully but her small voice was drowned out by shouts and  applause.

Epizeuxis 

  • Direct repetition of a word several times for effect.

E.g. No, no, no! 

       Get out- out! 

Anacoluthon 

  • Disrupting the grammatical flow of the sentence for effect. 

E.g. That happened a long time ago, before he was ⎼ well, I’m getting ahead of myself. 

As I was saying – oh wait, I forgot my point. 

Periphrasis / Euphuistic Diction

  • A long winded way of saying something, using more words than necessary.

E.g. In my opinion, I think that what we really should be doing is maybe fire someone. The homework feedback said ‘there is room for improvement and to focus more on the question and task at hand’ but what the teacher really meant was ‘It’s a D’.

Find an in-depth explanation of Rhetorical Devices in the video below:


Thanks for reading! If you’re interested in our other English Language and Literature courses, you can find them on the links below:

All English Language and Literature courses

Basic Descriptive Writing

Advanced Descriptive Writing