Catacosmesis
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Catacosmesis
Catacosmesis is the Greek word for "to set in order". In rhetoric, it refers to a device in which there is a descending order of words or phrases, either in order of importance, dignity or time, and either abrupt or gradual. It is considered to be synonymous with anticlimax. The opposite of catacosmesis is auxesis when used to refer to climax, wherein a series of clauses has increasing, rather than decreasing, force. Catacosmesis is distinct from bathos because the former is a relative term, requiring that a phrase or word is proceeded by something greater in dignity, time, or some other metric, whereas bathos may apply to an entire work, text, or speech, with no major changes in dignity. An example of catacosmesis is: Here, the verbs "die", "faint", and "fail" are arranged such that the most important of them (die) is first and the least important (fail) last. Another example of catacosmesis is the Yale University motto: Here, the nouns "God", "country", and "Yale" are o ...
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Rhetorical Device
In rhetoric, a rhetorical device, persuasive device, or stylistic device is a technique that an author or speaker uses to convey to the listener or reader a meaning with the goal of persuading them towards considering a topic from a perspective, using language designed to encourage or provoke an emotional display of a given perspective or action. They seek to make a position or argument more compelling than it would otherwise be. Sonic devices Sonic devices depend on sound. Sonic rhetoric is used as a clearer or swifter way of communicating content in an understandable way. Sonic rhetoric delivers messages to the reader or listener by prompting a certain reaction through auditory perception. Alliteration Alliteration is the repetition of the sound of an initial consonant or consonant cluster in subsequent syllables. Assonance Assonance is the repetition of similar vowel sounds across neighbouring words. Consonance Consonance is the repetition of consonant sounds acro ...
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Auxesis (figure Of Speech)
Auxesis (, ''aúxēsis'') is the Greek word for "growth" or "increase". In rhetoric, it refers to varying forms of increase: * hyperbole (overstatement): intentionally overstating a point, its importance, or its significance''OED'' 1st edition * climax (ascending series): a series of clauses of increasing forceGideon O. Burton, Brigham Young University ''Silva Rhetoricae''
* amplification (rhetorical increase): extension or exaggerated, needless repetition of arguments to emphasize the point


See also

* Anticlimax, the opposite of auxesis in its climactic sen ...
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Climax (rhetoric)
In rhetoric, a climax (, ''klîmax'',  "staircase" or "ladder") is a figure of speech in which words, phrases, or clauses are arranged in order of increasing importance. In its use with clauses, it is also sometimes known as auxesis ( "growth"). Usage Climax is frequently used in persuasion (particularly advertising) to create false dilemmas and to focus attention on the positive aspects of the subject at hand. The initial inferior options make the final term seem still better by comparison than it would appear in isolation: "X is good, Y is better, Z is best" is a standard format. It can also be used in reverse to make the initial term seem better by comparison: "A isn't perfect but B is worse and C is worst." Examples * From the '' First Letter to the Corinthians'': "There are three things that will endure: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love." * George Wald from ''A Generation in Search of a Future'': "I think we've reached a point of great decis ...
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Phrase
In grammar, a phrasecalled expression in some contextsis a group of words or singular word acting as a grammatical unit. For instance, the English language, English expression "the very happy squirrel" is a noun phrase which contains the adjective phrase "very happy". Phrases can consist of a single word or a complete sentence. In theoretical linguistics, phrases are often analyzed as units of syntactic structure such as a Constituent (linguistics), constituent. There is a difference between the common use of the term ''phrase'' and its technical use in linguistics. In common usage, a phrase is usually a group of words with some special idiomatic meaning or other significance, such as "all rights reserved", "economical with the truth", "kick the bucket", and the like. It may be a euphemism, a saying or proverb, a fixed expression, a figure of speech, etc.. In linguistics, these are known as phrasemes. In theories of syntax, a phrase is any group of words, or sometimes a single w ...
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Anticlimax (narrative)
The climax () or turning point of a narrative work is its point of highest tension and drama, or it is the time when the action starts during which the solution is given. The climax of a story is a literary element. Anticlimax An anticlimax is a disappointing event after events that were full of excitement. See also * Dramatic structure Story structure or narrative structure is the recognizable or comprehensible way in which a narrative's different elements are unified, including in a particularly chosen order and sometimes specifically referring to the ordering of the plot: ... * Literary element * Climax as a rhetorical device References Plot (narrative) {{Lit-stub ...
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Bathos
Bathos ( ;''Oxford English Dictionary'', 1st ed. "bathos, ''n.'' Oxford University Press (Oxford), 1885. ,  "depth") is a literary term, first used in this sense in Alexander Pope's 1727 essay " Peri Bathous", to describe an amusingly failed attempt at presenting artistic greatness. ''Bathos'' has come to refer to rhetorical anticlimax, an abrupt transition from a lofty style or grand topic to a common or vulgar one, occurring either accidentally (through artistic ineptitude) or intentionally (for comic effect). Intentional bathos appears in satirical genres such as burlesque and mock epic. "Bathos" or "bathetic" is also used for similar effects in other branches of the arts, such as musical passages marked '' ridicolosamente''. In film, bathos may appear in a contrast cut intended for comic relief or be produced by an accidental jump cut. Alexander Pope's definition ''The Art of Sinking in Poetry'' As a term for the combination of the very high with the v ...
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Percy Bysshe Shelley
Percy Bysshe Shelley ( ; 4 August 1792 – 8 July 1822) was an English writer who is considered one of the major English Romantic poets. A radical in his poetry as well as in his political and social views, Shelley did not achieve fame during his lifetime, but recognition of his achievements in poetry grew steadily following his death, and he became an important influence on subsequent generations of poets, including Robert Browning, Algernon Charles Swinburne, Thomas Hardy, and W. B. Yeats. American literary critic Harold Bloom describes him as "a superb craftsman, a lyric poet without rival, and surely one of the most advanced sceptical intellects ever to write a poem." Shelley's reputation fluctuated during the 20th century, but since the 1960s he has achieved increasing critical acclaim for the sweeping momentum of his poetic imagery, his mastery of genres and verse forms, and the complex interplay of sceptical, idealist, and materialist ideas in his work. Among his bes ...
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Yale University
Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, and one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Yale was established as the Collegiate School in 1701 by Congregationalism in the United States, Congregationalist clergy of the Connecticut Colony. Originally restricted to instructing ministers in theology and sacred languages, the school's curriculum expanded, incorporating humanities and sciences by the time of the American Revolution. In the 19th century, the college expanded into graduate and professional instruction, awarding the first Doctor of Philosophy, PhD in the United States in 1861 and organizing as a university in 1887. Yale's faculty and student populations grew rapidly after 1890 due to the expansion of the physical campus and its scientif ...
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Woody Allen
Heywood Allen (born Allan Stewart Konigsberg; November 30, 1935) is an American filmmaker, actor, and comedian whose career spans more than six decades. Allen has received many List of awards and nominations received by Woody Allen, accolades, including the most nominations (16) for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. He has won four Academy Awards, ten British Academy Film Awards, BAFTA Awards, two Golden Globe Awards and a Grammy Award, as well as nominations for a Primetime Emmy Award, Emmy Award and a Tony Award. Allen was awarded an Golden Lion, Honorary Golden Lion in 1995, the BAFTA Fellowship in 1997, an Palme d'Or, Honorary Palme d'Or in 2002, and the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award in 2014. Two of his films have been inducted into the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress. Allen began his career writing material for television in the 1950s, alongside Mel Brooks, Carl Reiner, Larry Gelbart, and Neil Simon. He also published several books o ...
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Napoleon Dynamite
''Napoleon Dynamite'' is a 2004 American Independent film, independent Coming-of-age story, coming-of-age comedy film produced by Jeremy Coon, Chris Wyatt (producer), Chris Wyatt and Sean C. Covel (producer), Sean Covel, written by Jared and Jerusha Hess and directed by Jared Hess. The film stars Jon Heder in the role of the titular character, a nerdy high-school student who deals with several dilemmas: befriending an immigrant who wants to be class president, awkwardly pursuing a romance with a fellow student and living with his quirky family. The film was Hess's first full-length movie and is partially adapted from his earlier short film, ''Peluca'' (2002). ''Napoleon Dynamite'' was acquired at the Sundance Film Festival by Fox Searchlight Pictures, which partnered with Paramount Pictures and MTV Films for the release. It was filmed at Preston High School (Idaho) and different areas in Franklin County, Idaho, in the summer of 2003. It debuted at the Sundance Film Festival in ...
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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 writers use to inform, persuade, and motivate their audiences. Rhetoric also provides heuristics for understanding, discovering, and developing arguments for particular situations. Aristotle defined rhetoric as "the faculty of observing in any given case the available means of persuasion", and since mastery of the art was necessary for victory in a case at law, for passage of proposals in the assembly, or for fame as a speaker in civic ceremonies, he called it "a combination of the science of logic and of the ethical branch of politics". Aristotle also identified three persuasive audience appeals: logos, pathos, and ethos. The five canons of rhetoric, or phases of developing a persuasive speech, were first codified in classical Rome: i ...
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