Stylish Schemes

So you've probably heard of alliteration and parallelism. But what about chiasmus (chiasmi?) and epistrophes?

In the Challenge writing program, the Lost Tools of Writing, there are three steps to writing an essay:
1. Invention
2. Arrangement
3. Elocution

There are two more steps to make up the full 5 Canons of Rhetoric (Memory and Delivery) but we are focusing here on the writing part, the first three steps only.

So the 3rd step is elocution and that is when we get to add our personal style to the essay. Some of the styles we can add to an essay are called schemes and tropes.
Schemes are an appeal to the senses.

Tropes are an appeal to the imagination and the heart.

Here are common schemes and an example for each:

alliteration: repetition of letters. He used a silly, sneaky scheme.

parallelism: repetition of patterns. She carefully planned, faithfully executed, and                graciously won.

chiasmus: repetition of a group of words in reverse order.  Ask not what your country can do  for you, but what you can do for your country.

epistrophe: repetition of phrases/words at end of sentence. After the loss, she cried and    cried.

anaphora: repetition of phrases/words at beginning of sentence. How many times? How  many times will I have to repeat myself?

Why not try to use one of these schemes in your next written communication today...even if it's just an email :)