Most lists of rhetorical devices read like a Greek vocabulary quiz: forty terms, one dictionary definition each, no explanation of why the example line works or when you would reach for the device yourself.
This guide is organized as a working reference instead. For each device you get a plain-English definition, two or three famous examples, and a note on what to steal — because a rhetorical device is not trivia, it's a reusable sentence structure. Speechwriters, copywriters, and lyricists have been borrowing these exact patterns for over two thousand years. They are the original swipe file.
What is a rhetorical device?
A rhetorical device is a deliberate pattern of language used to persuade, emphasize, or make a line memorable. Where ordinary sentences just carry information, a rhetorical device imposes a recognizable structure — repetition, contrast, threes, a question — that makes the sentence easier to process and harder to forget.
That's the whole trick. "We will fight wherever necessary" carries information. "We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets" carries the same information inside a structure (anaphora) that audiences have remembered since 1940. The device is the difference.
What you'll learn from these examples
- 30 rhetorical devices grouped by what they do: repetition, structure, comparison, contrast, sound, and audience engagement
- Why the tricolon — the list of three — dominates slogans, speeches, and CTAs, and how to write one
- How famous lines stack two or three devices at once ("government of the people, by the people, for the people" is a tricolon, an epistrophe, and parallelism)
- How to collect lines you admire into a searchable reference you can use when drafting
How we chose these examples
What we used. Classical rhetoric references (Silva Rhetoricae, Farnsworth's Classical English Rhetoric), the American Rhetoric speech bank for full speech transcripts, and published advertising archives for slogan history.
Tools we used: Chrome and Gleanit, where these lines lived as captured highlights — each tagged with its device — before they became this post.
How we evaluated. Three filters: the example had to be widely recognizable (so you can verify the effect on your own memory), it had to be a clean illustration of one primary device, and the device had to be one you can plausibly reuse in modern writing — not a scholarly curiosity.
What we think. These are practical patterns, not literary analysis. You don't need to remember the Greek names; you need to recognize the structures so you can reach for them when a line falls flat.
In our experience, the device names only become useful once you tag examples with them. We capture lines from speeches and ads as we encounter them, tag each one by mechanic, and search by tag when drafting. The tag "tricolon" retrieves twenty examples in two seconds; the memory "that line I liked" retrieves nothing.
Scope of this guide. Classical rhetoric catalogs hundreds of named devices; we cover the 30 with the most practical value for modern writing. Examples are English-language (plus one famous Latin line).
Limitations include a bias toward American and British speeches and ads, because that's where the most-documented examples are concentrated.
Key takeaways
- The best rhetorical devices examples are structures, not ornaments: each one is a reusable sentence pattern with a predictable effect on the reader.
- Repetition devices (anaphora, epistrophe, epizeuxis) buy emphasis; structural devices (tricolon, antithesis, chiasmus) buy memorability; comparison devices (metaphor, simile) buy understanding.
- The tricolon is the highest-leverage device in copywriting — threes feel complete, and the third slot is where the emphasis lands.
- Famous lines almost always stack devices. Learning to spot the stack is how you reverse-engineer copy that works.
- Knowing the names is useless without examples you can find when writing — save lines with the device tagged, not as vague memories.
Repetition devices (examples 1–7)
Repetition is the bluntest instrument in rhetoric and the most reliable. These seven devices differ only in where the repetition sits.
1. Anaphora — repeating the opening
The same word or phrase begins successive clauses or sentences.
- "I have a dream that my four little children… I have a dream today." — Martin Luther King Jr., 1963
- "We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets…" — Winston Churchill, 1940
- "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness…" — Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities
What to steal: anaphora builds momentum across a sequence. It's the natural device for landing page sections that escalate ("No more lost tabs. No more dead screenshots. No more rewriting from memory.").
2. Epistrophe — repeating the ending
The mirror image of anaphora: successive clauses end with the same word or phrase.
- "…government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth." — Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg Address, 1863
- "When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child." — 1 Corinthians 13:11
What to steal: ending repetition lands harder than opening repetition because the repeated word gets the final beat of each clause. Use it when one word is the message.
3. Symploce — repeating both ends
Anaphora and epistrophe combined: clauses share both their opening and their closing.
- "When there is talk of hatred, let us stand up and talk against it. When there is talk of violence, let us stand up and talk against it." — Bill Clinton, 1995
What to steal: symploce frames the one element that changes. Everything constant is scaffolding; the variable word carries the contrast.
4. Anadiplosis — the chain
The last word of one clause becomes the first word of the next.
- "Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering." — Yoda, The Phantom Menace, 1999
- "Suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope." — Romans 5:3–4
What to steal: anadiplosis is a causal argument disguised as rhythm. Each link feels inevitable, which is why it's so effective (and worth double-checking for logic) in sales narratives.
5. Epizeuxis — immediate repetition
The same word repeated back-to-back, no words in between.
- "Location, location, location." — real-estate proverb
- "Never give in — never, never, never, never…" — Winston Churchill, Harrow School, 1941
What to steal: epizeuxis is pure intensity with zero added information. One use per page, maximum — it's a shout.
6. Alliteration — repeating initial sounds
Nearby words begin with the same consonant sound.
- "Let us go forth to lead the land we love." — John F. Kennedy, 1961
- "Intel Inside" — Intel; "Don't dream it. Drive it." — Jaguar
- "Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers." — tongue-twister, for the principle at full volume
What to steal: alliteration makes phrases feel pre-packaged, like they already existed. That's why brand names lean on it (Coca-Cola, PayPal, Dunkin' Donuts). Two or three hits is charm; five is a tongue-twister.
7. Assonance — repeating vowel sounds
The vowel sounds repeat while the consonants vary.
- "Grace… space… pace" — Jaguar's classic three-word slogan (also a tricolon)
- "The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain." — My Fair Lady
What to steal: assonance is rhyme's subtle cousin. It makes a line singable without the jingle feel of a full rhyme — useful when you want polish that doesn't announce itself.
Tricolon: the rule of three in action (example 8)
A tricolon is three parallel words, phrases, or clauses delivered in a row. It is the single most-used rhetorical device in slogans, speeches, and CTAs — and once you see it, you will find it everywhere.
Why three? Two items make a pair; you wait for more. Four items make a list; attention drifts. Three is the smallest number that establishes a pattern and completes it in the same breath. The structure feels finished, and the final slot carries natural emphasis.
Classic tricolon examples
- "Veni, vidi, vici." ("I came, I saw, I conquered.") — Julius Caesar. The most compressed tricolon ever recorded — also asyndeton (no conjunctions) and climax (each verb escalates).
- "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness" — Declaration of Independence, 1776
- "…government of the people, by the people, for the people" — Lincoln, 1863
- "Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears" — Shakespeare, Julius Caesar. Note the syllable count: one, two, three. The elements grow.
- "We must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America." — Barack Obama, 2009
Tricolon examples in advertising
- "The few. The proud. The Marines." — U.S. Marine Corps
- "Snap, Crackle, Pop" — Rice Krispies (also onomatopoeia)
- "A Mars a day helps you work, rest and play" — Mars
- "Stop, drop and roll" / "Reduce, reuse, recycle" — the public-safety proof that threes are how slogans get memorized by entire generations
- "Buy it. Sell it. Love it." — eBay
The ascending tricolon (tricolon crescens)
The strongest tricolons grow — each element longer or more intense than the last, so the sentence accelerates into its final beat. "Friends, Romans, countrymen" grows by syllables. "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness" grows by length and abstraction. When you write one, put your most important item third: the last slot is the one people remember.
The tetracolon test
Here is the best evidence that brains prefer threes. Churchill's 1940 line was actually a four-part list — a tetracolon: "I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat." Most people misremember it as "blood, sweat and tears" — collective memory edited Churchill down to a tricolon. (The band named Blood, Sweat & Tears didn't help.) When even Churchill gets compressed to three, write in threes to begin with.
What to steal: the tricolon is the default structure for feature triads ("Capture. Organize. Reuse."), value props, and closing lines. If a list has four items, cut the weakest. If it has two, find a third or restructure — pairs read as incomplete.
Structure and balance devices (examples 9–14)
9. Parallelism — matching grammar
Successive phrases share the same grammatical structure, so the content differences stand out against the matching form.
- "…pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe…" — John F. Kennedy, 1961
- "Easy come, easy go." — proverb
What to steal: parallelism is the load-bearing wall under most other devices — tricolons, anaphora, and antithesis all depend on it. If a list of bullets feels lumpy, the grammar is mismatched; make every item the same shape.
10. Antithesis — paired opposites
Two contrasting ideas set in parallel structure, so the contrast does the arguing.
- "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." — Neil Armstrong, 1969
- "Melts in your mouth, not in your hands." — M&M's, 1954
- "Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee." — Muhammad Ali (antithesis riding on parallel similes)
What to steal: antithesis is positioning in one sentence: what you are versus what the alternative is. The M&M's line is an entire competitive claim — chocolate that doesn't make a mess — with no adjectives at all.
11. Antimetabole — the reversal
Words repeated in reverse order (the better-known term "chiasmus" covers the broader mirrored structure).
- "Ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country." — John F. Kennedy, 1961
- "When the going gets tough, the tough get going." — proverb
What to steal: the reversal feels like a discovered truth because the second half is built entirely from the first half's parts. It's the most quotable structure in rhetoric — and the most dangerous, because an empty reversal sounds profound while saying nothing. Check that both halves are actually true.
12. Asyndeton — dropping the conjunctions
Conjunctions are omitted where grammar expects them.
- "Veni, vidi, vici." — no "and," and faster for it
- "The few. The proud. The Marines." — periods doing the work of commas, each fragment a separate drumbeat
What to steal: cutting "and" speeds the sentence up and implies the list could continue. Spec-sheet copy ("Thinner. Lighter. Faster.") is asyndeton — each full stop adds weight.
13. Polysyndeton — piling the conjunctions on
The opposite: a conjunction before every item.
- "And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house…" — Matthew 7:25
What to steal: where asyndeton accelerates, polysyndeton accumulates — each "and" adds another weight to the pile. Use it to convey relentlessness or abundance.
14. Climax — the ascending series
Items arranged in increasing intensity or importance.
- "And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love." — 1 Corinthians 13:13
- "I came, I saw, I conquered." — escalation from arrival to victory in six words
What to steal: order any list by escalation and end on the item you want remembered. Climax is why "and finally…" is the most-attended moment of any presentation.
Comparison and substitution devices (examples 15–21)
15. Metaphor — saying it is
One thing described as another, no "like" required.
- "All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players." — Shakespeare, As You Like It
- "The Heartbeat of America" — Chevrolet, 1987
- "Red Bull gives you wings" — Red Bull (a metaphor stretched into brand-defining hyperbole)
What to steal: a metaphor transfers an entire web of associations in one move. Pick the source domain carefully — you import all of its baggage, not just the flattering parts.
16. Simile — saying it's like
An explicit comparison using "like" or "as."
- "Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there." — State Farm
- "Built like a rock." — Chevrolet trucks
What to steal: similes are safer than metaphors — the "like" signals it's a comparison, so the audience grants more poetic license. Trade-off: less force.
17. Analogy — the extended comparison
A comparison developed far enough to explain or argue, not just decorate.
- "My momma always said life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get." — Forrest Gump, 1994 (a simile unpacked into an analogy)
What to steal: analogy is the workhorse for explaining technical products: map the unfamiliar thing onto something the audience already operates ("a swipe file is a spice rack for copy"). One good analogy outperforms three paragraphs of definition.
18. Personification — giving things intentions
Human qualities attributed to non-human things.
- "The snack that smiles back." — Goldfish crackers
- "Opportunity knocks." / "The wind howled." — stock examples of the everyday version
What to steal: products with personalities get talked about like characters. Personification is the sentence-level seed of full mascot strategies — see how far Duolingo pushed it in our recent marketing examples guide.
19. Metonymy — the associated stand-in
A thing referred to by something closely associated with it.
- "The pen is mightier than the sword." — Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1839 (writing and force, each by its instrument)
- "The White House announced…" / "Wall Street reacted…" — daily-news metonymy
What to steal: metonymy compresses. "Silicon Valley thinking" carries a paragraph of meaning in three words — provided your audience shares the association.
20. Synecdoche — the part for the whole
A part stands in for the whole, or the whole for a part.
- "All hands on deck." — hands for sailors
- "Boots on the ground." / "Nice wheels." — the part chosen tells you what the speaker values
What to steal: which part you pick is an editorial choice: "hands" frames people as labor, "minds" frames them as talent. The synecdoche smuggles in the framing.
21. Hyperbole — strategic exaggeration
Overstatement no one is meant to take literally.
- "The Happiest Place on Earth." — Disneyland
- "I've told you a million times." — the household version
What to steal: hyperbole works when the exaggeration is obviously impossible — that's what makes it a figure instead of a lie. The danger zone is the middle: claims big enough to doubt but small enough to be plausible read as dishonest.
Contrast and understatement devices (examples 22–25)
22. Litotes — the deliberate understatement
Affirming something by negating its opposite, or claiming less than you mean.
- "Not bad." — the two-word rave
- "Probably the best beer in the world." — Carlsberg, whose entire slogan hinges on one hedging word doing ironic work
What to steal: understatement flatters the reader — it trusts them to supply the enthusiasm themselves. In categories drowning in superlatives, the quiet claim is the one that stands out.
23. Oxymoron — the compressed contradiction
Two contradictory words jammed together.
- "Jumbo shrimp." "Deafening silence." "Same difference."
- "Parting is such sweet sorrow." — Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet
What to steal: an oxymoron is a pattern interrupt in two words. It forces a double-take, which is exactly what a headline needs.
24. Paradox — the contradiction that's true
A statement that seems self-contradictory but holds up on inspection.
- "Less is more." — popularized by architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
- "I must be cruel only to be kind." — Shakespeare, Hamlet
What to steal: a paradox makes the reader resolve it, and the resolution feels like their own insight — the most durable kind of persuasion.
25. Verbal irony — saying the opposite
The stated meaning deliberately contradicts the intended one.
- "Lemon." — Volkswagen, 1960. DDB captioned a photo of a brand-new Beetle with the word for a defective car (this one had a blemished glovebox strip and didn't ship), making the self-insult the proof of quality control. One of the most studied print ads ever run.
What to steal: irony at your own expense buys credibility that self-praise can't. It only works from a position of obvious strength — punching at yourself reads as confidence, flailing reads as damage.
Sound and wordplay devices (examples 26–28)
26. Pun — the double meaning
A word or sound deployed so two meanings fire at once.
- "Every kiss begins with Kay." — Kay Jewelers (the letter K, and the gift that earns the kiss)
- "Beanz Meanz Heinz" — Heinz, 1967
What to steal: a pun rewards the reader with a tiny "aha" for decoding it. The groan is part of the mechanism — mild pain is memorable too.
27. Onomatopoeia — words that sound like the thing
- "Plop, plop, fizz, fizz, oh what a relief it is." — Alka-Seltzer, 1976
- "Snap, Crackle, Pop" — Rice Krispies, again (a tricolon of onomatopoeia — devices stack)
What to steal: sound-words give copy a physical, sensory channel that abstractions can't reach. If the product makes a sound, the sound might be the slogan.
28. Polyptoton — same root, different forms
One word repeated in different grammatical forms.
- "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." — Lord Acton, 1887 (power/power, corrupt/corrupts/absolutely-absolute)
- "Please Please Me" — The Beatles
What to steal: polyptoton gives you repetition's emphasis without repetition's monotony — the root echoes while the form moves the sentence forward.
Audience-engagement devices (examples 29–30)
29. Rhetorical question — the question that's a claim
A question asked for effect, where the answer is assumed.
- "Got Milk?" — California Milk Processor Board, 1993
- "What's in your wallet?" — Capital One
- "Is it live, or is it Memorex?" — Memorex
What to steal: a question forces a micro-answer in the reader's head — participation you didn't have to earn. Two of the most durable slogan formats in advertising are a tricolon or a rhetorical question; "Got Milk?" needed two words.
30. Hypophora — ask, then answer
The speaker raises the question and answers it.
- "You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word: It is victory." — Winston Churchill, 1940
What to steal: hypophora is FAQ sections, sales pages, and cold emails in classical dress: voice the objection before the reader does, then resolve it on your terms. It reads as candor and works as control.
How to build a rhetorical devices swipe file
Here's the pattern you've probably noticed: nearly every famous example above stacks two or three devices. "Veni, vidi, vici" is a tricolon, asyndeton, climax, and alliteration in three words. The names matter less than the habit of spotting the structures — and the only way to build that habit is collecting specimens.
The problem is storage. A device name without examples is trivia you'll never use; a great line remembered vaguely ("something about boots?") is unusable when you're drafting. The fix is a working swipe file:
- Capture the line in context. Save the speech transcript, ad, or article with the exact sentence highlighted — not a paraphrase from memory.
- Tag by device. "Tricolon," "antithesis," "hypophora." When you're writing a headline, you'll search by structure, not by speaker.
- Note the job it does. One line: "antithesis — competitive positioning without naming the competitor." That note is what turns a quote into a template.
This is the workflow Gleanit is built for: highlight the line on the live page, tag it by device, and search your collection when you're drafting. The rhetoricians had commonplace books; you get the same thing with a search box.
Conclusion: structures, not ornaments
If you searched for rhetorical devices examples, the practical takeaway is this: every device above is a reusable sentence structure with a predictable effect. Repetition buys emphasis. Threes buy completeness. Contrast buys clarity. Questions buy participation. The famous lines aren't magic — they're disciplined applications of patterns that have worked on human attention for two millennia.
Start with the tricolon and antithesis; they're the highest-leverage devices for everyday writing. Then start collecting: when a line stops you, save it, name the device, and note the job it does. Your next headline is hiding in that collection.
Frequently asked questions
What are rhetorical devices, with examples?
A rhetorical device is a deliberate pattern of language used to persuade, emphasize, or stick in memory. Examples: anaphora repeats an opening phrase ("I have a dream…"), a tricolon lists three parallel items ("Veni, vidi, vici"), antithesis pairs opposites ("one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind"), and a rhetorical question asserts by asking ("Got Milk?"). Each works by imposing a recognizable structure that makes the line easier to process and harder to forget.
What are the most common rhetorical devices?
In everyday speech, advertising, and political language: the tricolon, anaphora, antithesis, metaphor and simile, hyperbole, alliteration, and the rhetorical question. Memorable lines usually combine several — "government of the people, by the people, for the people" is a tricolon, an epistrophe, and parallelism at once.
What is a tricolon?
A tricolon is three parallel words, phrases, or clauses in a row: "Veni, vidi, vici"; "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness"; "The few. The proud. The Marines." Three is the smallest number that establishes a pattern and completes it, so tricolons feel finished and rhythmic. When the elements grow in length or intensity, it's a tricolon crescens — an ascending tricolon.
Is a tricolon the same as the rule of three?
They overlap but aren't identical. The rule of three is the broad principle that ideas grouped in threes are more satisfying and memorable — it covers three-act stories, joke structure, and design. A tricolon is the specific sentence-level device: three parallel grammatical elements in one construction. Every tricolon uses the rule of three; the rule of three extends far beyond sentences.
What is the difference between a rhetorical device and a figure of speech?
A figure of speech is any non-literal or patterned use of language; a rhetorical device is language deliberately structured to work on an audience. The categories overlap heavily — metaphor is both. The useful distinction is intent: rhetorical devices are figures of speech put to work.
How do I use rhetorical devices in marketing copy?
One device per line, and let it carry the structure: a tricolon for feature triads, antithesis for positioning, a rhetorical question for hooks, anaphora for sections that build. Study lines that already work and save them with the device named, so when you draft you can search your swipe file by mechanic instead of starting from a blank page.
References and further reading
- Silva Rhetoricae — Brigham Young University's reference on the figures of classical rhetoric
- American Rhetoric speech bank — full transcripts and audio of the speeches quoted above
- Ward Farnsworth, Farnsworth's Classical English Rhetoric (Godine, 2011) — the best modern catalog of these devices with literary examples
- Mark Forsyth, The Elements of Eloquence (Icon, 2013) — an accessible device-per-chapter tour, including the tricolon and Churchill's misremembered tetracolon
Corrections: ovannes@hearye.co or our editorial policy.