Thus we may speak of “all hands being at work,” of so many “head” of cattle.
Climax.—Climax, or the rhetorical ladder, is the arrangement of a succession of words, or clauses, in such a way that the weakest may stand first; and that each in turn may rise in importance and make a deeper impression on the mind than that which preceded it.
Anti-climax reverses the order: this is often used in humorous writings.
Examples:—
I came, I saw, I conquered.
Since concord was lost, friendship was lost, fidelity was lost, liberty was lost—all was lost.
We have petitioned, we have remonstrated, we have supplicated, we have prostrated ourselves before the throne.—Patrick Henry.
Alliteration repeats the same sound in words for the purpose of adding to the euphony.
Examples:—
Silently out of the room there glided the glistening savage,
Bearing the serpent’s skin and seeming himself like a serpent,
Winding his sinuous way in the dark to the depths of the forest.
*Onomatopœia emphasizes the meaning by adapting the sound to the sense.
Example from Cataract of Lodore:—