Basic Rhetorical Structures

1
Basic Rhetorical Structures

• Metaphor
• Metonymy
• Synecdoche
• Irony

2
Metaphor

• Links by implicit similarity
• How sweet the moonlight sleeps upon this bank
• A green thought in a green shade
• My love is a red, red rose
• Not to be confused with simile where the
  similarity is explicit

3
Metonymy

• Links by close association (contiguity)
• The Crown for the monarchy
• The Stage for the theatrical profession
• Dante for his works

4
Synecdoche

• Substitutes the part for the whole
• Some eyes condemn the earth they gaze upon
• Milton refers to the corrupt clergy as blind
  mouths

5
Irony

• Juxtaposes appearance and reality
• the speakers implicit meaning is very different
  from what is said
• It grieves me much who speaks so well should
  ever speak in vain
• Can appear as dramatic irony

6
The Genre of Allegory

• allegory a story in prose or verse with at least
  two levels of meaning
• primary or surface meaning
• secondary or under-the-surface
• fable a short narrative which points an abstract
  moral principle. The most common is the beast
  fable.
• parable a short narrative which teaches a moral
  lesson

7
Four Levels of Meaning

• literal or historical meaning
• narrates what in fact happened
• allegorical meaning
• the hidden subtext and allusions
• moral meaning
• the truth signified by the passage
• anagogical meaning
• the mystical interpretation

8
Animal Farm

• literally about the revolt of animals against
  human overlords
• allegorical NapoleonStalin MajorLenin
  SnowballTrotsky Jonescorrupt capitalist
  landowners
• moral power tends to corrupt
• anagogical human (and animal) nature does not
  change