Rhetorical Devices

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Rhetorical Devices
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Alliteration- pg. 6

• Repetition of the initial consonant sounds
  beginning several words in sequence.
•  
• "....we shall not falter, we shall not fail."  
  (President G.W. Bush Address to Congress
  following 9-11-01 Terrorist Attacks.)
•  
• "Let us go forth to lead the land we love.
• (President J. F. Kennedy, Inaugural 1961)
• "Veni, vidi, vici.
• (Julius Caesar  - I came, I saw, I
  conquered)

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Anaphora- write in notes

• The repetition of a word or phrase at the
  beginning of successive phrases, clauses or
  lines.
• "We shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the
  end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight on
  the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing
  confidence and growing strength in the air, we
  shall defend our island, whatever the cost may
  be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight
  on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the
  fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the
  hills. We shall never surrender."
• (British Prime Minister Winston Churchill)

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Anecdote-pg. 3

• The retelling of a brief incident that may
  illustrate or prove a point made in an argument.
• Canada begins his book with the incident of the
  lost jacket which his mother insisted his brother
  go back and get (Ch. 1). With this anecdote he
  provides the foundation of his argument that the
  streets of the Bronx required special codes of
  conduct.

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Antithesis pg. 4

• Opposition, or contrast of ideas or words in a
  balanced or parallel construction.
• "Extremism in defense of liberty is no vice,
  moderation in the pursuit of justice is no
  virtue."(Barry Goldwater - Republican Candidate
  for President 1964)
• "Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved
  Rome more". (Brutus in  " Julius Caesar" by
  William Shakespeare)

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Apostrophe- take notes

• A turn from the general audience to address a
  specific group or person or personified
  abstraction absent or present.
• "For Brutus, as you know, was Caesar's
  angel.Judge, O you gods, how dearly Caesar loved
  him". (Mark Antony in Julius Caesar - William
  Shakespeare)

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Asyndeton- take notes

• Lack of conjunctions between coordinate phrases,
  clauses, or words.
• "We shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet
  any hardships, support any friend, oppose any foe
  to assure the survival and the success of
  liberty." (J. F. Kennedy, Inaugural)
• "But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we
  cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground.
•    (President Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg
  Address)

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Chiasmus-take notes

• Two corresponding pairs arranged not in parallels
  (A-B-A-B) but in inverted order (A-B-B-A) from
  shape of the Greek letter chi (X).
• "Those gallant men will remain often in my
  thoughts and in my prayers always."    (General
  Douglas MacArthur)
• "Renown'd  for conquest, and in council
  skill'd."    (Marcus Tullius Cicero)

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Hyperbole-pg. 5

• Exaggeration for emphasis or for rhetorical
  effect.
• "If you call me that name again, I'm going to
  explode!"
• I nearly died laughing.

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(Verbal) Irony-take notes/pg. 5

• Expression of something which is contrary to the
  intended meaning the words say one thing but
  mean another.
• Yet Brutus says he was ambitiousAnd Brutus is
  an honourable man.         (Shakespeare's Mark
  Antony in Julius Caesar)

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Metaphor-pg. 5

• Implied comparison achieved through a figurative
  use of words the word is used not in its literal
  sense, but in one analogous to it.
•  
• Life's but a walking shadow a poor player,
• That struts and frets his hour upon the stage. "
• (Shakespeare, Macbeth )
•  
• From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the
  Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across
  the continent.
•  (W. Churchill)

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Oxymoron- pg. 4

• Apparent paradox achieved by the juxtaposition of
  words which seem to contradict one another.
• I must be cruel only to be kind.
• (Shakespeare, Hamlet)
•     
•   "Hurts so good
• (John Cougar Melancamp)
•   Jumbo Shrimp

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Paradox-pg. 4

• An assertion seemingly opposed to common sense,
  but that may yet have some truth in it.
• What a pity that youth must be wasted on the
  young."
• (George Bernard Shaw)

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Personification- pg. 5

• Attribution of personality to an impersonal
  thing.
• England expects every man to do his duty."
• (Lord Nelson)
• The rose was a soft as a baby's skin
• "Rise up and defend the Motherland"  (Line from
  "Enemy at the Gates)

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Simile-pg. 5

• An explicit comparison between two things using
  'like' or 'as'.
• My love is as a fever, longing stillFor that
  which longer nurseth the disease"
•       (Shakespeare, Sonnet CXLVII)
•  
• Reason is to faith as the eye to the telescope"
•       (D. Hume)
•  
• Let us go then, you and I,While the evening is
  spread out against the sky,Like a patient
  etherized upon a table"
•         (T.S. Eliot, The Love Song of J. Alfred
  Prufrock)

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Aphorisms- take notes

• A concise statement that expresses succinctly a
  general truth or idea, often using rhyme or
  balance
• Ex Jerome Kern's famous aphorism "Irving Berlin
  has no place in American music - he is American
  music"

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Puns-take notes

• a humorous use of words that involves a word or
  phrase that has more than one possible meaning
• Ex She had a photographic memory but never
  developed it.

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Absolutes-take notes

• A word free from limitations or qualifications
  (best, all, unique, perfect)

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Anachronisms-take notes

• something from a different period of time
• Ex a modern idea or invention wrongly placed in
  a historical setting in fiction or drama

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Litotes-pg. 5

• A type of understatement in which an idea is
  expressed by negating its opposite (describing a
  particularly horrific scene by saying, It was
  not a pretty picture.)

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Imperative-take notes

• Used for giving orders
• describes the mood or a form of a verb that
  expresses a command or request
• Ex the verb form "come" in "Come here!"

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Conceit-take notes

• A fanciful, particularly clever extended metaphor
• Ex Shakespeare makes use of a conceit in Act 3,
  Scene 5 of his play Romeo and Juliet. Capulet
  comes to Juliets room after Romeo has left. He
  finds her weeping and says
• Thou counterfeitst a bark, a sea, a windFor
  still thy eyes, which I may call the sea,Do ebb
  and flow with tears the bark thy body
  is,Sailing in this salt flood the winds, thy
  sighsWho, raging with thy tears, and they with
  them,Without a sudden calm, will oversetThy
  tempest-tossed body.

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Onomatopoeia pg. 6

• A word formed from the imitation of natural
  sounds
• Ex "Plop, plop, fizz, fizz, oh what a relief it
  is."

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Ellipsis-take notes

• The omission of a word or phrase which is
  grammatically necessary but can be deduced from
  the context
• Ex Some people prefer cats others, dogs.

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Synecdoche-take notes

• Using one part of an object to represent the
  entire object
• Ex Referring to a car simply as wheels

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Juxtaposition-pg. 4

• Placing two elements side by side to represent a
  comparison or contrast
• Ex It was the best of times, it was the worst
  of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the
  age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief,
  it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the
  season of Light, it was the season of Darkness -
  A Tales of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

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Allusion-pg. 6

• A reference to something literary, mythological,
  or historical that the author assumes the reader
  will recognize.
• Ex I was surprised his nose was not growing
  like Pinocchios. This refers to the story of
  Pinocchio, where his nose grew whenever he told a
  lie. It is from The Adventures of Pinocchio,
  written by Carlo Collodi. 

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Soliloquy-take notes

• The act of speaking while alone, especially when
  used as a theatrical device that allows a
  character's thoughts and ideas to be conveyed to
  the audience

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Foreshadowing-take notes

• The presentation of material in such a way that
  the reader is prepared for what is to come later
  in the work.
• Ex In John Steinbecks novel Of Mice and Men,
  George killing Candys dog foreshadows Candy
  killing Lennie because Candy is identical to
  George and Lennie to the dog.

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Work Cited

• Tomlinson, James. Rhetorical Devices.
  http//facstaff.bloomu.edu/jtomlins/rhetorical_dev
  ices.htmtop. 6/29/2006