Exploring Rhetorical Devices

Exploring Rhetorical Devices

How words can affect our minds, hearts, and wallets.

​Exploring Rhetorical Devices

Hello Gentle Explorer,

Welcome to my lesson. Here you will find some brief explanations and quizzes for literary terms used in the development of persuasive texts. Sadly, they are not as common as they once were. If you are charmed by them, please consider sprinkling a few of your own about the rhetorical texts you create.

What you’re doing is as useful as rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.

An analogy is something that shows how two things are alike, but with the ultimate goal of making a point about this comparison.

Analogy

“Memories are bullets. Some whiz by and only spook you. Others tear you open and leave you in pieces.” ―Kill the Dead, Richard Kadrey

A metaphor is a direct comparison between two unlike objects or ideas.

Metaphor

We must put an end to this peculiar institution. (“Peculiar institution” is a euphemism for slavery.)

 Meiosis is using euphemism to minimize the importance or significance of something.

Meiosis

Analogy, metaphor, and meiosis build a connection by giving the audience a visceral experience.

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In Rhetoric

Multiple Choice

Which example is clearly an analogy?

• Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check: a check which has come back marked “insufficient funds”.

• I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations.

• I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state, sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

Multiple Choice

Which example is clearly a metaphor?

• Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check: a check which has come back marked “insufficient funds”.

• I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations.

• I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state, sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

Multiple Choice

Which example is clearly meiosis?

• Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check: a check which has come back marked “insufficient funds”.

• I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations.

• I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state, sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

Statements that Bring Truth

Sometimes you need nuggets of wisdom in order to persuade. Four ways to accomplish this are to use aphorism, anecdote, allusion or a rhetorical question.

Finishing his memoir was his white whale.

Allusion is the act of referencing a work of popular culture, history, or literature. Allusions act as hooks for the audience to understand the author's perspective.

Allusion

A penny saved is a penny earned.

The early bird gets the worm.

An aphorism is a short sentence that presents truth or opinion, usually in a witty or clever manner.

Aphorism

Five years ago, I went to the store and met some clowns. Those clowns gave me the advice I am sharing with you now.

An anecdote is a brief story about something that happened to the speaker. It can build ethos, logos, or pathos.

Anecdote

Can we really know what our place in the universe is? We have asked ourselves this question for millennia.

A rhetorical question is a question that isn’t intended to be answered. The point of asking the question is to make an audience think or to cause an emotional reaction.

Rhetorical Question

Multiple Choice

Identify this statement:

Why should you believe in me?

• Anecdote

• Aphorism

• Rhetorical Question

• Allusion

Multiple Choice

Identify this statement:

In my first year of college, I learned the importance of getting a good night's sleep and eating breakfast.

• Anecdote

• Aphorism

• Rhetorical Question

• Allusion

Multiple Choice

Identify this statement:

We got a new Einstein in school today.

• Anecdote

• Aphorism

• Rhetorical Question

• Allusion

Multiple Choice

Identify this statement:

All that glitters is not gold.

• Anecdote

• Aphorism

• Rhetorical Question

• Allusion

Diction is word choice. In rhetoric you have to have a clear idea of your audience and purpose in order to choose the appropriate words.

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Diction

Connotation vs. Denotation

Denotation is the objective meaning of a word - the dictionary definition.

Trevor is a bull. (The bull is named Trevor.)

Denotation

Connotation is using words to suggest a social or emotional meaning rather than a literal one.

This is a house, but I want a home.

Connotation

If your message is heavy on connotation, you may lose your audience because your message may become unclear, or you will be perceived as deceitful.

The baseball struck him in a sensitive area.

​Euphemism

Diction

Euphemism is using alternative language to refer to explicit or unpleasant things.

If Edgar Allen Poe had written this speech, it might have opened with “Here we are, weak and weary, gathered on a Monday dreary.”

Parody

Diction

Parody is an imitation of something with the intent to poke fun at it.

In rhetoric, it can add a lighthearted moment to ease tension or relax the audience.

Here in Philly, we love to eat hoagies and all kinds of tasty jawns.

​Colloquialism

Diction

A colloquialism is an instance of informal language or a local expression.

In rhetoric it helps to build a bond with the audience by mimicking their identity.

He loved music from the cradle (birth) to the grave (death).

Yes - It is a type of metaphor. However, it refers to a word, not a phrase, as it often true with metaphors.

​Metonymy

Diction

Metonymy is when the name of something is replaced with something related to it.

He is the LeBron James of chess.

The adjective form is eponymous. The Wikipedia page has many examples and histories.

​Eponym

Diction

An eponym can refer to “a word based on or derived from a person’s name,” such as the Gallup poll, named after statistician G.H. Gallup, or Reagonomics (a combination of the last name Reagan and economics). As a rhetorical device, an eponym can be an allusion to a famous person.

Multiple Choice

Match the definition to the word:

using words to suggest a social or emotional meaning rather than a literal one.

• Diction

• Connotation

• Denotation

Multiple Choice

Match the definition to the word:

word choice - especially words chosen to affect the audience

• Diction

• Connotation

• Denotation

Multiple Choice

Match the definition to the word:

dictionary definition - the literal meaning

• Diction

• Connotation

• Denotation

Multiple Choice

Match the word to the example:

euphemism

• Caesar Salad

• He would be a ten, except for his habit of breaking wind.

• If you want a job in technology, you need to check out Silicon Valley.

• I will have to give you a rain check on that; I'm going camping this weekend.

Multiple Choice

Match the word to the example:

colloquialism

• Caesar Salad

• I will have to give you a rain check on that; I'm going camping this weekend.

• He would be a ten, except for his habit of breaking wind.

• If you want a job in technology, you need to check out Silicon Valley.

Multiple Choice

Match the word to the example:

metonymy

• Caesar Salad

• I will have to give you a rain check on that; I'm going camping this weekend.

• If you want a job in technology, you need to check out Silicon Valley.

• He would be a ten, except for his habit of breaking wind.

Multiple Choice

Match the word to the example:

eponym

• Caesar Salad

• He would be a ten, except for his habit of breaking wind.

• If you want a job in technology, you need to check out Silicon Valley.

• He would be a ten, except for his habit of breaking wind.

Multiple Choice

Match the word to the example:

parody

• How come you're always such a fussy young man

  Don't want no Captain Crunch, don't want no Raisin Bran

  Well, don't you know that other kids are starving in Japan

  So eat it, just eat it

• They told him, "Don't you ever come around here"

  "Don't wanna see your face, you better disappear"

  The fire's in their eyes and their words are really clear

  So beat it, just beat it

In rhetoric, sound devices will attract your reader's attention. They can also affect tone and mood.

The four most common are:

• Assonance

• Consonance

• Alliteration

• Cacophony

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Sound Devices

No one standing in this house today can pass a puritanical test of purity that some are demanding that our elected leaders take.

Alliteration is repeating the same or similar sounds at the beginning of words.

​Alliteration

Sound Devices

She and Lee see the bees in the tree.

Let's go kick some tires and light some fires.

Assonance is the repetition of the same vowel sound with different consonants. Assonance allows writers to create a sense of rhythm which enhances the experience for the reader.

Assonance

Sound Devices

"...when you have seen hate filled policemen curse, kick and even kill your black brothers and sisters..."

Note: This example comes from MLK's Letter from Birmingham Jail. The "k" sound was designed to help the listener connect this imagery with the KKK.

Cacophony is the act of purposefully using harsh sounds.

​Cacophony

Sound Devices

I fell asleep slouched against the wall and, slumbering, I slid down to the floor.

Consonance is a repetition of consonants or consonant sounds. To be effective, consonant repetition must occur within a short sequence of words, though not necessarily consecutively.

​Consonance

Sound Devices

Multiple Choice

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary (“The Raven” Edgar Allan Poe)

• Assonance

• Consonance

• Alliteration

• Cacophony

Multiple Choice

There’s a stake in your fat black heart

And the villagers never liked you.

They are dancing and stamping on you.

They always knew it was you.

Sylvia Plath

• Assonance

• Consonance

• Alliteration

  Cacophony

• Cacophony

Multiple Choice

The tornado tossed the trailer like a trash can.

• Assonance

• Consonance

• Alliteration

• Cacophony

Multiple Choice

He stood on the road and cried.

• Assonance

• Consonance

• Alliteration

• Cacophony

The Last Seven

The last seven terms are perhaps the most important ones. These are the standards of formal rhetoric. They are not seen as often any more, and our world of rhetoric suffers greatly for this. They are: parallelism,

antithesis, epistrophe, synecdoche, anaphora, chiasmus, and asyndeton.

Parallelism Antithesis Epistrophe, Synecdoche

Anaphora Chiasmus Asyndeton

“That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”

Neil Armstrong

Parallelism is using grammatically similar phrases or sentences together.

Parallelism Antithesis Epistrophe Synecdoche

Anaphora Chiasmus Asyndeton

Speech is silver, but silence gold.

He was easy on the eyes, but hard on the heart.

Man proposes, God disposes.

Love is an ideal thing, but marriage is a real thing.

Antithesis is using parallel sentences or clauses to make a contrast. Antithesis draws the attention of readers by employing two opposite ideas in the same context.

Parallelism Antithesis Epistrophe Synecdoche

Anaphora Chiasmus Asyndeton

“Don’t you ever talk about my friends! 

You don’t know any of my friends. 

You don’t look at any of my friends. 

And you certainly wouldn’t condescend to speak to any of my friends.” 

The Breakfast Club

Epistrophe is the repetition of a word or phrase at the end of successive clauses.

Parallelism Antithesis Epistrophe Synecdoche

Anaphora Chiasmus Asyndeton

The commander had an army of 10,000 swords. (The people holding the swords were there, too.)

Synecdoche is when a part of something is used to refer to a whole. In rhetoric it calls special attention to a specific aspect or quality of the object as a whole. 

Parallelism Antithesis Epistrophe Synecdoche

Anaphora Chiasmus Asyndeton

“We have a new vaccine, we have new resolve and we have new tactics.”

Bruce Aylward, TED Talk, March 2011

Anaphora is the repetition of a word or words at the start of phrases, clauses, or sentences. This repetition emphasizes the message, adds rhythm, and can connect the message to other ideas or ideologies.

Parallelism Antithesis Epistrophe Synecdoche

Anaphora Chiasmus Asyndeton

Dog owners own dogs and cats own cat owners.

“If black men have no rights in the eyes of the white men, of course, the whites can have none in the eyes of the blacks.” (Frederick Douglass)

Chiasmus is reversing the grammatical order in two otherwise parallel phrases or sentences. It is effective because it lingers in the memory.

Parallelism Antithesis Epistrophe Synecdoche

Anaphora Chiasmus Asyndeton

Get in, cause a distraction, get out.

Asyndeton is the removal of conjunctions from a sentence. The brevity makes it sound like a command. It is memorable.

Multiple Select

Match the example to the term - there may be more than one correct answer.

“As you know, we’ve got the iPod, best music player in the world. We’ve got the iPod Nanos, brand new models, colors are back. We’ve got the amazing new iPod Shuffle.”

— Steve Jobs, Macworld 2007 Keynote Address

• Parallelism

• Epistrophe

• Anaphora

Multiple Select

Match the example to the term - there may be more than one correct answer.

"Then I'll be all aroun' in the dark. I'll be ever'where--wherever you look. Wherever they's a fight so hungry people can eat, I'll be there. Wherever they's a cop beatin' up a guy, I'll be there. (Tom Joad in John Steinbeck's novel The Grapes of Wrath, 1939)

• Parallelism

• Epistrophe

• Anaphora

Multiple Select

Match the example to the term - there may be more than one correct answer.

“As you know, we’ve got the iPod, best music player in the world. We’ve got the iPod Nanos, brand new models, colors are back. We’ve got the amazing new iPod Shuffle.”

— Steve Jobs, Macworld 2007 Keynote Address

• Parallelism

• Epistrophe

• Anaphora

Multiple Choice

Match the example to the term.

To err is human; to forgive, divine.

• Antithesis

• Synecdoche

• Chiasmus

• Asyndeton

Multiple Choice

Match the example to the term.

To speak for labor; to plead the cause of the men and women and children who toil; to serve the working class, has always been to me a high privilege; a duty of love.

• Antithesis

• Synecdoche

• Chiasmus

• Asyndeton

Multiple Choice

Match the example to the term.

He's the brains of the operation.

• Antithesis

• Synecdoche

• Chiasmus

• Asyndeton

Multiple Choice

Match the example to the term.

All for one and one for all!

• Antithesis

• Synecdoche

• Chiasmus

• Asyndeton

Carolyn Geraci

" The beauty of rhetoric has been replaced with dull words and canned ideas. "