Rhetorical Strategies

Rhetorical Strategies Group 4 Lucy, Katie, Kennedi, and Jackie

Repetition • Definition: repetition of sounds, words, phrasing, or concepts used in literary works to create unity & emphasis • Special Forms in Poetry: rhyme; meter; sound patterns such as alliteration, assonance, and consonance • repetition of complete words or phrases in anaphora and the refrain • crucial in poetry/fiction/drama for many forms of symbolism and imagery • may be used for characterization, especially for flat characters

Example of Repetition • At the end of Shakespeare’s King Lear, the old sovereign is attempting to comprehend the horrifying reality that his best-loved daughter is dead, and it is his fault. • “Never, never, never, never, never!” • This expresses Lear’s shock, as well as his heartbreak.

Selection of Details • Definition: selection of nature and relative specificity of details to include • crucial to meaning and tone of a piece

Examples of Selection of Detail “Mark and me went down to the bar/pool hall two or three blocks from where we lived with the sole intention of making some money. We’d done that before. I was a really good pool player, especially for being just sixteen years old, and, what’s more, I look like a baby-faced kid who wouldn’t know one ball from another. This, and the way Mark set me up, helped me hustle a lot of pool games. The bad deal is, it’s against the law to be in this pool hall if you’re under age, because of the adjoining bar. The good deal is, the bartender and owner was a good friend of mine, being the older brother of this chick I used to like. When this chick and me broke up, I still stayed friends with her brother, which is unusual in cases like that.” From That Was Then, This Is Now

Order of Details • Definition: decision of when to introduce details about the story • crucial to meaning and tone of the piece

Examples of Order of Details First Stanza Five a.m., the fourth of July. I walk by eagle Pond with the dog, wearing my leather coat against the clear early chill, looking at water lilies that clutch cool yellow fists together, as I undertake another day twelve weeks after the Tuesday we learned that you would die. Last Stanza Tonight the Andover fireworks will have to go on without me as I go to bed early, reading The Man Without Qualities with insufficient attention because I keep watching you die. Tomorrow I will wake at five to the tenth Wednesday after the Wednesday we buried you - “Independence Day Letter”

Epiphany • from Greek “to manifest” or “to show” • Definition: a sudden, overwhelming insight or revelation evoked by a commonplace object in a scene in a poem or work of fiction • derived from Christian theology- traditionally it refers to a manifestation of God’s presence, specifically the revelation to the Magi of Christ’s divinity at the Feast of the Epiphany • traditionally the only way epiphany surface in literature was through religion

Example of Epiphany I turned to go home. Street lights winked down the street all the way to town. I had never seen our neighborhood from this angle. There were Miss Maudie's, Miss Stephanie's--there was our house, I could see the porch swing--Miss Rachel's house was beyond us, plainly visible. I could even see Mrs. Dubose's. [...] Atticus was right. One time he said you never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them. Just standing on the Radley porch was enough. From To Kill a Mockingbird

Rhetorical Strategies