Rhetorical Devices

Rhetorical Devices powerpoint 4

Rhetorical and Literary Devices: exposition: written composition meant to inform an audience about an issue or idea. Statements should be objective. (expository writing) grotesque: “a character or location that is irregular, extravagant or fantastic in form. When used as a device, the purpose is often in the style of expressionism, making the grotesque a parody of human qualities or a distorted reflection of a familiar place.”

Rhetorical and Literary Devices: • hyperbole: an obvious exaggeration for literary effect. • “These books weigh a ton.” “The path went on forever.” “I’m doing a million things right now.” • analogy: “a relationship of resemblance or equivalence between two situations, people, or objects, especially when used as a basis for explanation or extrapolation.” • "America is a melting pot" • "Analogy is an ingredient in English stew" • analogies should be used to introduce a lesson or an explanation (remember Katniss’s analogy about the sick goat)

Rhetorical and Literary Devices: • What is the difference between hyperbole and metaphor/simile? • “Metaphor is essentially based on comparison, suggestion of similarity. Hyperbole is based on exaggeration.” • Metaphor: Mary is a cold fish (not literally a fish, but an unemotional person, devoid of temperament); Hyperbole: Susan is as old as the hills (very old; but no human can be literally as old as the hills).

Rhetorical and Literary Devices: • imagery: mental pictures formed by words and descriptions that appeal to the senses. • internal monologue: “internal monologue is when you are talking to yourself, in your own mind. It is usually used in literature to show what a character is thinking, even though the character isn't saying it out loud.” Ex: Wolverine states to himself, “I’m the best at what I do…and what I do isn’t very nice….”

Rhetorical and Literary Devices: • irony: the use of words to express something other than and especially the opposite of the literal meaning. • “What a beautiful view,” he said, his voice dripping with irony, as he looked out the window at the alley.” • dramatic irony: incongruity between a situation developed in a drama and the accompanying words or actions that is understood by the audience but not by the characters in the play. Think of miscommunication between characters. • example: in horror movies, when music swells in volume and overall weirdness, a monster is about to jump out at the characters—because we know this as an audience, and the characters do not, this makes an example of dramatic irony. • irony is commonly confused with fortune (good or bad), coincidence, and general consequence: see Morisette video

An old man turned ninety-eight. He won the lottery and died the next day… of chronic emphysema from inhalation of the latex particles scratched off decades' worth of lottery tickets.A black fly in your Chardonnay… poured to celebrate the successful fumigation of your recently purchased vineyard in southern France.A death row pardon two minutes too late… because the governor was too busy watching Walking Dead to grant clemency any earlier.Rain on your wedding day… to Ra, the Egyptian sun-god.A free ride when you've already paid… all of your money to the good-natured cab driver when you mistook him for a mugger.The good advice that you just didn't take… after reading Norman Vincent Peale's The Power of Positive Thinking and resolving that the key to success is making your own decisions.Mr. Play-it-Safe was afraid to fly. He packed his suitcase and kissed his kids goodbye. He waited his whole damn life to take that flight. And as the plane crashed down, he thought, Well isn't this nice… now I'll never make it to the National Association of Aviophobics conference in Reno, NV.A traffic jam when you're already late… to receive an award from the Municipal Planning Board for reducing the city's automobile congestion.A no-smoking sign on your cigarette break… at the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco corporate offices in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.Ten thousand spoons when all you need is a knife… with which to kill your spouse for cheating on you with the soup chef who works at Panera Bread.Meeting the man of my dreams and then meeting his beautiful wife… who happens to be the psychiatrist I recently hired in hopes of improving my luck with the opposite sex.

Rhetorical and Literary Devices: • satire: mocking an element or function of society (or society at large) with the purpose to raise awareness of a critical issue and to promote change

Rhetorical and Literary Devices: • logos: “reason or the rational principle expressed in words and things, argument, or justification.” • pathos: “the quality or power, in literature or speech, of arousing feelings of pity, sorrow, etc.” • ethos: “the moral element in literature that determines a character's action rather than his or her thought or emotion.”

Rhetorical and Literary Devices: • metaphor: a comparison using a ‘be’ verb. Ex. The sun is a giant ball of mustard. Narration: “Narration is the act of telling a sequence of events, often in chronological order. Alternatively, the term refers to any story, whether in prose or verse, involving events, characters, and what the characters say and do. A narrative is likewise the story or account itself. Some narrations are reportorial and historical, such as biographies, autobiographies, news stories, and historical accounts.”

Rhetorical and Literary Devices: • onomatopoeia: the formation of words whose sound is imitative of the sound of the noise or action designated, such as hiss, buzz, and bang. • oratory: skill or eloquence in public speaking. • pacing: the conscious control of speed or escalation in literature or speech (usually used in tension escalation and in arriving at a conclusive idea).

Rhetorical and Literary Devices: • parallel sentence: “Parallel structure means using the same pattern of words to show that two or more ideas have the same level of importance. This can happen at the word, phrase, or clause level.” • Ex. The coach told the players that they should get a lot of sleep, that they should not eat too much, and that they should do some warm-up exercises before the game. • Ex. She likes dancing, hiking, and clubbing.

Rhetorical and Literary Devices: • parody: “a literary or musical work in which the style of an author or work is closely imitated for comic effect or in ridicule.”

Rhetorical and Literary Devices: • periodic sentence: “A long and frequently involved sentence, marked by suspended syntax, in which the sense is not completed until the final word--usually with an emphatic climax.” • "To believe your own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men, that is genius” (Emerson) • "And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing"(The King James Bible, I Corinthians 13).

Rhetorical and Literary Devices: • persona: “a character assumed by an author in a written work” or a social role or a character played by an actor. Think of the voice a work (or the speaker) as different than the actual author. • ex. Robert Hayden’s “Middle Passage” or Robert Browning’s “My Last Duchess”

Rhetorical and Literary Devices: • Personification: giving inanimate objects human characteristics. • Prose: “the ordinary form of spoken or written language, without metrical structure, as distinguished from poetry or verse. • Rhetoric: the study of or the effective use of language. Mod—bombastic, aggressive language or language meant to promote an agenda (political or otherwise).

Rhetorical and Literary Devices: • Rhetorical question: “a question to which no answer is expected.” In an ethos argument, the lack of response puts more emphasis and support towards the morality/ethics of the unspoken answer. • “Who here is so base that would be a bondsman?” (Brutus, Julius Caesar, Act III, ii, 28)

Rhetorical and Literary Devices: • Ridicule: “Words designed to arouse laughter and contempt for a person, idea, or institution. The rhetorical goal is to condemn or criticize the object by ridicule by making it seem suitable only for mockery (i.e., "ridiculous"). Satirists and some rhetoricians use ridicule as the basis of criticism or argument because they know jokes cannot be satisfactorily addressed in a logical argument.”

Rhetorical and Literary Devices: • Sarcasm: “the act of ostensibly saying one thing but meaning another.” A type of verbal irony when the understood meaning conflicts with the stated meaning. • Ex. “I feel so miserable without you, it's almost like having you here.” Stephen Bishop • “I am not young enough to know everything.” Oscar Wilde

Rhetorical Devices