Rhetorical device  

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In rhetoric, a rhetorical device, persuasive device, or stylistic device is a technique that an author or speaker uses to convey to the listener or reader a meaning with the goal of persuading them towards considering a topic from a perspective, using language designed to encourage or provoke an emotional display of a given perspective or action. Rhetorical devices evoke an emotional response in the audience through use of language, but that is not their primary purpose. Rather, by doing so, they seek to make a position or argument more compelling than it would otherwise be.

Modes of persuasion

Originating from Aristotle's Rhetoric, the four modes of persuasion in an argument are as follows:

Logos 

is an appeal to logic using intellectual reasoning and argument structure such as giving claims, sound reasons for them, and supporting evidence.

Pathos 

is an appeal to the audience's emotions, often based on claims they hold. By influencing their feelings, the audience can be pushed to take an action, believe an argument, or respond in a certain way.

Ethos 

is an appeal based on the good character of the author. It involves persuading the audience that the author is credible and well-qualified, or possesses other desirable qualities that mean the author's arguments carry weight.

Kairos 

is an appeal to timing, such as whether the argument occurs at the right time and in the ideal surrounding context to be accepted. It has been argued to be the most important since no matter how logical, emotionally powerful and credible the argument, if the argument is made in an unsuitable context or environment, the audience will not be receptive to it.

Rhetorical devices can be used to facilitate and enhance the effectiveness of the use of rhetoric in any of the four above modes of persuasion. Rather than certain rhetorical devices falling under certain modes of persuasion, rhetorical devices are techniques authors, writers or speakers use to execute rhetorical appeals. Thus, they overlap with figures of speech, differing in that they are used specifically for persuasive purposes, and may involve how authors introduce and arrange arguments (see the section on discourse level devices) in addition to creative use of language.

Sonic devices

Sonic devices depend on sound. Sonic rhetoric is used as a clearer or swifter way of communicating content in an understandable way. Sonic rhetoric delivers messages to the reader or listener by prompting a certain reaction through auditory perception.

Alliteration

Alliteration is the repetition of the sound of an initial consonant or consonant cluster in subsequent syllables. It is one of the most well-known and effective rhetorical devices throughout literature and persuasive speeches.

From forth the fatal loins of these two foes,

A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life. (R&J Prologue)

Small showers last long but sudden storms are short. (R2 2.1)

Assonance

Assonance is the repetition of similar vowel sounds across neighbouring words.

So keen and greedy to confound a man. (MoV 3.2)

Blow wind, swell billow and swim bark! (Julius Caesar 5.1)

Consonance

Consonance is the repetition of consonant sounds across words which have been deliberately chosen. It is different from alliteration as it can happen at any place in the word, not just the beginning.

In the following example, the k sound is repeated five times.

...with streaks of light,

And flecked darkness like a drunkard reels... (R&J 2.3)

Cacophony

Cacophony refers to the use of unpleasant sounds, such as the explosive consonants k, g, t, d, p and b, the hissing sounds sh and s, and also the affricates ch and j, in rapid succession in a line or passage, creating a harsh and discordant effect.

Hear the loud alarum bells–

Brazen bells! What tale of terror, now, their turbulency tells!

In the startled ear of night

How they scream out their affright!

Too much horrified to speak,

They can only shriek, shriek... (Edgar Allan Poe, "The Bells")

Onomatopoeia

Onomatopoeia is the use of words that attempt to emulate a sound. When used colloquially, it is often accompanied by multiple exclamation marks and in all caps. It is common in comic strips and some cartoons.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":3" />

Some examples include these: smek, thwap, kaboom, ding-dong, plop, bang and pew.

Word repetition

Word repetition rhetorical devices operate via repeating words or phrases in various ways, usually for emphasis.

Anadiplosis/Conduplicatio

Anadiplosis involves repeating the last word(s) of one sentence, phrase or clause at or near the beginning of the next.<ref name=":3" />

To die, to sleep;
To sleep, perchance to dream... (Hamlet 3.1)

Who alone suffers, suffers most in the mind... (Lear 3.6)

It is the stars,
The stars above us govern our conditions. (Lear 4.3)

Conduplicatio is similar, involving repeating a key word in subsequent clauses.

Thou quiet soul, sleep thou a quiet sleep! (R3 5.3)

Anaphora/Epistrophe/Symploce/Epanalepsis

Anaphora is repeating the same word(s) at the beginning of successive sentences, phrases or clauses.<ref name=":1" />

There's no trust,
No faith, no honesty in men; all perjured,
All forsworn, all naught, all dissemblers. (R&J 3.2)

With mine own tears I wash away my balm,
With mine own hands I give away my crown,
With mine own tongue deny my sacred state,
With mine own breath release all duty's rites. (R2 4.1)

Epistrophe is repeating the same word(s) at the end instead.

If you had known the virtue of the ring,
Or half her worthiness that gave the ring,
Or your own honour to contain the ring,
You would not then have parted with the ring. (MoV 5.1)

Symploce is a simultaneous combination of both anaphora and epistrophe, but repeating different words at the start and end. That Angelo's forsworn; is it not strange?
That Angelo's a murderer; is't not strange?
That Angelo is an adulterous thief,
An hypocrite, a virgin-violator;
Is it not strange and strange? (Measure 5.1)

ALFRED DOOLITTLE: I'll tell you, Governor, if you'll only let me get a word in. I'm willing to tell you. I'm wanting to tell you. I'm waiting to tell you.
HENRY HIGGINS: Pickering, this chap has a certain natural gift of rhetoric. Observe the rhythm of his native woodnotes wild. 'I'm willing to tell you. I'm wanting to tell you. I'm waiting to tell you.' Sentimental rhetoric! That's the Welsh strain in him. It also accounts for his mendacity and dishonesty. (George Bernard Shaw, Pygmalion)

Epanalepsis repeats the same word(s) at the beginning and end.<ref name=":5" />

Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more! (H5 3.1)

Nothing will come of nothing. (Lear 1.1)

Epizeuxis/Antanaclasis

Epizeuxis is simply repetition of the same word without interruption.<ref name=":3" />

Words, words, words. (Hamlet 2.2)

O horror! Horror! Horror! (Macbeth 2.3)

Antanaclasis is more witty, repeating the same word but in a different sense. This can take advantage of polysemy.

Put out the light, and then put out the light. (Othello 5.2; first referring to extinguishing the candle, then referring to killing Desdemona.)

VIOLA: Dost thou live by thy labour?
CLOWN: No, sir, I live by the church. (12N 3.1)

Gaunt am I for the grave, gaunt as a grave. (R2 2.1; John of Gaunt plays on his name.)

Since you are dear bought, I will love you dear. (MoV 3.2; the first 'dear' has the meaning of 'at great cost')

Dreaming of you won't help me to do
All that you dreamed I could! (Andrew Lloyd Webber, Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again)

We must, indeed, all hang together, or most assuredly we shall all hang separately. (Benjamin Franklin)

Diacope

Diacope is the repetition of a word or phrase after an intervening word or clause. It can also be thought of as a reshaped epanalepsis.<ref name=":5" />

A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse! (R3 5.4)

Good queen, my lord, good queen, I say good queen. (Winter's Tale 2.3)

Farewell, my dearest sister, fare thee well:
The elements be kind to thee, and make
Thy spirits all of comfort! fare thee well. (A&C 3.2)

Word relation

Word relation rhetorical devices operate via deliberate connections between words within a sentence.

Antithesis/Antimetabole/Chiasmus

Antithesis involves putting together two opposite ideas in a sentence to achieve a contrasting effect.<ref name=":4" /> Contrast is emphasised by parallel but similar structures of the opposing phrases or clauses to draw the listeners' or readers' attention. Compared to chiasmus, the ideas must be opposites.

Scarce any joy
Did ever so long live; no sorrow
But killed itself much sooner. (Winter's Tale 5.3)

Some rise by sin, and some by virtue fall. (Measure 2.1)

The evil that men do lives after them,
The good is oft interred with their bones. (Julius Caesar 3.2)

QUEEN: Come, come, you answer with an idle tongue.
HAMLET: Go, go, you question with a wicked tongue. (Hamlet 3.1)

Antimetabole involves repeating but reversing the order of words, phrases or clauses. The exact same words are repeated, as opposed to antithesis or chiasmus.

Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country. (John F Kennedy Inaugural Address)

Suit the action to the word, the word to the action. (Hamlet 3.2)

The setting sun, and music at the close,
As the last taste of sweets, is sweetest last. (R2 2.1)

Cease to lament for that thou canst not help,
And study help for that which thou lament'st. (TGV 3.1)

Chiasmus involves parallel clause structure but in reverse order for the second part. This means that words or elements are repeated in the reverse order. The ideas thus contrasted are often related but not necessarily opposite.

But O, what damned minutes tells he o'er
Who dotes, yet doubts; suspects, yet strongly loves! (Othello 3.3)

Asyndeton/Polysyndeton

Asyndeton is the removal of conjunctions like "or," "and," or "but" where it might have been expected because the sentence flows better, or more poetically, without them.<ref name=":6" />

I might in virtue, beauties, livings, friends, exceed account... (MoV 3.2)

Accursed, unhappy, wretched, hateful day! (R&J 4.4)

Beguiled, divorced, wronged, spirited, slain! (R&J 4.5)

Are all thy conquests, glories, triumphs, spoils,
Shrunk to this little measure? (Julius Caesar 3.1)

Polysyndeton is the use of more conjunctions than strictly needed. This device is often combined with anaphora.<ref name=":6" />

We'll live,
And pray, and sing, and tell old tales, and laugh
At gilded butterflies, and hear poor rogues
Talk of court news... (Lear 5.3)

Auxesis/Catacosmesis

Auxesis is arranging words in a list from least to most significant. This can create climax.

Since brass, nor stone, nor earth, nor boundless sea,
But sad mortality o'er-sways their power... (Sonnet 65)

Today, today, unhappy day too late,
O'erthrows thy joys, friends, fortune, and thy state (R2 3.2)

Catacosmesis, the opposite, involves arranging them from most to least significant.<ref name=":7" />

Nor brass, nor stone, nor parchment bears not one. (Winter's Tale 1.2)

Be certain what you do, sir, lest your justice
Prove violence, in the which three great ones suffer,
Yourself, your queen, your son. (Winter's Tale 2.1)

This can create anticlimax for humour or other purposes.

He has seen the ravages of war, he has known natural catastrophes, he has been to singles bars. (Woody Allen)

Oxymoron

An oxymoron is a 2-word paradox often achieved through the deliberate use of antonyms. This creates an internal contradiction that can have rhetorical effect.

His humble ambition, proud humility;
His jarring concord, and his discord dulcet;
His faith, his sweet disaster. (All's Well 1.1)

I could weep
And I could laugh, I am light and heavy. (Coriolanus 2.1)

Zeugma/Syllepsis

Zeugma involves the linking of two or more words or phrases that occupy the same position in a sentence to another word or phrase in the same sentence. This can take advantage of the latter word having multiple meanings depending on context to create a clever use of language that can make the sentence and the claim thus advanced more eloquent and persuasive.

In the following examples, 2 nouns (as direct objects) are linked to the same verb which must then be interpreted in 2 different ways.

He caught the train and a bad cold.

This shirt attracts everything but men.

I held my breath and the door for you.

Dumbledore was striding serenely across the room wearing long midnight-blue robes and a perfectly calm expression. (J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix)

Zeugma is sometimes defined broadly to include other ways in which one word in a sentence can relate to two or more others. Even simple constructions like multiple subjects linked to the same verb are then "zeugma without complication".

Fred excelled at sports; Harvey at eating; Tom with girls.

Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears. (Julius Caesar 3.2)

Discourse level

Discourse level rhetorical devices rely on relations between phrases, clauses and sentences. Often they relate to how new arguments are introduced into the text or how previous arguments are emphasized. Examples include antanagoge, apophasis, aporia, hypophora, metanoia and procatalepsis.

Amplification/Pleonasm

Amplification involves repeating a word or expression while adding more detail, to emphasise what might otherwise be passed over.<ref name=":4" /> This allows one to call attention to and expand a point to ensure the reader realizes its importance or centrality in the discussion.

But this revolting boy, of course,
Was so unutterably vile,
So greedy, foul, and infantile
He left a most disgusting taste
Inside our mouths... (Roald Dahl, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory)

Pleonasm involves using more words than necessary to describe an idea. This creates emphasis and can introduce additional elements of meaning.

I heard it with my own ears.

I should have found in some place of my soul
A drop of patience. (Othello 4.2)

Swerve not from the smallest article of it, neither in time, matter or other circumstance. (Measure 4.2)

Antanagoge

Antanagoge involves 'placing a good point or benefit next to a fault criticism, or problem in order to reduce the impact or significance of the negative point'.

Within the infant rind of this weak flower
Poison hath residence, and medicine power. (R&J 2.3)

One scenario involves a situation when one is unable to respond to a negative point and chooses instead to introduce another point to reduce the accusation's significance.

We may be managing the situation poorly, but so did you at first.

Antanagoge can also be used to positively interpret a negative situation:

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.<ref name=":1" />

Apophasis

Apophasis is the tactic of bringing up a subject by denying that it should be brought up.<ref>Baird, A. Craig; Thonssen, Lester (1948). "Chapter 15 The Style of Public Address". Speech Criticism, the Development of Standards for Rhetorical Appraisal. Ronald Press Co. p. 432.</ref> It is also known as paralipsis, occupatio, praeteritio, preterition, or parasiopesis.

There's something tells me, but it is not love,
I would not lose you; and you know yourself,
Hate counsels not in such a quality. (MoV 3.2)

This device has a number of effects that make it quite useful in politics. Donald Trump, for instance, has been noted to frequently use apophasis when attacking his political opponents.

Aporia

Aporia is the rhetorical expression of doubt.<ref name=":3" /> The most famous example of this is undoubtedly Hamlet's soliloquy, which begins:

To be or not to be, that is the question. (Hamlet 3.1)

Another example is in Antony's famous speech at Caesar's funeral, which includes examples such as:

Did this in Caesar seem ambitious? When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept. (Julius Caesar 3.2)

When the rhetorical question posed is answered, this is also an instance of hypophora.

Diasyrmus

Rejecting an argument through ridiculous comparison.<ref>Silva Rhetoricae, Diasyrmus, accessed 13 November 2020</ref>

Derision

This involves setting up an opposing position to ridicule without offering a counterargument,<ref name=":2" /> such as:

You believe we should vote for him? I've got a bridge to sell you.

No reason for why one should not vote for him is given. It is merely implied that it would be gullible to do so.

Enthymeme

Syllogism which omits either one of the premises or the conclusion. The omitted part must be clearly understood by the reader. Sometimes this depends on contextual knowledge.

Mark'd ye his words? He would not take the crown;
Therefore 'tis certain he was not ambitious. (Julius Caesar 3.2; the premise implied is that no ambitious person would refuse the crown)

They say it takes hundreds of years to build a nation.
Welcome to Singapore. (Singapore Tourism Board campaign; to arrive at the omitted conclusion that Singapore is exceptional, the visitor must know that Singapore has but a short history of 50-odd years as an independent nation)

Hyperbole

Hyperbole is deliberate exaggeration.<ref name=":3" /> This can be for literary effect:

The brightness of her cheek would shame those stars,
As daylight doth a lamp; her eyes in heaven
Would through the airy region stream so bright
That birds would sing and think it were not night (R&J 2.2)

His face was as the heavens...
His legs bestrid the ocean: his rear'd arm
Crested the world... realms and islands were
As plates dropp'd from his pocket. (A&C 5.2)

Or for argumentative effect:

Her election to Parliament would be the worst thing to ever happen to this country! <ref name=":2" />

Hypophora

The use of hypophora is the technique whereby one asks a question and then proceeds to answer the question. This device is one of the most useful strategies in writing essays to inform or persuade a reader.

Can honour set to a leg? No. Or an arm? No. Or take away the grief of a wound? No. Honour hath no skill in surgery, then? No. What is honour? A word. What is in that word honour? What is that honour? Air. A trim reckoning! Who hath it? He that died a' Wednesday. Doth he feel it? No. Doth he hear it? No. 'Tis insensible, then? Yea, to the dead. But will it not live with the living? No. Why? Detraction will not suffer it. (1H4 5.1)

Innuendo

This device indirectly implies an accusation without explicitly stating it.<ref name=":2" /> This can be combined with apophasis.

I know you aren't an alcoholic, but I did notice you've replaced all the bottles in your liquor cabinet.

Metanoia

Metanoia qualifies a statement or by recalling or rejecting it in part or full, and then re-expressing it in a better, milder, or stronger way.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":5" /> A negative is often used to do the recalling.

All faults that may be named, nay, that hell knows... (Cymbeline 2.4)

He was the best of men - no, of all humanity.

Procatalepsis

By anticipating and answering a possible objection, procatalepsis allows an argument to continue while rebutting points opposing it. It is a relative of hypophora. Procatalepsis shows that concerns have been thought through.<ref name=":4" />

'All right!' you'll cry. 'All right!' you'll say,
'But if we take the set away,
What shall we do to entertain
Our darling children? Please explain!'
We'll answer this by asking you,
'What used the darling ones to do?
How used they keep themselves contented
Before this monster was invented?' (Roald Dahl, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory)

Understatement

Understatement, or meiosis, involves deliberately understating the importance, significance or magnitude of a subject. This means the force of the description is less than what is expected, thus highlighting the irony or extreme nature of an event.<ref name=":4" />

The war situation has developed not necessarily to Japan's advantage. (The Hirohito surrender broadcast)

BENVOLIO: What, art thou hurt?
MERCUTIO: Ay, ay, a scratch, a scratch. (R&J 3.1; Mercutio dies of his wounds shortly after.)

The captain's announcement onboard British Airways Flight 9 has been described as 'a masterpiece of understatement':

Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. We have a small problem. All four engines have stopped. We are doing our damnedest to get them going again. I trust you are not in too much distress.

A subtype of understatement is litotes, which uses negation:

Heatwaves are not rare in the summer.

Irony and imagery

Irony

Irony is the figure of speech where the words of a speaker intends to express a meaning that is directly opposite of the said words.

Here, under leave of Brutus and the rest -
For Brutus is an honourable man;
So are they all, all honourable men -
Come I to speak in Caesar's funeral.
He was my friend, faithful and just to me:
But Brutus says he was ambitious;
And Brutus is an honourable man. (Julius Caesar 3.2; Antony attacks Brutus's character and that of his co-conspirators)

Metaphor

Metaphor connects two different things to one another. It is frequently invoked by the to be verb. The use of metaphor in rhetoric is primarily to convey to the audience a new idea or meaning by linking it to an already familiar idea or meaning. The literary critic and rhetorician, I. A. Richards, divides a metaphor into two parts: the vehicle and the tenor.

In the following example, Romeo compares Juliet to the sun (the vehicle), and this metaphor connecting Juliet to the sun shows that Romeo sees Juliet as being radiant and regards her as an essential being (the tenor).

But soft, what light through yonder window breaks?
It is the East, and Juliet is the sun. (R&J 2.2)

Personification

Personification is the representation of animals, inanimate objects and ideas as having human attributes.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":3" />

In the following example Romeo personifies love as being blind yet able to enamour someone.

Alas that love, whose view is muffled still,
Should without eyes see pathways to his will! (R&J 1.1)

In another example:

The gray-eyed morn smiles on the frowning night (R&J 2.3)

Simile

Simile compares two different things that resemble each other in at least one way.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":3" /> It uses the as... as construction as compared to metaphor which is direct equivalence.

In the following example, the nurse compares Romeo's manners and behaviour to a lamb.

I'll warrant him, as gentle as a lamb. (R&J 2.5)

Another example can be seen in a conversation between Emilia and Othello.

OTHELLO: She was false as water.
EMILIA: Thou art rash as fire,
To say that she was false. Oh, she was
heavenly true! (Othello, 5.2)

Metonymy

Metonymy is a figure of speech where a thing or concept is referred to indirectly by the name of an attribute or adjunct for that of the thing meant.

Examples:

- "crown" to denote king or queen.

- Oval Office or Washington to refer to the President of the United States of America.

Synecdoche

A synecdoche is a class of metonymy, often by means of either mentioning a part for the whole or conversely the whole for one of its parts. Examples from common English expressions include "suits" (for "businessmen"), "boots" (for "soldiers") (pars pro toto), and "America" (for "the United States of America", totum pro parte).

See also

• Figure of speech
• Glossary of rhetorical terms
• Rhetorical modes
• Stylistic device
• Translation (rhetorical device)
• Literary technique