Rhetorical device


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 values 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 in addition to creative use of language.

Sonic devices

Sonic devices depend on sound.

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.
Small showers last long but sudden storms are short.

Assonance

is the repetition of similar vowel sounds across neighbouring words.
So keen and greedy to confound a man.
Blow wind, swell billow and swim bark!

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…

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…

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.
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

involves repeating the last word of one sentence, phrase or clause at or near the beginning of the next.
To die, to sleep;
To sleep, perchance to dream…
Who alone suffers, suffers most in the mind…
It is the stars,
The stars above us govern our conditions.
Conduplicatio is similar, involving repeating a key word in subsequent clauses.
Thou quiet soul, sleep thou a quiet sleep!

Anaphora/Epistrophe/Symploce/Epianalepsis

is repeating the same word at the beginning of successive sentences, phrases or clauses.
There’s no trust,
No faith, no honesty in men; all perjured,
All forsworn, all naught, all dissemblers.
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.
Epistrophe is repeating the same word 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.
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?
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.
Epanalepsis repeats the same word at the beginning and end.
Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more!
Nothing will come of nothing.

Epizeuxis/Antanaclasis

is simply repetition of the same word without interruption.
Words, words, words.
O horror! Horror! Horror!
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.
VIOLA: Dost thou live by thy labour?
CLOWN: No, sir, I live by the church.
Gaunt am I for the grave, gaunt as a grave.
Since you are dear bought, I will love you dear.
Dreaming of you won't help me to do
All that you dreamed I could!
We must, indeed, all hang together, or most assuredly we shall all hang separately.

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.
A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse!
Good queen, my lord, good queen, I say good queen.
Farewell, my dearest sister, fare thee well:
The elements be kind to thee, and make
Thy spirits all of comfort! fare thee well.

Word relation

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

Antithesis/Antimetabole/Chiasmus

involves putting together two opposite ideas in a sentence to achieve a contrasting effect. 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.
Some rise by sin, and some by virtue fall.
The evil that men do lives after them,
The good is oft interred with their bones.
QUEEN: Come, come, you answer with an idle tongue.
HAMLET: Go, go, you question with a wicked tongue.
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.
Suit the action to the word, the word to the action.
The setting sun, and music at the close,
As the last taste of sweets, is sweetest last.
Cease to lament for that thou canst not help,
And study help for that which thou lament'st.
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!

Asyndeton/Polysyndeton

is the removal of conjunctions like “or,” “and,” or “but” from your writing where it might have been expected because the sentence flows better, or more poetically, without them.
I might in virtue, beauties, livings, friends, exceed account…
Accursed, unhappy, wretched, hateful day!
Beguiled, divorced, wronged, spirited, slain!
Are all thy conquests, glories, triumphs, spoils,
Shrunk to this little measure?
Polysyndeton is the use of more conjunctions than strictly needed. This device is often combined with anaphora.
We'll live,
And pray, and sing, and tell old tales, and laugh
At gilded butterflies, and hear poor rogues
Talk of court news...

Auxesis/Catacosmesis

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...
Today, today, unhappy day too late,
O'erthrows thy joys, friends, fortune, and thy state
Catacosmesis, the opposite, involves arranging them from most to least significant.
Nor brass, nor stone, nor parchment bears not one.
Be certain what you do, sir, lest your justice
Prove violence, in the which three great ones suffer,
Yourself, your queen, your son.
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.

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.
I could weep
And I could laugh, I am light and heavy.

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 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.
Zeugma is sometimes defined broadly to include other ways in which one word in a sentence can relate to two or more others. Even a 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.

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

involves repeating a word or expression while adding more detail, to emphasise what might otherwise be passed over. 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…
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.
Swerve not from the smallest article of it, neither in time, matter or other circumstance.

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.
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.

Apophasis

is the tactic of bringing up a subject by denying that it should be brought up. 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.
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

is the rhetorical expression of doubt. The most famous example of this is undoubtedly Hamlet’s soliloquy, which begins:
To be or not to be, that is the question.
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.
When the rhetorical question posed is answered, this is also an instance of hypophora.

Derision

This involves setting up an opposing position to ridicule without offering a counterargument, 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

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.
They say it takes hundreds of years to build a nation.
Welcome to Singapore.

Hyperbole

is deliberate exaggeration. 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
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.
Or for argumentative effect:
Her election to Parliament would be the worst thing to ever happen to this country!

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.

Innuendo

This device indirectly implies an accusation without explicitly stating it. 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

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. A negative is often used to do the recalling.
All faults that may be named, nay, that hell knows…
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 can be used strategically to show that concerns have been thought through.
‘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?’

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.
The war situation has developed not necessarily to Japan's advantage.
BENVOLIO: What, art thou hurt?
MERCUTIO: Ay, ay, a scratch, a scratch.
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

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.

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. The tenor is the subject of the comparison and the vehicle is the metaphorical term itself, or to phrase it differently, the vehicle is the image that illumines the subject of the metaphor.
In the following example, Romeo compares Juliet to the sun, and this metaphor connecting Juliet to the sun shows that Romeo sees Juliet as being radiant and regards her as an essential being.
But soft, what light through yonder window breaks?
It is the East, and Juliet is the sun.

Personification

is the representation of animals, inanimate objects and ideas as having human attributes.
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!
In another example:
The gray-eyed morn smiles on the frowning night

Simile

compares two different things that resemble each other in at least one way. 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.
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!