Rhetorical Device Glossary
Every discipline employs a special vocabulary;; rhetorical criticism is no exception. Rhetorical criticism is based in part on the assumption that writing is a purposeful activity and that excellent writing resulting in works of rhetorical merit is not merely a happy accident. During the year you will familiarize yourself with some of the terminology that is used in rhetorical criticism. To that end, you will be creating a glossary of rhetorical devices that you encounter in your reading during your Junior year. You are required to submit FOUR entries each semester (one per month). You MUST complete entries for the FOUR principle rhetorical devices over the course of the entire school year: *Tone *Parallel Structure *Allusion *Appeals (Ethos, Logos, Pathos) You must also select rhetorical devices from the list below for your remaining entries. Any device that you wish to use that is not included on this list WILL NEED TO BE CLEARED WITH ME FIRST. *Allegory *Alliteration *Analogy *Anaphora *Anecdote *Antithesis *Asyndeton *Colloquialism *Connotation *Dialect *Diction (unusual word choice) *Euphemism *Hyperbole *Imagery *Irony (situational, dramatic, verbal) *Juxtaposition *Litotes (understatement) *Metaphor *Paradox *Parody *Personification *Point of View (for specific effect) *Rhetorical Question *Sarcasm *Satire *Simile *Syllogism (Toulmin model) *Stereotype *Syntax (for effect) *Symbolism *Tautology *Zeugma ____________________________________________________________________________ Over the course of your Junior year you’ll be asked to complete a number of rhetorical device entries. Any time you encounter a device from the above list, whether it is in your outside reading (approved by Ms. Ables) or it is in a text we are studying as a class, you can use that device for a glossary entry. However, only two of the required four entries each semester can be from assigned reading. You can however, turn in as many outside sources as you can find. GUIDELINES *You must submit one (1) entry by the end of each month. There will not be a device due in December, and January’s will be due January 8th (unless otherwise specified). *You may only use each source once for the entire year. *All entries must be typed, edited, and in the correct format in order to be graded *All original entries will be turned in digitally via Turnitin.com (unless otherwise notified). *Each device may be revised once. All revisions must be turned in by Friday January 22nd. (Second semester date(s) will be shared in February). *Revisions must be turned in as a hard-­copy with a printed copy of the original containing the score and comments received from Ms.Ables. Revisions will not be graded unless they are attached to the original scored entry. *Use of texts from your previous English classes are not acceptable. *Plagiarized entries will result in a zero (0) for the entire literary device assignment, and you will not be able to make-­up the assignment. *You may NOT turn in more for extra credit. *You may only use each rhetorical device once throughout the entire year. *Only one cartoon may be analyzed throughout the school year. *Any religious publications may NOT be used.
Approved Periodicals & Newspapers for outside Rhetorical Device Entries:
The Bulletin
The Oregonian
The New York Times
Wall Street Journal
Washington Post
Financial Times
The Daily Beast
Newsweek
Time
The New Yorker
The Economist
The Atlantic Monthly
Business Week
Forbes
Times (London)
Telegraph (London)
All other publications listed on www.msablesclassroom.com ‘s Newsstand page.
Note: Often Ms. Ables has the hard copy of articles, documents and publications in her room
(C111) which you are able to use as an external source if it is not used in class.
How to Write an Acceptable Rhetorical Device Glossary Entry
The purpose of this assignment is for you as a reader to understand the function of the
rhetorical device in the text. Why did the author use this device? What was he/she trying
to achieve?
What must be included in each rhetorical device entry and in the exact format in order to
be graded:
Source:
Following proper MLA documentation. (attach article if not from a
classroom textbook)
Tone:
The writer’s attitude toward the material and/or readers (use
brevity here – one or two adjectives or adverbs)
Rhetorical Mode(s): The purpose of the author (use the list on the wall in the classroom
or the worksheet)
(1) List the main mode, and then list others that are present
Assertion/Claim/Thesis: A clear and focused statement of the author’s purpose in
writing this essay/novel/speech
Audience:
Who was the intended audience for this essay/speech/novel
Rhetorical Device:
List the device and the correct definition
Example:
Pull the specific phrase from the text that exhibits the above
mentioned rhetorical device.
Vocabulary (2 words):List and define TWO words used within the text of the
essay/novel/speech that you did not know beforehand and include
the correct definition
Function:
See below for what this section (the paragraph form of the entry)
must include).
The function discussion is the most important part of you rhetorical device.
Unfortunately, it is also the most difficult (isn’t that just typical?). However, if you are
certain to include the FOUR C’s in your function discussion, you will always find
success.
Each rhetorical device entry (focusing on function) needs to include:
1. Context: Always include the title of the work and the author’s name. The context sets
up the text portion you are about to discuss. In other words, you need to BRIEFLY
introduce the general circumstances in your example. This does not mean you need to
summarize the entire plot of the novel. For example, if you were using an example from
the eighth chapter of To Kill A Mockingbird you would not need to include any
unnecessary information from the first few chapter in the novel – such as the fact that
Scout didn’t like school and had been scolded by Miss Caroline. You would instead
mention that Jem and Scout had created a snowman made of dirt and snow, but were later
scolded by their father because of its resemblance to their neighbor, etc., etc.
2. Concept: What is the specific device that you are addressing? Use it in the present
tense and use the active voice (i.e. “This symbolizes the . . .) when referring to the
literary device. Make certain you discuss it directly and are specific rather than general.
Also, it is very important that you make sure you have correctly identified the device.
3. Connection: Discuss in clear and specific terms exactly how the rhetorical device
contributes to the essay/novel/speech as a whole. In other words, how does the rhetorical
device reinforce and contribute to what is occurring in the larger context. When
discussing the connection, artistic or otherwise, make certain that you address how this
language device operates within the passage. Why did the author choose to use this
particular device instead of another one at this point in their piece?
For example, it is typical for students to say that a device gives a passage “flow”. This is
not a helpful comment unless that “flow” is connected to something specific in terms of
the effect. All writing should “flow” to some extent – addressing what there is about the
“flow” that shapes the text is the key.
4. Conventions: Proper syntax: punctuation, correct spelling and capitalization, accurate
subject/verb agreement, must be used in entirety throughout each entry in order to receive
credit. As a writer you must properly cite the title of your source within your entry
(follow MLA documentation). An article is always placed within quotation marks “The
Ways We Lie” while the title of a novel or a piece of artwork can be either underlined or
italicized Guernica or The Crucible.
TOTAL POINTS POSSIBLE: 13
Remember that merely pointing out a rhetorical device does not mean that you
understand its effect on the passage as a whole. You have to be specific about its
function. If you are certain to include the FOUR C’s, then you will be successful.
C C C C
EXAMPLE of Rhetorical Device Entry
Ms Ables
AP Lang – 1 period
9/19/2014
Rhet. Dev. #1
Source:
Quindlen, Anna. “Commencement Speech at Mount Holyoke College”.
The Language of Composition. Eds.Aufses, Robin Dissin,
Lawrence Scanlon & Renee H. Shea. New York:
Bedford/St.Martin’s, 2008. 296-299.
Tone:
impassioned, encouraging, insightful
Rhetorical Mode(s): (1) Argument & Persuasion, Example, Description, Cause & Effect
Assertion/Claim/Thesis: While striving for perfection can be of value to a certain
degree, it is vital, if one is seeking to live up to their true potential, to let go of the need to
be perfect and instead be willing to be the unique individual that each person is capable
of being.
Audience:
The graduating class of Mount Holyoke College in 1999 which is
an all girl’s college.
Rhetorical Device:
Example:
connotation - the association evoked by a word beyond its
denotation, or literal meaning
“Finally, it was harder to become perfect because I realized, at Barnard,
that I was not the smartest girl in the world. Eventually being perfect day
after day, year after year, became like always carrying a backpack filled
with bricks on my back. And oh, how I secretly longed to lay my burden
down.”
Vocabulary (2 words):
foible (n) –
a minor weakness or failing of character; a small but persistent
personal fault
homogenization (n) - the act of making something homogeneous (of the same or
similar nature or kind) or uniform in composition
Function:
Anna Quindlen in her commencement address to the graduating women from
Mount Holyoke College in 1999 speaks to the tendency of their generation, and
especially this group of accomplished young women, to pursue perfection in what she
denounces as a fault each graduate should avoid as being the focus of their lives. In fact,
she unexpectedly directs the graduates to give up, give up the backpack that contains the
weighted burden of perfection that she ardently believes will not be beneficial in pursuing
a fulfilling and contented life.
Upon addressing perfection, she compares it to something that is holding the
individual back and anchoring them to a life that doesn’t allow for mistakes thus
providing lessons and glimpses into an individual’s true potential. By prodding her
audience to let go of their perfection addiction, she admits that she too strove to be
perfect during her youth, when in fact she finally realized, “And oh, how I secretly
longed to lay my burden down” (296).
The use of the word “burden” connotates that indeed a backpack full of bricks is
heavy literally, and the figurative definition is that the backpack of heavy bricks is the
weight of perfection on a student’s shoulders as they attempt to earn great success.
By using connotation, Quindlen paints a vivid image in her listeners’ minds of
how weighty perfection can be and how it can actually slow one down or stunt one’s
ability to get ahead. By using bricks, listeners can easily understand the actual weight of
such an object and by using backpacks she clearly is aware of her audience and the
academic culture they have been living in during the past sixteen years of their lives.