Rhetorical Devices Glossary AP Language and Composition Due: Thursday December 11th at the start of your assigned class. Submitted to turnitin.com by 9.59 pm on Wednesday December 10th . Every discipline employs a special vocabulary; rhetoric is no exception. To encourage you to
remember and understand these terms, you will be creating a glossary. I will furnish you with
various terms based on our study of different letters, memoirs, essays, speeches, plays and novels.
Please keep each term on a separate page in that section of your notebook entitled “Rhetorical
Device Glossary.” Your glossary should be prefaced by a master list (table of contents).
Each glossary entry should include: term, example and function. You will need to complete all of
your glossary entries according to that format EXACTLY, and ALL ENTRIES MUST BE TYPED
IN ORDER TO RECEIVE ANY CREDIT. Your examples must come from the texts we study in
class.
Grading: Glossary entries are graded according to the following scale: 1 point for definition, 1
point for example, and 3 points for the function discussion. Any entry must consist of all three
components in order to be scored at all.
 Bonus points are available for visual depiction of terms (you don’t need a visual for every
term) and it must have a clear relevance to the term.
 You may work in pairs to complete this glossary.
Format
Term:
Definition of the rhetorical term
Example:
Quotation, followed by source, including title, page/line number
Function:
Author’s purpose in employing this language resource at this point in the work. How
does this particular rhetorical strategy enhance the writer’s argument, purpose or
tone? You may comment on theme, character, style, or whatever else is important in
explaining how this device functions in this particular instance.
Example 1
Allusion:
A reference to a literary, mythological, or historical person, place, or event that is
generally deemed to be common knowledge.
Example:
Referring to Biff and Happy, Willy Loman states, “That’s why I thank Almighty
God you’re both built like Adonises because the man who makes an appearance…”
(Death of a Salesman Act I, 21).
Function:
According to Greek myth, Adonis was such a beautiful baby that Aphrodite put him
in a chest to keep him safe. In keeping with his value system and idealistic beliefs,
Willie is supremely grateful that his sons were “Adonises,” ensuring (at least in
Willy’s mind) that their good looks would lead to immediate success in the business
world. Ironically – and contributing to the tragedy of Death of a Salesman – his
sons’ looks did not help them “get ahead.”
Example 2
Symbolism:
The employment of something, usually concrete, such as an object, action, character,
or scene, that represents something more abstract
Example:
In “Shooting an Elephant,” George Orwell states, “As soon as I saw the elephant I
knew with perfect certainty that I ought not to shoot him. It is a serious matter to
shoot a working elephant – it is comparable to destroying a huge and costly piece of
machinery – and obviously one ought not to do it if it can be possibly avoided. And
at that distance, peacefully eating, the elephant looked no more dangerous than a
cow” (50 Essays 279-280).
Function:
Symbolism is present in Orwell’s “Shooting an Elephant” with the elephant
representing the occupied country (in this case Burma) and Orwell representing the
imperialist occupier. Ultimately, the elephant cannot be controlled and it suffers and
dies. Similar is Orwell’s point of the frivolity of imperialism; it is ineffective and in
the end only harm will come to the occupied country, not the peaceful coexistence
desired.
The inspiration for this page came from Mrs. Marci Belgard, Hanford High School, Richland,
Washington.
Need help understanding a term? Check out A Handbook of Rhetorical Devices by Robert A.
Harris at http://www.virtualsalt.com/rhetoric.htm, The Forest Rhetoric by Dr. Gideon Burton at
http://humanities.byu.edu/rhetoric/silva.htm and A Glossary of Rhetorical Terms with Examples at
http://www.uky.edu/AS/Classics/rhetoric.html.
Your glossary must be submitted to Turnitin.com by 9.59pm on Wednesday December 10th .
Entries not submitted to Turnitin.com will receive no more than ½ credit for the assignment.
Rhetorical Devices Use ALL devices listed below. 1. tone 7. parallel structure 2. syntax 8. irony 3. rhetorical question 9. imagery 4. personification 10. diction 5. periodic sentence 11. colloquialism 6. loose sentence 12. allusion Works Read to Date “I Have a Dream” Speech, Martin Luther King, Jr. “Black Men and Public Space” – Brent Staples “Myth of a Latin Woman” – Judith Ortiz Cofer “Girl” – Jamaica Kincaid “How it Feels to be Colored Me” – Zora Neale Hurston “Dear Boy” – Lord Chesterfield “Shooting an Elephant” – George Orwell “I’m Coming Home to Cleveland” – LeBron James I phone 5C Transcript “”Leonard Pitts: GOP’s New Star Dr. Ben Carson a Slave Insensitive to Hyperbole” The Scarlet Letter – Nathaniel Hawthorne The Crucible – Arthur Miller Summer Reading Novels Grading Sheet Rhetorical Device Definition Example 1 pt Function 3 Total 1pt pt 1. tone 2. syntax 3. rhetorical question 4. personification 5. periodic sentence 6. loose sentence 7. parallel structure 8. irony 9. imagery 10. diction 11. colloquialism 12. allusion Extra Credit Illustrations (max 5 pts) Contents Assignment Presentation Total Points: