Rhetorical Devices Glossary
AP Language and Composition
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.
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 midnight of the given deadline.
Entries not submitted will receive no more than ½ credit for the assignment.
Rhetorical Devices I
Use ALL devices listed below.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
tone
syntax
rhetorical question
personification
periodic sentence
loose sentence
parallel structure
irony
imagery
diction
colloquialism
allusion
Works Read to Date
“I Have a Dream” Speech, Martin Luther King, Jr.
“Black Men and Public Space” – Brent Staples
“Abigail Adams Letter” – Abigail Adams
“Girl” – Jamaica Kincaid
“How it Feels to be Colored Me” – Zora Neale Hurston
“Dear Boy” – Lord Chesterfield
“Shooting an Elephant” – George Orwell
“Lebron: I’m Coming Back to Cleveland” – Lebron James
“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 Novel