RhetoricBecause speeches are delivered orally, they often have greater emotional impact than other non-fiction works. To achieve emotion and persuasion, speeches usually include the use of rhetoric, or rhetorical devices. These are patterns of words and ideas that create emphasis, clarify meaning,and stir listeners’ emotions. These are just a few.

  1. Restatement- expressing the same ideas using different words (e.g. “…we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow—this ground.” –Abraham Lincoln)
  1. Anaphora- repetition of the same word or group of words at the beginning of successive sentences, clauses, or phrases (e.g. “We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans…” -Winston Churchill)
  1. Rhetorical Questions- questions asked for effect rather than answers (e.g. “From such an assembly can a perfect production be expected?” – Benjamin Franklin)
  1. Repetition- restating an idea using the same words (e.g. “The war is inevitable—and let it come! I repeat it, sir, let it come!” –Patrick Henry)
  1. Parallelism- repeating a grammatical structure (e.g. “With malice toward none; with charity for all…” – Abraham Lincoln) (A set of similarly structured words, phrases, or clauses that appears in a sentence or paragraph. Ex 1:The dog ran, stumbled, and fell. Ex 2:"After two years I remember the rest of that day, and that night and the next day…" (Fitzgerald 17).)
  1. Antithesis- use of a strongly contrasting words, images, or ideas (e.g. “That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.” -Neil Armstrong) (e.g. “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.” – JFK)
  1. Exclamation- an emotional statement, often indicated in texts by an exclamation mark (e.g. “…as for me, give me liberty or give me death!” –Patrick Henry)
  1. Allusions- references to well- known people or events from history or literature (e.g. Patrick Henry alludes to the biblical figure of Judas, who betrayed Jesus “with a kiss”: “Trust it not sir; it will prove a snare to your feet. Suffer not yourselves to be betrayed with a kiss.”)
  1. Ambiguity—vagueness; an event, situation, or expression that may be interpreted in more than one way
  1. Either/or fallacy—arguing that a situation can be explained in only two ways (e.g.“Either we ban all foreign imports, or American industries will collapse.”)
  1. Assertion—statement put forth as true; a declaration
  1. Concession- giving in to part of the objection
  1. Ethos- the use of moral/ethical appeal (decorum--what is appropriate; virtue; knowing right; interest in audience)
  1. Pathos- the use of emotional appeal in order to provoke a listener’s deeper emotions
  1. Logos- the logical appeal used to bring about the listener’s sound and rational thoughts
  1. Metonymy- figure of speech where the name of an object closely associated with a word is substituted for the word itself (e.g. The White House announced . . . ., or saying “the crown” in place of the monarch)
  1. Idiom- a meaning that cannot be derived from its elements (e.g. “I have a green thumb.”)
  1. Polysyndeton- the deliberate use of many conjunctions (“She made okra and beans and rice and ham.)
  1. Polyptoton-the repetition of word forms (e.g. “Viewing the scene, he came to understand a different viewpoint.”)
  1. Epistrophe- the repetition of words at end of lines
  1. Caesura- a pause or break in middle of a line (of poetry)
  1. Asyndeton- the deliberate omission of conjunctions in a series (e.g. “I came, I saw, I conquered.”)
  1. Hypophora- Figure of reasoning in which one or more questions is/are asked and then answered, often at length, by one and the same speaker; raising and responding to one's own question(s). (e.g. “"When the enemy struck on that June day of 1950, what did America do?It did what it always has done in all its times of peril. It appealed to the heroism of its youth."- Eisenhower)
  1. Direct Address- when a speaker or writer specifically addresses a single individual by name or title. Sometimes, a speaker or writer will choose to address an important individual or leader of a larger group he/she is addressing.