Rhetorical device - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhetorical_device[27/02/2012 09:27:21]

Rhetorical deviceFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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In rhetoric, a rhetorical device or resource of language is a technique that an author orspeaker uses to convey to the listener or reader a meaning with the goal of persuading him or hertowards considering a topic from a different perspective.

Contents [hide]

1 Goal of rhetorical devices2 Irony and metaphor3 Examples

3.1 Sonic devices3.2 Altered signification devices

4 External links

While rhetorical devices may be used to evoke an emotional response in the audience, there areother reasons to use them. The goal of rhetoric is to persuade towards a particular frame of view or aparticular course of action, so appropriate rhetorical devices are used to construct sentencesdesigned both to make the audience receptive through emotional changes and to provide a rationalargument for the frame of view or course of action.

Two rhetorical devices are irony and metaphor.

The use of irony in rhetoric is primarily to convey to the audience an incongruity that is often used asa tool of humor in order to deprecate or ridicule an idea or course of action.

The use of metaphor in rhetoric is primarily to convey to the audience a new idea or meaning bylinking it to an existing idea or meaning with which the audience is already familiar. By making thenew appear to be linked to or a type of the old and familiar, the person using the metaphor hopes tohelp the audience understand the new.

An example of rhetorical device is this passage attributed to a speech by Abraham Lincoln about apolitical adversary in which Lincoln said that his adversary had "dived down deeper into the sea ofknowledge and come up drier than any other man he knew".

[edit]Goal of rhetorical devices

[edit]Irony and metaphor

[edit]Examples

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Rhetorical device - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhetorical_device[27/02/2012 09:27:21]

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This attributed quote uses a body of water as a metaphor for a body of knowledge with the ironicalidea of someone who gained so little from his education that he achieved the impossible of jumpinginto a body of water and climbing back out without getting wet.

Sonic devices depend on sound.

1. Alliteration is the repetition of the beginning sound of a word. This device is used to emphasizesomething, especially some kind of threat, bad or danger. For example, "The zoo kept several selfishseals".

2. Assonance is the repetition of a similar set of sounds, it is used to emphasize intensity, evil, etc.

3. Cacophony is the eruption of chaotic, awful sound.

4. Onomatopoeia uses one or more onomatopoeic words (words that sound like what the author isdescribing).

Devices of altered signification shift the meaning of words.

1. Metaphor directly says something is something else. For example, "his beard was a lion's mane".

2. Simile is a gentler form of metaphor which tends to use "as" or "like" to compare something tosomething else. For example, "his beard was like a lion's mane."

Online Resource of Rhetorical DevicesHandbook of rhetorical devicesRhetorical Figures in Sound

Categories: Rhetorical techniques

[edit]Sonic devices

[edit]Altered signification devices

[edit]External links

wikipedia.orgRhetorical device - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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