If you want to be a rhetorical devices finder, you might have plenty to look for here in this blog post. Indeed, you can find them in speeches, in literature, and in writing – like this blog post, as you might have noticed rhetorical devices parallelism in this sentence.
Here’s the thing that’s important to note and for students to know:
While we see rhetorical devices in “I Have a Dream ” and in the Gettysburg Address, famous, powerful speeches and texts that have shaped history, we also see these devices in everyday communication in texts, emails, and conversations. We don’t need to be MLK or Lincoln to use rhetoric to persuade and influence an audience; we just need to be aware of the rhetorical situation.
Rhetorical Devices Definition
According to Grammarly, “A rhetorical device is a linguistic tool that evokes a specific kind of understanding in a reader or listener. Generally, rhetorical devices are used to make arguments or bolster existing arguments.”
In other words, another way to think of rhetorical devices‘ meaning is it’s how we say what we say, and the how connects to the why.
Why do we, for example, talk to students one way and our colleagues another?
Why is our diction different at a bar versus at a school?
Why’s it most appropriate to discuss a subject in a certain place and a certain time with a certain audience?
Rhetorical devices are choices we make in different rhetorical situations, and we make choices to achieve our goals as writers, helping us to write more effectively.
Rhetoric Examples
You can find a rhetorical devices list in many places online (like at the Merriam-Webster website) to see examples.
As you’ll see, there are many out there; here’s a quick list of some you might encounter in writing and communication: alliteration, assonance, consonance, parallel structure, asyndeton, polysyndeton, anadiplosis, anaphora, juxtaposition, etc.
Need an activity for your students?
>> Here’s a fun rhetorical devices sorting activity on Teachers Pay Teachers!
There are just so many–too many to name and definitely too many to remember.
Indeed, rhetoric is all around us, so it’s better to acknowledge that everything a writer does with diction and syntax is a rhetorical choice, and if we can’t name or label the rhetorical device, that’s okay! We don’t need to name something to analyze it or to appreciate it.
Let’s see this illustrated in rhetorical devices in “Letter from Birmingham Jail.”
“Letter From Birmingham Jail” – Rhetorical Devices AP Lang
I mention AP Lang above because the rhetorical devices in “Letter from Birmingham Jail” and the text itself are mainstays in an AP Language and Composition class. So let’s pretend that we assigned the text to students and asked them to highlight rhetorical choices of note.
Here are some of the things they might find:
Rhetorical Devices Repetition: “We will reach the goal of freedom in Birmingham and all over the nation, because the goal of America is freedom.”
Note the repetition of “the goal,” once in each part of the sentence, emphasizing MLK’s point here. Here students will see the rhetorical devices repetition and can discuss its use and purpose, but they don’t need to name or label it.
(In other words, to what extent is it necessary to know the sentence above uses anadiplosis–the repetition of the last word of a preceding clause–to appreciate and analyze King’s rhetoric? Is it important to know the difference between anadiplosis and rhetorical devices anaphora, the repetition of a word or phrase at the start of successive clauses or sentences? My answers? Not at all!)
Rhetorical Devices Antithesis: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
Rhetorical Devices Analogy: “The church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society.”
When students see this sentence, they won’t shout analogy, but they will see a comparison, which is what an analogy is–a comparison used to clarify points and make complex ideas more relatable.
In this case, King compares the church to a thermometer and a thermostat to explain its role in either merely reflecting societal norms or actively shaping and transforming them.
From Devices and Choices to Rhetorical Appeals
What do all these rhetorical devices add up to in a speech, a letter, an essay, a blog, etc.? In many ways, they create rhetorical appeals: logos, ethos, and pathos.
Rhetorical devices ethos are appeals to establish the credibility, character, and trustworthiness of a writer. With ethos, writers share (or build) authority and expertise, character and morality, shared values with the audience, and reputation to achieve their purposes.
Rhetorical devices logos are appeals to logic and reason. With logos, writers use facts and statistics, logical reasoning, examples and evidence, and analogies and comparisons to achieve their purposes.
Rhetorical devices pathos are appeals to an audience’s emotions. With pathos, writers use emotional language, vivid imagery, personal anecdotes, and values to achieve their purposes.
In communication, in general, we want to have a balance of these appeals.
Appeal too much to logos, and the heart of an argument doesn’t beat.
Appeal too much to pathos, and the head sees a vaporous argument devoid of logic.
Appeal too little to ethos, and the audience has no relationship to the writer or trust in the writer’s words (or appeal too much and the writer might be seen as braggadocious and a showboat, repelling the audience).
For students, then, to become better writers and communicators, we want them to understand how the rhetorical devices they use, the rhetorical choices they make, appeal to an audience, and appealing to an audience successfully makes our arguments more powerful, more moving, more engaging. But that doesn’t mean they need to study lists of terms; rather, they should notice and appreciate language, theirs and others.
Did you notice that I left out the “and” above in the underlined portion of the sentence? (More powerful, more moving, more engaging) If so, you picked up on my asyndeton, likely without even knowing the term.
I hope that, after learning about rhetorical devices and communication, you can proudly proclaim as you use some asyndeton of your own: You came, you saw, you conquered!
Common Lit Curriculum: An Honest Review