THESE ARE A FEW RHETORICAL DEVICES THAT AMERICAN RHETORIC.COM DEFINES

Alliteration Allusion Anadiplosis Analogy Anaphora Anesis Antimetabole Antithesis

Aposiopesis Appositio Assonance Asyndeton Catachresis Climax Conduplicatio Diacope

Distinctio Enthymeme Enumeratio Epanalepsis Epistrophe Epitheton Epizeuxis

Euphemismos Exemplum Expletive Hyperbole Hypophora Metaphor Oxymoron

Paradox Parallelism Personification Polysyndeton Rhetorical Question Scesis

Onomaton Sententia Simile Symploce Synecdoche

Rhetorical QuestionAllusion

AlliterationHyperbole

Metaphor and Simile

HOWEVER…LET’S ZOOM INTO THESE

DEVICES:

Using the BLUE highlighter function, highlight the questions in Maya Angelou’s eulogy for

Coretta Scott King.

ACTIVITY

RHETORICAL QUESTION—a question whose answer is obvious or implied.

NOTE: It is a more engaging way of presenting simple statements as it involves the audience and

gets them thinking.

RHETORICAL DEVICES

ALLITERATION repeats the same sound or letter beginning several words in sequence.

RHETORICAL DEVICES

REPETITION is to repeat words or phrases. Sometime the same sentence structure is

used, which is called parallel structure (I wrote, and called, and met her frequently), in a sense,

could be repetition for effect.

RHETORICAL DEVICES

METAPHOR is the comparison of two different things by speaking of one in terms of the other.

SIMILE or ANALOGY, one thing is like something else.

RHETORICAL DEVICES

ALLUSION—a brief or casual reference to a famous person, historical event, place, or work of art (these must be well known).

NOTE: The best sources for allusions are literature, history, Greek myth, and the Bible,

as they must be easily understood.

RHETORICAL DEVICES

This is a tough one!

Go back to your own writing and try to use these devices in as many ways as you can.

MEET THIS CHALLENGE