A Handbook of Rhetorical
Devices
Robert A. Harris
Version Date: January 19, 2013
This book
contains definitions and examples of more than sixty
traditional
rhetorical devices, (including rhetorical tropes and rhetorical
figures) all of which can still be useful today to improve the
effectiveness, clarity, and enjoyment of your writing. Note: This book
was written in 1980, with some changes since. The devices presented are
not in alphabetical order. To go directly to the discussion of a
particular
device, click on the name below. If you know these already, go directly
to the Self Test. To learn
about my book, Writing
with Clarity and Style,
see the Advertisement.
A Preface of Quotations
Whoever desires for
his writings or himself, what none can reasonably
condemn,the favor of mankind, must add grace to strength, and make his
thoughts
agreeable as well as useful. Many complain of neglect who never tried
to
attract regard. It cannot be expected that the patrons of science or
virtue
should be solicitous to discover excellencies which they who possess
them
shade and disguise. Few have abilities so much needed by the rest of
the
world as to be caressed on their own terms; and he that will not
condescend
to recommend himself by external embellishments must submit to the fate
of just sentiments meanly expressed, and be ridiculed and forgotten
before
he is understood. --Samuel Johnson
Men must be taught as if
you taught them not; And things
unknown propos'd
as things forgot. --Alexander Pope
Style in painting is the
same as in writing, a power over
materials,
whether words or colors, by which conceptions or sentiments are
conveyed.
--Sir Joshua Reynolds
Whereas, if after some
preparatory grounds of speech by their
certain
forms got into memory, they were led to the praxis thereof in some
chosen
short book lessoned thoroughly to them, they might then forthwith
proceed
to learn the substance of good things, and arts in due order, which
would
bring the whole language quickly into their power. --John Milton
Introduction
Good writing depends
upon more than making a collection of statements
worthy
of belief, because writing is intended to be read by others, with minds
different from your own. Your reader does not make the same mental
connections
you make; he does not see the world exactly as you see it; he is
already
flooded daily with thousands of statements demanding assent, yet which
he knows or believes to be false, confused, or deceptive. If your
writing
is to get through to him--or even to be read and considered at all--it
must be interesting, clear, persuasive, and memorable, so that he will
pay
attention to, understand,
believe, and remember
the ideas it
communicates. To fulfill these requirements successfully, your work
must
have an appropriate and clear thesis, sufficient arguments and reasons
supporting the thesis, a logical and progressive arrangement, and,
importantly,
an effective style.
While style is probably
best learned through wide reading,
comprehensive
analysis and thorough practice, much can be discovered about effective
writing through the study of some of the common and traditional devices
of style and arrangement. By learning, practicing, altering, and
perfecting
them, and by testing their effects and nuances for yourself, these
devices
will help you to express yourself better and also teach you to see the
interrelatedness of form and meaning, and the psychology of syntax,
metaphor,
and diction both in your own writing and in the works of others.
The rhetorical devices
presented here generally fall into
three categories:
those involving emphasis, association, clarification, and focus; those
involving physical organization, transition, and disposition or
arrangement;
and those involving decoration and variety. Sometimes a given device or
trope will fall mainly into a single category, as for example an
expletive
is used mostly for emphasis; but more often the effects of a particular
device are multiple, and a single one may operate in all three
categories.
Parallelism, for instance, helps to order, clarify, emphasize, and
beautify
a thought. Occasionally a device has certain effects not readily
identifiable
or explainable, so I have not always been able to say why or when
certain
ones are good or should be used. My recommendation is to practice them
all and develop that sense in yourself which will tell you when and how
to use them.
Lots of practice and
experimentation are necessary before you
will feel
really comfortable with these devices, but too much practice in a
single
paper will most assuredly be disastrous. A journal or notebook is the
best
place to experiment; when a device becomes second nature to you, and
when
it no longer appears false or affected--when indeed it becomes
genuinely
built in to your writing rather than added on--then it may make its
formal
appearance in a paper. Remember that rhetorical devices are aids to
writing
and not ends of writing; you have no obligation to toss one into every
paragraph. Further, if used carelessly or excessively or too
frequently,
almost any one of these devices will probably seem affected, dull,
awkward,
or mechanical. But with a little care and skill, developed by practice,
anyone can master them, and their use will add not just beauty and
emphasis
and effectiveness to your writing, but a kind of freedom of thought and
expression you never imagined possible.
Practice these; try them
out. Do not worry if they sometimes
ring false
at first. Play with them--learn to manipulate and control your words
and
ideas--and eventually you will master the art of aggressive
instruction:
keeping the reader focused with anaphora, emphasizing a point with an
expletive,
explaining to him with a metaphor or simile, organizing your work in
his
mind with metabasis, answering his queries with hypophora or
procatalepsis,
balancing possibilities with antithesis. You will also have gone a long
way toward fulfilling the four requirements mentioned at the beginning:
the devices of decoration and variety will help make your reader pay
attention,
the devices of organization and clarification will help him understand
your points, the devices of association and some like procatalepsis
will
help him believe you, and the devices of emphasis, association, beauty,
and organization will help him remember.
Resources
Of course, I modestly
recommend my book, Writing with
Clarity
and Style, that contains more than 60 of the devices discussed
below,
and many sidebars on style and writing effectiveness. Get it from the
publisher at 123Writing.com
or get a copy from Amazon.com here: Writing
With Clarity and Style
.
If you want a relatively
inexpensive book that through a
rather dramatic coincidence includes more than half of the devices
described here (and none of the many others not described here), and
covers many of the same points, Amazon.com has Rhetorical
Devices: A Handbook and Activities for Student Writers
.
For really serious
students of rhetoric and style, I recommend
Classical
Rhetoric for the Modern Student
by Edward P.
J. Corbett and Robert J. Connors, now in its fourth edition. It's the
standard and covers aspects of style as well as the tropes.
While you are reading over
these rhetoric pages or one of the resources above, why not enjoy
something made from a recipe on our sister site, VirtualTeaTime.
Rhetorical Devices
1. A
Sentential Adverb
is a single word or short
phrase, usually interrupting normal syntax, used to lend emphasis to
the
words immediately proximate to the adverb. (We emphasize the words
on
each side of a pause or interruption in order to maintain continuity of
the thought.) Compare:
- But the lake was not drained before April.
- But the lake was not, in fact, drained before April.
In the second sentence, the
words not and drained are naturally stressed by
the speaker or reader in order to keep the thought in mind while
entertaining the interruption.
Sentential adverbs are
most frequently placed near the beginning of a
sentence,
where important material has been placed:
- All truth is not, indeed, of equal importance; but if
little violations
are allowed, every violation will in time be thought little. --Samuel
Johnson
But sometimes they are
placed at the very beginning of a sentence,
thereby
serving as signals that the whole sentence is especially important. In
such cases the sentence should be kept as short as possible:
- In short, the cobbler had neglected his soul.
- Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring
of water
welling
up to eternal life. --John 4:14 (NIV)
Or the
author may show that he
does not intend to
underemphasize
an objection or argument he rejects:
- To be sure, no one desires to live in a foul and
disgusting environment.
But neither do we want to desert our cities.
In a few instances,
especially with short sentences, the sentential
adverb can
be placed last:
- It was a hot day indeed.
- Harold won, of course.
A common practice is
setting off the sentential adverb by commas, which
increases
the emphasis on the surrounding words, though in many cases the commas
are necessary for clarity as well and cannot be omitted. Note how the
adverb
itself is also emphasized:
- He without doubt can be trusted with a cookie.
- He, without doubt, can be trusted with a cookie.
A sentential adverb
can emphasize a phrase:
- The Bradys, clearly a happy family, live in an old house
with squeaky
floors.
Transitional phrases,
accostives, some adverbs, and other interrupters
can be used for emphasizing portions of sentences, and therefore
function
as kinds of quasi-sentential adverbs in those circumstances. And note
that a variety of punctuation can be used to set off the interrupter:
- We find a few people, however, unwilling to come.
- "Your last remark," he said, "is impertinent."
- There is nothing, Sir, too little for so little a creature
as man.
--Samuel
Johnson
- The problem--as you know--is that we are building tomorrow
on yesterday's budget.
- They will (I hope) demand to visit the archives and look
for the documents.
Some useful sentential
adverbs include the following: in
fact, of
course,
indeed,
I think, without doubt, to be sure, naturally, it seems, after all, for
all that, in brief, on the whole, in short, to tell the truth, in any
event,
clearly, I suppose, I hope, at least, assuredly, certainly, remarkably,
importantly, definitely. In formal writing, avoid these
and similar
colloquial emphases:
you know, you see, huh, get this. And it goes without saying that you
should
avoid the unprintable expletives.
2. Asyndeton
consists of omitting
conjunctions between words, phrases, or clauses. In a list of items,
asyndeton
gives the effect of unpremeditated multiplicity, of an extemporaneous
rather
than a labored account:
- On his return he received medals, honors, treasures,
titles, fame.
The lack of the "and"
conjunction gives the impression that the list is
perhaps not complete. Compare:
- She likes pickles, olives, raisins, dates, pretzels.
- She likes pickles, olives, raisins, dates, and pretzels.
Sometimes an asyndetic
list is useful for the strong and direct
climactic
effect it has, much more emphatic than if a final conjunction were
used.
Compare:
- They spent the day wondering, searching, thinking,
understanding.
- They spent the day wondering, searching, thinking, and
understanding.
In certain cases, the
omission of a conjunction between short phrases
gives
the impression of synonymity to the phrases, or makes the latter phrase
appear to be an afterthought or even a substitute for the former.
Compare:
- He was a winner, a hero.
- He was a winner and a hero.
Notice also the degree
of spontaneity granted in some cases by
asyndetic
usage. "The moist, rich, fertile soil," appears more natural and
spontaneous
than "the moist, rich, and fertile soil."
Generally, asyndeton
offers the feeling of speed and concision
to lists
and phrases and clauses, but occasionally the effect cannot be so
easily
categorized. Consider the "flavor" of these examples:
- If, as is the case, we feel responsibility, are ashamed,
are
frightened,
at transgressing the voice of conscience, this implies that there is
One
to whom we are responsible, before whom we are ashamed, whose claims
upon
us we fear. --John Henry Newman
- In books I find the dead as if they were alive; in books I
foresee
things
to come; in books warlike affairs are set forth; from books come forth
the laws of peace. --Richard de Bury
- We certainly have within us the image of some person, to
whom our love
and veneration look, in whose smile we find our happiness, for whom we
yearn, towards whom we direct our pleadings, in whose anger we are
troubled
and waste away. --John Henry Newman
3. Polysyndeton
is the use of a
conjunction between each word, phrase, or clause, and is thus
structurally
the opposite of asyndeton. The rhetorical effect of polysyndeton,
however,
often shares with that of asyndeton a feeling of multiplicity,
energetic
enumeration, and building up.
- They read and studied and wrote and drilled. I laughed and
played and
talked
and flunked.
Use polysyndeton to
show an attempt to encompass something complex:
- The water, like a witch's oils, / Burnt green, and blue,
and white. --S. T.
Coleridge
- [He] pursues his way, / And swims, or sinks, or wades, or
creeps, or
flies.
--John Milton
The multiple
conjunctions of the polysyndetic structure call attention
to themselves and therefore add the effect of persistence or intensity
or emphasis to the other effect of multiplicity. The repeated use of
"nor"
or "or" emphasizes alternatives; repeated use of "but" or "yet"
stresses
qualifications. Consider the effectiveness of these:
- And to set forth the right standard, and to train
according to it, and
to help forward all students towards it according to their various
capacities,
this I conceive to be the business of a University. --John Henry Newman
- We have not power, nor influence, nor money, nor
authority; but a
willingness
to persevere, and the hope that we shall conquer soon.
In a skilled hand, a
shift from polysyndeton to asyndeton can be very
impressive:
- Behold, the Lord maketh the earth empty, and maketh it
waste, and
turneth
it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof. And it
shall
be, as with the people, so with the priest; as with the servant, so
with
his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer,
so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the borrower; as with
the
taker of usury, so with the giver of usury to him. --Isaiah 24:1-2 (KJV)
Maximum effect tip:
Polysyndeton is almost always the most effective when you link three or
in some cases four elements. Modern readers do not expect even two
conjunctions ("she wrote and phoned and faxed") linking three elements.
(I've had my own prose "corrected" by business colleagues who had never
encountered either asyndeton or polysyndeton before.) So, consider your
audience before you create a lengthy list. If you're writing a humor
piece, you can really have fun.
- When it was announced
that the vending machines were going to have apples instead of Cheetos,
and orange juice instead of Coke, the employees cried and bawled and
sobbed and complained and whined and protested.
4. Understatement
deliberately
expresses an idea as less important than it actually is, either for
ironic
emphasis or for politeness and tact. When the writer's audience can be
expected to know the true nature of a fact which might be rather
difficult
to describe adequately in a brief space, the writer may choose to
understate
the fact as a means of employing the reader's own powers of
description.
For example, instead of endeavoring to describe in a few words the
horrors
and destruction of the 1906 earthquake in San Francisco, a writer might
state:
- The 1906 San Francisco earthquake interrupted business
somewhat in the
downtown area.
The effect is not the
same as a description of destruction, since
understatement
like this necessarily smacks of flippancy to some degree; but
occasionally
that is a desirable effect. Consider these usages:
- Henry and Catherine were married, the bells rang, and
everybody smiled
. . . . To begin perfect happiness at the respective ages of twenty-six
and eighteen is to do pretty well . . . . --Jane Austen
- Last week I saw a woman flayed, and you will hardly
believe how much it
altered her person for the worse. --Jonathan Swift
- You know I would be a little disappointed if you were to
be hit by a
drunk
driver at two a.m., so I hope you will be home early.
In these cases the
reader supplies his own knowledge of the facts and
fills
out a more vivid and personal description than the writer might have.
In a more important way,
understatement should be used as a
tool for
modesty and tactfulness. Whenever you represent your own
accomplishments,
and often when you just describe your own position, an understatement
of
the facts will help you to avoid the charge of egotism on the one hand
and of self-interested puffery on the other. We are always more pleased
to discover a thing greater than promised rather than less than
promised--or
as Samuel Johnson put it, "It is more pleasing to see smoke brightening
into flame, than flame sinking into smoke." And it goes without saying
that a person modest of his own talents wins our admiration more easily
than an egotist. Thus an expert geologist might say, "Yes, I know a
little
about rocks," rather than, "Yes, I'm an expert about rocks." (An even
bigger
expert might raise his eyebrows if he heard that.)
Understatement is
especially useful in dealing with a hostile
audience
or in disagreeing with someone, because the statement, while carrying
the
same point, is much less offensive. Compare:
- The second law of thermodynamics pretty much works against
the
possibility
of such an event.
- The second law of thermodynamics proves conclusively that
that theory
is
utterly false and ridiculous.
Remember, the goal of
writing is to persuade, not to offend; once you
insult
or put off your opponent, objector, or disbeliever, you will never
persuade
him of anything, no matter how "obviously wrong" he is or how clearly
right
you are. The degree and power of pride in the human heart must never be
underestimated. Many people are unwilling to hear objections of any
kind,
and view disagreement as a sign of contempt for their intellect. The
use
of understatement allows you to show a kind of respect for your
reader's
understanding. You have to object to his belief, but you are
sympathetic
with his position and see how he might have come to believe it;
therefore,
you humbly offer to steer him right, or at least to offer what you
think
is a more accurate view. Even those who agree with you already will be
more persuaded because the modest thinker is always preferable to the
flaming
bigot. Compare these statements and consider what effect each would
have
on you if you read them in a persuasive article:
- Anyone who says this water is safe to drink is either
stupid or
foolish.
The stuff is poisoned with coliform bacteria. Don't those idiots know
that?
- My opponents think this water is drinkable, but I'm not
sure I would
drink
it. Perhaps they are not aware of the dangerous bacterial count . . .
[and
so on, explaining the basis for your opinion].
5. Litotes,
a particular form of understatement,
is generated by denying the opposite or contrary of the word which
otherwise
would be used. Depending on the tone and context of the usage, litotes
either retains the effect of understatement, or becomes an intensifying
expression. Compare the difference between these statements:
- Heat waves are common in the summer.
- Heat waves are not rare in the summer.
Johnson uses litotes
to make a modest assertion, saying "not
improperly"
rather than "correctly" or "best":
- This kind of writing may be termed not improperly the
comedy of
romance.
. . .
Occasionally a litotic
construction conveys an ironic sentiment by its
understatement:
- We saw him throw the buckets of paint at his canvas in
disgust, and the
result did not perfectly represent his subject, Mrs. Jittery.
Usually, though,
litotes intensifies the sentiment intended by the
writer,
and creates the effect of strong feelings moderately conveyed.
- Hitting that telephone pole certainly didn't do your car
any good.
- If you can tell the fair one's mind, it will be no small
proof of your
art, for I dare say it is more than she herself can do. --Alexander Pope
- A figure lean or corpulent, tall or short, though
deviating from
beauty,
may still have a certain union of the various parts, which may
contribute
to make them on the whole not unpleasing. --Sir Joshua Reynolds
- He who examines his own self will not long remain ignorant
of his
failings.
- Overall the flavors of the mushrooms, herbs, and spices
combine to make
the dish not at all disagreeable to the palate.
But note that, as
George Orwell points out in "Politics and the English
Language," the "not un-" construction (for example, "not unwilling")
should
not be used indiscriminately. Rather, find an opposite quality which as
a word is something other than the quality itself with an "un"
attached.
For instance, instead of, "We were not unvictorious," you could write,
"We were not defeated," or "We did not fail to win," or something
similar.
1 2
3
4
5
6
7
| Next Page
Other Articles Related to
Literature
VirtualSalt
Home
Copyright
1997, 2002, 2008 by Robert Harris | How
to cite this
page
w
w w . v i r t u a l s a l t . c o m
Hosted
By
Robert
Harris is a writer
and educator with more than 25 years of teaching experience at the
college
and university level. RHarris at virtualsalt.com