Directions: Identify the rhetorical device being used in each of the quotes below and provide a brief explanation for your answer. 1. “Withdrawal of U.S. troops will become like salted peanuts to the American public: the more U.S. troops home, the more will be demanded.” (Henry Kissinger) _________________________________________ 2. “My father, a fat funny man with beautiful eyes and a subversive wit, is trying to decide which of eight children he will take with him to the county fair.” (Alice Walker, “Beauty: When the Other Dancer is the Self”) ____________________________________ 3. “Over many a curious volume of forgotten lore.” (Edgar Allen Poe, “The Raven”) ___________________________________ 4. “Somewhere at this very moment a child is being born in America. Let it be our cause to that child have a happy home, a healthy family and a hopeful future.” (Bill Clinton) _____________________________________ 5. “I make a great noise/Of rustling all day…”(Robert Frost ,“Gathering Leaves” ) _____________________________________ 6. “Today’s students can put dope in their veins or hope in their brains…If they can conceive it and believe it, they can achieve it. They must know it is not their aptitude but their attitude that will determine their altitude.”(Jesse Jackson) ______________________________________ 7. “Hey diddle, Diddle/The cat and the fiddle/The cow jumped over the moon/The little dog laughed to see such sport/And the dish ran away with the spoon.”(Mother Goose) _______________________________________ 8. “Then that little man in black there, he says women can’t have as much rights as men ‘cause Christ wasn’t a woman! Where did your Christ come from? Where did your Christ come from? From God and a woman! Man had nothing to do with Him!” (Sojourner Truth, “Ain’t I a Woman?”) ________________________________________ 9. “…she tried to get rid of the little kitten which had scrambled up her back and stuck like a burr, just out of reach.” (Louisa May Alcott, Little Women) _______________________________________ 10. “Well, that’s cast rather a gloom over the evening.” (Dinner guest, after a visit from the Grip Reaper, in Monty Python’s Meaning of Life ) _______________________________________ 11. “This will be the day all God’s children will be able to sing, with a new meaning, ‘My country ‘tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee of sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrims pride, from every mountain side, let freedom ring.” (Martin Luther King, Jr., “I Have a Dream”) ________________________________________ 12. “Let us never negotiate out of fear, but let us never fear to negotiate.” (John F. Kennedy, Inaugural Address) ________________________________________ 13. “This is a crisis. A large crisis. In fact, if you’ve got a moment, it’s a twelve-story crisis with a magnificent hall, carpeting throughout, 24-hour portage, and an enormous sign on the roof saying, ‘This is a Large Crisis.’ A large crisis requires a large plan. Get me two pencils and a pair of underpants.” (Captain Blackadder in Goodbyeee) ________________________________________ 14. “Well now, one winter is was so cold, that all the geese flew backward, all the fish moved south and even the snow turned blue.” (Paul Bunyon) ________________________________________ 15. “Language is a road map of culture. It tells you where its people come from and where they are going.” (Rita Mae Brown) ________________________________________ 16. “O brawling love! O loving hate!/O heavy lightness! Serious vanity!/Misshapen chaos of well-seeming forms!/Feather of lead, bright smoke, cold fire, sick health!/Still waking sleep, that is not what it is!” (Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet) ______________________________________ “Withdrawal of U.S. troops will become like salted peanuts to the American public: the more U.S. troops home, the more will be demanded.” –Henry Kissinger Analogy “My father, a fat funny man with beautiful eyes and a subversive wit, is trying to decide which of eight children he will take with him to the county fair.” –Alice Walker, “Beauty: When the Other Dancer is the Self” Appositive “Over many a curious volume of forgotten lore.” –Edgar Allen Poe, “The Raven” Assonance “Somewhere at this very moment a child is being born in America. Let it be our cause to that child have a happy home, a healthy family and a hopeful future.” –Bill Clinton Alliteration “I make a great noise/Of rustling all day…”—Robert Frost. “Gathering Leaves” Onomatopoeia “Today’s students can put dope in their veins or hope in their brains…If they can conceive it and believe it, they can achieve it. They must know it is not their aptitude but their attitude that will determine their altitude.”—Jesse Jackson Parallelism “Hey diddle, Diddle/The cat and the fiddle/The cow jumped over the moon/The little dog laughed to see such sport/And the dish ran away with the spoon.”— Mother Goose Personification ‘Then that little man in black there, he says women can’t have as much rights as men ‘cause Christ wasn’t a woman! Where did your Christ come from? Where did your Christ come from? From God and a woman! Man had nothing to do with Him!” – Sojourner Truth, “Ain’t I a Woman?” Rhetorical Question “…she tried to get rid of the little kitten which had scrambled up her back and stuck like a burr, just out of reach.” –Louisa May Alcott, Little Women Simile “Well, that’s cast rather a gloom over the evening.” –Dinner guest, after a visit from the Grip Reaper, in Monty Python’s Meaning of Life Understatement “This will be the day all God’s children will be able to sing, with a new meaning, ‘My country ‘tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee of sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrims pride, from every mountain side, let freedom ring.” – Martin Luther King, Jr. “I Have a Dream” Allusion “Let us never negotiate out of fear, but let us never fear to negotiate.” –JFK, Inaugural Address Antithesis “This is a crisis. A large crisis. In fact, if you’ve got a moment, it’s a twelve-story crisis with a magnificent hall, carpeting throughout, 24-hour portage, and an enormous sign on the roof saying, ‘This is a Large Crisis.’ A large crisis requires a large plan. Get me two pencils and a pair of underpants.” –Captain Blackadder in Goodbyeee Amplification “Well now, one winter is was so cold, that all the geese flew backward, all the fish moved south and even the snow turned blue.” –Paul Bunyan Hyperbole “Language is a road map of culture. It tells you where its people come from and where they are going.” –Rita Mae Brown Metaphor “O brawling love! O loving hate!/O heavy lightness! Serious vanity!/Misshapen chaos of well-seeming forms!/Feather of lead, bright smoke, cold fire, sick health!/Still waking sleep, that is not what it is!” Romeo, Romeo and Juliet Oxymoron
