ELBOW PARTNERS
Sit with a partner whom you have not worked
with this semester!
What is rhetorical analysis?
O deconstructing nonfiction texts –speeches, essays,
editorials, etc.— and evaluating how the author
creates meaning, establishes and proves his/her
claim
O making judgments about whether or not an author
has succeeded in his or her purpose
O Rhetoric—Analyzing techniques that make
persuasion possible
Speaker/Writer
(Ethos)
Context
Context
Purpose
Audience/
Readers
Subject/Topic/
Message
(Pathos)
(Logos)
Context
Quick Intro Voice
O http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwOTGe
RwQqY
Ethos- credibility of the speaker
O Writers/speakers ask the audience to
-trust them (intelligence, goodwill and virtue)
-believe them
-to bear with them
-to listen to them
O Readers/Audiences must question
the speaker’s authority, trustworthiness,
motives.
--You must consider the writer’s integrity and attitude towards
his/her audience.
Ethos—establishing authority/credibility by
1. Demonstrating knowledge about the topic
(position, job title, experience, etc.)
2. Establishing common ground with the audience
through respect and concern
3. Demonstrating fairness and evenhandedness
4. Displaying confidence
Establishing Confidence and Credibility
5. Presenting yourself in a suitable manner— physical
appearance
6. Connecting your beliefs to core principles that are
widely respected
7. Using appropriate language for the audience, neither
speaking above nor below their capabilities.
8. Citing credible, reliable sources
9. Admitting limitations, exceptions, or weaknesses of
your argument. Making these concessions (anticipating
the potential rebuttals of your audience) makes the
audience belief that you have respect for them and that
you have carefully considered your position.
Logos—logic
O “word” or “reason”
O Rational argument
O Logic behind the arguments
Examples:
-factual evidence for support
“Nine out of ten doctors agree…”
Examples:
statistics, charts, graphs, definitions, surveys,.
polls, examples, narratives, personal
testimonies etc.
Evaluating Polls
There are three important considerations to
consider when evaluating polls:
1. The source —who commissioned the poll, who
published it, and any associated bias.
2. The statistical methodology --who was
interviewed, how they were interviewed.
3. The questions —how were they asked, in what
order, with what language?
Pathos-emotional appeals
O PATHOS—the quality or power of evoking the
audience’s emotions
O Primarily achieved through the use of strong
emotional diction (evocative words)
O Powerful images that evoke emotions
O Anecdotes —stories
O Immediacy contributes to the effectiveness of
emotional appeals
O Pathos appeals to the heart and to one’s
emotions.
Pathos—Examples
O Stories or testimonials
O Personal anecdotes or stories
O Personal connections
O Imagery and figurative language that provokes an
emotional response
O Visual images or words that inspire you to empathize or
have compassion towards the idea/topic
O Powerful words, phrases, or images that stir up
emotion
See
HANDOUT
pg. 7
2 pathos
logos
3
1 ethos
Now for some fun…
O What appeal is used in each commercial?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3RrtWPyJY&list=PL19280887E9B189D2
Style
O refers to the choices one makes that involve
words, phrases, and sentences.
O should appropriate for author’s purpose and
affects the way that a reader reacts to a piece.
O Four aspects of Style are
O Diction
O Imagery
O Syntax
O Figures of speech
Diction
O This is word choice.
--General vs. Specific words.
--Formal versus Informal
--Denotation and connotation.
--Monosyllabic words and polysyllabic words.
SEE HANDOUT pg. 2
Diction—Charged Words
Charged words are words with strong connotations
beyond their literal meaning that are likely to
produce an emotional response.
– Tyranny (evokes a feeling of fear, suggests
living in a state of terror)
– Liberty (suggests an ideal life characterized by
freedom)
– Justice (can be associated with freedom and
equality)
– Honor (evokes a sense of morality and dignity)
“He [King George] is at this time
transporting large armies of foreign
mercenaries to complete the works of
death, desolation, and tyranny, already
begun with circumstances of cruelty and
perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most
barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the
head of a civilized nation.”
Charged Words
He is at this time transporting large armies
of foreign mercenaries to complete the
works of death, desolation, and tyranny,
already begun with circumstances of
cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in
the most barbarous ages, and totally
unworthy the head of a civilized nation.
Contrast
The Effect of Charged Words
• “Grandmother Arrested in Pot Sting”
The fact that the person is a grandmother has no
relevance to the fact that she was arrested on a drug
charge. It may not even reflect the fact that she is old,
since I’ve known grandmothers as young as 32. But the
use of the term conjures up an image of a sweet, gentle
person, and juxtaposed against the crime, elicits far more
outrage than if the headline was …
“Local Woman Arrested in Pot Sting”
Imagery
Imagery is words that appeal to the senses.
– Visual - “There are black clouds of God’s wrath
now hanging directly over your head” (Edwards)
– Auditory – the wind whistling through the trees,
the rumbling waves rushing past
– Tactile/Emotional – “How awful it is to be left
behind at such a day! To see so many others
feasting….” (Edwards)
– Oral – the puckering twang of lemon juice
– Olfactory – wet dog after a morning rainshower
Syntax
O Syntax—construction of sentences.
O Syntax discusses:
--Sentence Type: complex or simple?
--Sentence length: short or long?
--Active vs. Passive Sentences
--Pacing. Sentence construction can speed
up the reading of a passage or slow it
down.
--VIEW HANDOUT pg. 2
Restatement
O Repeating an idea in a variety of ways, using
different words to reinforce a point.
Anaphora (uh-NAH-for-uh)
O Repetition of the same word or group of words
at the beginning of successive clauses,
sentences, or lines.
“This royal throne of kings, this sceptred isle,
This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars, This
other Eden, demi-paradise, This fortress built
by Nature for herself Against infection and the
hand of war, This happy breed of men, this
little world, This precious stone set in the
silver sea…”
-John of Gaunt in Shakespeare's Richard II (2.1.40-51; 57-60)
SEE HANDOUT pg. 3
Epistrophe
O Is the reverse of anaphora; repetition of
same word or group at the end of clauses.
They saw no evil, they spoke no evil, and they
heard no evil.
Anastrophe
O Inversion: Anastrophe occurs whenever normal syntactical
arrangement is violated for emphasis:
The verb before the subject-noun (normal syntax follows the order
subject-noun, verb):Glistens the dew upon the morning grass.
(Normally: The dew glistens upon the morning grass)
Adjective following the noun it modifies (normal syntax is
adjective, noun): She looked at the sky dark and menacing.
(Normally: She looked at the dark and menacing sky)
The object preceding its verb (normal syntax is verb followed by its
object): Troubles, everybody's got. (Normally: Everybody's got
troubles.)
Asyndeton (uh-SIN-duh-ton)
O Omission of conjunctions between related clauses
I came, I saw, I conquered.
Polysyndeton
O deliberate use of conjunctions between each clause in a
series of clauses
This year I am taking math and English and history and
gym and physics and Spanish and creative writing and
creative photography.
Antithesis
O opposition, or contrast of ideas or words in a balanced
O
O
O
O
O
O
or parallel construction. The idea is that they enhance
one another, kind of like two halves of the perfect
whole:
yin and yang
sweet and sour
Good cop / Bad cop
Sink or swim.
Black or white.
It can't be wrong if it feels so right” -Debbie Boone
Rhetorical Devices:
Chiasmus & Antimetabole
(key-as-muss) (an-tee-meh-TAB-ah-lee)
O arrangement of ideas in the second clause is a
reversal of the first.
1.
2.
Chiasmus is, specifically, the reversal of grammatical
structures in successive phrases or clauses. DOES NOT use
the same words: It is hard to make money, but to spend it is
easy.
Antimetabole is, specifically, the repetition of the same words,
in successive clauses, in reverse grammatical order: “Ask not
what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your
country.” JFK
When the going gets tough, the tough get
going. --Which ONE?
Woe unto them that call evil good, and good
evil; that put darkness for light, and light for
darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and
sweet for bitter! -Isaiah 5:20 --Which ONE?
Rhetorical Question
O A question posed by the speaker or writer
not to seek an answer but instead to affirm
or deny a point by simply asking the
question
O Ex. Do I really need to ask you to clean your
room again?
Parallelism
O Similarity of structure in a pair or series of
related words, phrases, or clauses.
parallelism of words:She tried to make her
pastry fluffy, sweet, and delicate.
parallelism of phrases: Singing a song or
writing a poem is joyous.
parallelism of clauses: Perch are inexpensive;
cod are cheap; trout are abundant; but
salmon are best.
Juxtaposition
O is a poetic and rhetorical device in which normally
O
O
O
O
unassociated ideas, words, or phrases are placed
next to one another.
Light and dark images
Life and death
Cold and hot
Etc.
Rhetorical Devices &
Figurative Language
Alliteration
Consonance
Metaphors
Onomatopoeia
Understatement
Paradox
Pun
Sarcasm
Synecdoche
Zeugma
Assonance
Simile
Personification
Hyperbole
Litotes
Oxymoron
Irony
Allusion
Metonymy
Conceit
Litotes
Deliberate understatement, especially when
expressing a thought by denying its
opposite.
She was not unmindful of the fact that she still
owes me twenty dollars.
Since he’s no small man, perhaps he should
reconsider the skinny jeans he likes so
much.
Conceit
O An extended metaphor. Popular during the
Renaissance and typical of John Donne or
John Milton.
O Marke but this flea, and marke in this,
How little that which thou deny'st me is;
Me it suck'd first, and now sucks thee,
And in this flea our two bloods mingled bee;
Confesse it, this cannot be said
A sinne, or shame, or losse of maidenhead,
Yet this enjoyes before it wooe,
And pamper'd swells with one blood made of two,
And this, alas, is more than wee would doe.
-- “The Flea” John Donne
Allusion
O A reference to mythological, literary,
historical, or Biblical person, place or thing.
Anecdote
O A brief narrative offered to capture the
audience’s attention or to contribute to the
overall purpose
Synechdoche
O A whole is represented by naming one of its parts
The rustler bragged he'd absconded with five hundred
head of longhorns. Both "head" and "longhorns" are
parts of cattle that represent them as wholes
Listen, you've got to come take a look at my new set of
wheels.
He shall think differently," the musketeer threatened,
"when he feels the point of my steel."
HANDOUT pg 5
Metonymy
O Reference to something or someone by naming one
of its attributes.
The pen is mightier than the sword. The pen is an
attribute of thoughts that are written with a pen; the
sword is an attribute of military action
We await word from the crown.
The IRS is auditing me? Great. All I need is a couple of
suits arriving at my door.
Speaker
Audience
Rhetorical Triangle
SOAPS Method
Message
Subject—the general idea, content and ideas
Occasion—time, place, context, or current situation for the
writing. Consider what events prompted the writing.
Audience—the target audience (try to be specific—education
level, beliefs and values, predisposition towards the speaker)
Purpose—what the author hopes the reader will take from
the piece.
Speaker—evaluate the ethos of the speaker
Aristotelian Model
pathos
ethos
logos
Activities
Powerful Speech
Compilation
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-wOKrD_nRE
Speeches
O “Inch by Inch”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnYVfRI
djO4
O Braveheart
http://www.fandango.com/movietrailer/braveheart-trailer/825/1882236500