AP Lang - Rhetorical Strategy 

Rhetorical strategy :: A specific approach(s) a writer employs to achieve an intended purpose

• Used to persuade audience
• Organize evidence
• Plan to convince/persuade readers

Have to use rhetorical devices

Imagery :: language and description that appeals to our five senses

• built on literary devices
• appeals to senses

creates a more vivid image

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Rhetorical Devices:

• Alliteration :: Repetition of same-sound and the beginning of successive word
  • ==bright blue ball==
• Epanalepsis :: Repetition of same word or clause after and intervening matter
  • a minimum ==wage==, that is not a supporting ==wage==, is not a minimum ==wage==
• Anastrophe :: Normal syntactical arrangement is violated for emphasis
  • ==troubles, everybody’s got==
• Parenthesis :: Insertion the interrupts syntax flow
  • the cat ==(which was the cutest thing ever)== was so soft
• Asyndeton :: Omission of conjunction → slower rhythm + emphasis
  • Can use semicolon to break thought up
  • ==I came, i saw, i conquered== vs. i came, i saw and i conquered
• Polysyndeton :: Adding in many conjunctions between clauses → hurried rhythm + pileup effect
  • i wore ==a hat and a coat and a scarf and mittens and boots==
• Apostrophe :: Breaking off discord to address a person or personified thing
  • Talking to inanimate objects or people that aren't there
  • NOT personification
  • ==O’ wise one…==
• Pleonasm :: Use more words than necessary
  • ==with these very eyes, i saw him do it, i heard it with my ears==
• Hyperbole :: Rhetorical exaggeration
  • I told you a ==million== times…
• Oxymoron :: Paradoxical image with two contradicting terms
  • ==awfully pretty, tragic comedy, open secret==

Imagry Devices

• Anadiplosis :: the repetition of the last word/phrase from the previous line at the begging of the next
  • she opened ==a cafe. a cafe== that was to be the most popular in town.
• Metaphor :: giving an inanimate object/person a meaning/action that is not literal
  • the waves ==roared==, the wind ==whispered==,
• Simile :: one thing is likened to another
  • life’s ==like== a box of chocolates, she ran ==like== a cheetah
• Personification :: an animal/inanimate object is given human qualities
  • the sun ==smiled== down on us
• Synaesthesia :: mixing sensory output in an impossible way
  • her voice was as smooth as velvet
  • ==taste the rainbow==
• Cacophony :: opposite of euphony, bad sounds in a section of text. discordant and difficult to pronounce
  • never my numb ==plunker== fumbles
• Euphony :: opposite of cacophony, pleasing/harmonious sounds
  • ==marvelous, mellow, mist==
• Apotheosis :: the glorification of an individual to a divine level
  • she has the patience of a ==saint==
• Onomatopoeia :: word whose sounds imitates that of which it names
  • ==plop, kerplunk, splash==

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Purpose

• Intended reason for why you are writing

  • Inform
  • Entertain
  • Question
  • Argue
  • Elicit emotional response

• Goal

• Intended effect

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Devices → strategy  → purpose → effect on audience

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Detail

• Facts, observation, incidents
• Specific detail
• NOT GENERAL DESCRIPTIONS \n Bring reader into the scene
• Prepares readers to join action
• More detail = better understanding

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