Rhetoric and more rhetoric

Rhetorically speaking, what would happen if your house burned down tomorrow?  In other words, let me ask you a question that I don't really want you to answer.  I want you to think about, but I am filling your part of our dialogue. I already have in mind where I want this question to go, so let me just throw you this idea as a question phrased in such a way to prompt you to think, but with the modern classic disclaimer, "rhetorically speaking".   I'll answer it for you, in more rhetoric.  Sure, you can answer it if you like, but pay attention, I don't want to you interrupt a good presentation.  This is how the word rhetorical is most often considered.  

Nowadays, the concept of rhetorical devices is somewhat lost, even though we use them all the time. Anyone short of a Lit major doesn't pay two cents of attention to the use and application of most rhetorical devices.   We are not normally thinking about how we phrase our ideas, we don't think about the power of the well-considered phrase until we hear one, and that's why this matters to speakers.  People enjoy hearing a well-phrased idea, presented in a way that causes the brain to react.  It causes anticipation and active listening participation.

Many English language structures are called rhetorical devices.  Some common devices are welcomed by the ear and used in everyday conversations.  Others are seldom heard and can be used to really annihilate the mindset of the audience when they make themselves unerringly apparent; 

• the Oxymoron, a paradox in very few words, such as "government intelligence",
• the Epithet is an adjective where you might not expect one, adding color, gravity, or clarification, such as "life-giving water", or a "companionable orange",
• the popular Alliteration, easy on the ear, where the earliest consonant sound of a word is repeated, such as a "silly seripticious sillioque",
• the Onomatopoeia, familiar to the ear, is the use of the sounds the word is describing, such as a bugs "buzz," or a tire's "screech", or a loud "wham!", or the "phitzz..." of a dud firework, 
• the Understatement causes thought, a powerful attention getter - portrays concepts as less than they are, such as "sending a few people to Mars shouldn't be a big deal",
• the Allusion, invoking higher power by referring to a famous person or event, "It was as if Abe Lincoln were in the room."
• simple Repetition, such as "He made it! He made it!"

There are many you may not have heard of, but often hear;

• the Diacope, repeating a phrase for emphasis, but including more ideas than simple repetition, "He was brilliant, I tell you now, he was brilliant."
• the Antimetabole, repeating in the opposite order, so powerfully remembered in "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country."
• and dozens more

In rhetorical devices, the speaker has a rich set of tools to help bridge the gap between listening and thinking. There are many good reference volumes, or just rely on the many online references (ahem... at your fingertips now).  With the power of rhetorical devices better understood, you'll feel like you just hired a new speech writer.  There are almost always places in every speech that could use a brain-teasing boost of blatant forethought.  

Comments

[Ken Knittel]

Great article. I really liked the way you explain the difference between the common use of the words 'rhetorically speaking' and the not so common use of the words 'rhetorical devices'. It has greatly increased my understanding of rhetorical devices. Thanks