Tips for Creating Your Rhetoric Project The key to this project is the content of your presentation. The presentations that are done with adequate preparation and unique rhetorical devices will receive the best score. This means that you have to take a little time to investigate how you want to say things in your speech, debate, etc. Each presentation must also incorporate your understanding of the time period. This means that you should demonstrate your knowledge of the culture and climate that led to WWI. You should also have a solid understanding of the events that led to your modern conflict. Listed below are some of the rhetorical devices that I feel would work well with this type of presentation. However, you are not required to only use the items in this list. Feel free to choose any rhetorical devices that you have uncovered in All Quiet on the Western Front or any of the poetry we have studied thus far. *Remember to use the link for rhetoric on the wiki to help with any of your research.
1. Anaphora- Figure of repetition that occurs when the first word or set of words in one sentence, clause, or phrase is/are repeated at the beginning of successive sentences, clauses, or phrases; repetition of the initial word(s) over several phrases or clauses.
Example- "To raise a happy, healthy, and hopeful child, it takes a family; it takes teachers; it takes clergy; it takes business people; it takes community leaders; it takes those who protect our health and safety. It takes all of us." -Hillary Clinton, 1996 Democratic National Convention Address
2. Scesis Onomaton-Figure of repetition in which a set of two or more different words having the same (or very nearly the same) meaning occurs within the same sentence; a successive series of words or phrases whose meanings are generally equivalent. Example-"But four years ago Jimmy Swaggart said this about me. He said, "This here song by The Police, Murder by Numbers, was written by Satan, performed by the Sons of Satan -- Beelzebub, Lucifer, The Horned One." - Sting (live with Frank Zappa in Concert)
3. Analogy-A kind of extended metaphor or long simile in which an explicit
comparison is made between two things (events, ideas, people, etc) for the purpose of furthering a line of reasoning or drawing an inference; a form of reasoning employing comparative or parallel cases. Example-"Our men in uniform are like the college football players. While the struggle is impending, they are observing the rules of training that they may be fit to fight. But when the game has been won, the temptation to break training and make up for the restraints of the past months and years will be a mighty one." -John D. Rockefeller, Jr., War Campaign Address
4. Antithesis-Figure of balance in which two contrasting ideas are intentionally juxtaposed, usually through parallelism (see definition below); a contrasting of opposing ideas in adjacent phrases, clauses, or sentences Example- "...although the surface appears to be...very, very fine-grained as you get close to it. It's almost like a powder...Okay, I'm going to step off the LEM now. That's one small step for man; one giant leap for mankind." -Neil Armstrong, Apollo 11 Moon Landing Speech
5. Hyperbole- deliberate exaggeration of a person, thing, quality, or event to emphasize a point; intentional exaggeration
Example- "The only place where democracy comes before work is in the dictionary." -Ralph Nader, 2000 NAACP Address
6. Parallelism- Figure of balance identified by a similarity in the syntactical structure of a set of words in successive phrases, clauses, sentences; successive words, phrases, clauses with the same or very similar grammatical structure
Example- "Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty." -John F. Kennedy, inaugural address
7.
Personification- Figure which represents abstractions or inanimate objects with human qualities, including physical, emotional, and spiritual; the application of human attributes or abilities to nonhuman entities. Example- "Once again, the heart of America is heavy. The spirit of America weeps for a tragedy that denies the very meaning of our land." -Lyndon Johnson
8. Rhetorical Question- Figure which asks a question, not for the purpose of further discussion, but to assert or deny an answer implicitly; a question whose answer is obvious or implied.
Example- "Do you want to see the flower of the manhood of this country which has brought everlasting glory to our nation neglected in the hour of its greatest need and afraid to face temptation?" -John D Rockefeller Jr.
9.
Climax- Figure of repetition in which words or phrases or sentences are arranged in order of increasing intensity or importance, often in with parallelism; words or phrases arranged by degrees of increasing significance. Example- "And from the crew of Apollo 8, we close with good night, good luck, a merry Christmas, and God bless all of you, all of you on the good earth." -Frank Borman, Astronaut
10. Sententia- Figure of argument in which a wise, witty, or pithy maxim or aphorism is used to sum up the preceding material.
Example- "So, I'm happy tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. 'Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.'” -Martin Luther King Jr., I’ve been to the mountaintop
