Monday- Friday, May 3-7 Week 2 rhetorical devices

 

The above image should look familiar by now.

Again: this is the rhetorical triangle, which has three parts.

These consist of the speaker, who wants to deliver a message to an  audience

How will the speaker deliver the message to the audience? The individual will use one of the three rhetorical devices: logos, ethos or pathos.

What are these? 

Practice Review / Bonus. As always respond in the private chat.

Think; you have one opportunity.

1. Identify the rhetorical device used in the following speech by Barack Obama

Put your response in private chat

Let me start with the economy, and a basic fact: The United States of America, right now, has the strongest, most durable economy in the world. We’re in the middle of the longest streak of private sector job creation in history. More than 14 million new jobs, the strongest two years of job growth since the ‘90s, an unemployment rate cut in half. Our auto industry just had its best year ever. That’s just part of a manufacturing surge that’s created nearly 900,000 new jobs in the past six years. And we’ve done all this while cutting our deficits by almost three-quarters   

2. From Martin Luther King's "I Had a Dream" speech:

         “Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the emancipation proclamation.” (King)

3. From the poet John Donne's poem "No Man is an Island"

No man is an island,
Entire of itself,
Every man is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less.
As well as if a promontory were.
As well as if a manor of thy friend’s
Or of thine own were:
Any man’s death diminishes me,
Because I am involved in mankind,
And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls;
It tolls for thee.

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Moving on: two terms from last Thursday/ Friday's practice were epistrophe and anaphora.

WHAT IS ANAPHORA?

Anaphora is when the first word or series of words in a phrase, sentence, or clause repeats itself for emphasis.

The most famous anaphora that we’re all probably familiar with comes from the opening lines of Charles Dickens’s A Tale of Two Cities. You know, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…” etc.

Martin Luther King Jr. also used anaphora in his “I have a dream” speech, with the repetition of that famous phrase.

HOW ABOUT EPISTROPHE?

But what if the repetition happens at the end of the phrase/sentence/clause? Is there a term for that?

There sure is! That’s called epistrophe, or epiphora, or antistrophe. Take your pick; they’re all correct.

Examples of epistrophe appear in Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address ( “…and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”), and in Lyndon B. Johnson’s “We Shall Overcome” speech (“There is no Negro problem. There is no Southern problem. There is no Northern problem. There is only an American problem.“

Music folks: There’s even a song by Thelonious Monk called “Epistrophy”, which uses notes in a pattern of epistrophe. Like anaphora, epistrophe is used to add emphasis.

Your turn: identify the rhetorical device: anaphora or epistrophe

Copy and paste the following ten examples onto a google doc. Identify whether the author is using  the rhetorical device of anaphora or epistrophe. 

This is due before class on Tuesday.

1. “What the hammer? what the chain?
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? what dread grasp
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?”

2.  If you had known the virtue of the ring,

Or half her worthiness that gave the ring,

Or your own honour to contain the ring,

You would not then have parted with the ring.

The Merchant of Venice - William Shakespeare

3. “Every day, every night, in every way, I am getting better and better”

4. For no government is better than the men who compose it, and I want the best, and we need the best, and we deserve the best. -John F. Kennedy

5. The moth and the fish eggs are in their place,

The bright suns I see and the dark suns I cannot see are in their place,

The palpable is in its place and the impalpable is in its place.

Song of Myself - Walt Whitman

6. “This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England,
This nurse, this teeming womb of royal kings [. . .]
This land of such dear souls, this dear dear land,”

7. “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.”

8. The time for the healing of the wounds has come. The moment to bridge the chasms that divides us has come. - Nelson Mandela

9. When I was a child,

I spoke as a child,

I understood as a child,

I thought as a child.

Corinthians 13:11

10. If you liked it then you should've put a ring on it

Don't be mad once you see that he want it

If you liked it then you sho

uld've put a ring on it

Single Ladies - Beyonce

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Tuesday, May 4 through Friday, May 7

Due by midnight Saturday, May 8

logos, ethos, pathos practice organizers

Below you will find three organizers, one each for logos, ethos and pathos. For each, you will decide first, whether the statment is an effective and accurate use of the the rhetorical device. Then you will explain WHY you made that decision.  These will be taken all together as ONE writing grade. This is due Friday, May 7 by midnight.

For each of the following, answer AND explain whether you think if logos is being used effectively. Please use specific evidence from the text to support your reasoning, as well as complete sentences.

                                                  LOGOS

	Effective? Yes     No		Explanation
“I need new jeans. Everyone in my class has new jeans.”		X	This isn’t an effective use of logos as the reasoning is not logical and convincing. Firstly, it’s highly unlikely that everyone has new jeans (hyperbole). Secondly, just because other people have new jeans, it doesn’t logically follow that the speaker needs them.
1.       “All men and women will die. You are a man. Therefore, you will die one day.”
2.       “Everyone has children. Therefore, everyone needs to think about the schooling of his or her children.”
3.       “You don’t need to jump in front of a train to know it’s a bad idea; so why do you need to try drugs to know if they’re damaging?”
4.       “Cigarette smoke contains over 4,800 chemicals, 69 of which are known to cause cancer. So why start smoking?”
“Every morning the rooster crows, then the sun rises. Therefore the rooster causes the sun to rise.”

 

 

	ethos	explanation
“You should definitely get help with your debt, & I say that as somebody with over 30 years experience of debt counseling.”	Yes   / NO X	The speaker  has referred to their extensive experience in this area, in order to give credit to their opinion. Somebody with over 30 years’ experience would surely know what he or she is talking about.
“As your father, I love you and only want the best for you. Therefore when I ask you not to go, please listen to me.”
2. “We really should try that recipe. Someone told me that it was good.”
3. “The research – conducted by professors at Harvard University – suggests that you should learn a second language.
4. “Dentists all over the world are telling their patients the same things. You must floss regularly.”
5. “I read somewhere that bicarbonate of soda is really useful for cleaning. You should try it.”

 

 For each of the following, identify whether Pathos is used, and explain your reasoning.

 

	Pathos Yes or No	Explanation
“Don’t be the last person to get one. You don’t want to be the laughing stock of your school!”	X	Here the speaker is appealing to the audience’s sense of pride by pointing out that they will be laughed at if they don’t get the product. This would make the listener/reader feel compelled to get it, in order to maintain their dignity and not hurt their pride.
1. “If you don’t purchase this life insurance, and something happens to you, how will your family survive?”
2. “We have been mistreated, abused and oppressed. They have benefited from our suffering and we must act now!”
3. “We live in a great democracy. So donate now and support the troops who are protecting our freedom.”
4. “Just eat and don’t complain. Children in Africa are starving and would give anything to have that plate of food.”
5. “Caring for the environment may not change your life, but it will change the lives of your children.”