Rhetorical Terms Presentation #7

6th hour

Michaela Kremhelmer

Stephanie Roberts

Jessica Szczpkowski

Antanaclasis[ant-an-uh-klas-is]

A figure of speech involving a pun, consisting of the repeated

use of the same word, each time with different meanings

A type of verbal play in which one word is used in two contrasting (and often

comic) senses

Antanaclasis Examples

• That company is terrible company.• Don’t worry; the judge won’t judge you.• “He was a puli--a Hungarian sheepdog

with a face full of hair. I am a German, with a face full of hair.” (Why My Dog is not a Humanist, Kurt Vonnegut)

• “You just cover up… and hope you wake up the next morning.” (Amazing Grace, Jonathan Kozol)

Aposiopesis[ap-uh-sahy-uh-pee-sis]

An abrupt stop in the middle of a sentence; used by a speaker

to convey unwillingness or inability to complete a thought

of statement.Unfinished thought or broken

sentence.

Aposiopesis Examples• "Why, I'll . . .“• If they use that section of the desert for bombing

practice, the rock hunters will--.• "So filled with nature's bounty, nature's world. . . ."

(Noel Riley Fitch, Appetite for Life).• "I run through a list of some of the people who are

likely to be names most frequently--drug dealers, or the kids whose parents do not give them proper supervision, or teenagers who cause favoc in the housing projects, absent fathers, women who reuse some kinds of jobs that they may find demeaning..." (Jonathan Kozol, Amazing Grace).

Chiasmus[kahy-az-muhs]

A figure of speech consisting of the contrasting of two

structurally parallel syntactic phrases arranged “cross-wire”

A verbal pattern in which the second half of an expression is balanced against the first

with the parts reversed (a type of antithesis)

Chiasmus Examples• John said little and knew much; Marc knew nothing and spoke at length. • Susan walked in, and out rushed Mary. • “The United States exists as a sovereign nation. "America," in contrast,

exists as a myth of democracy and equal opportunity to live by, or as an ideal goal to reach.” ("American Dreamer" by Bharati Mukherjee)

• "Let us not underestimate how far we have come; and let us agree that we have come too far to go back now." (Tony Blair, Adress to Irish Parliament).

• “In heaven there is no sickness. Here, there is sickness.” (Jonathan Kozol, Amazing Grace)

Diacope[di AK oh pee]

Repetition broken up by one or more intervening words

Figure of repetition in the same word or phrase occurs on either side of an intervening word or

phrase; word/phrase x, ..., word/phrase x.

Diacope Examples• Fire, hot fire, burned across the town.

• “Why?” he asked, “Why?”

• "Barbara. My dear Barbara.” (Tell Me How Long the Train’s Been Gone, James Baldwin)

• “We’re out of cookies. I ate a whole bag of cookies.” (Amazing Grace, Jonathan Kozol)

Epanalepsis[ep-uh-nuh-lep-sis]

A rhetorical term for the repetition at the end of a clause or sentence of the word or phrase with which it began

A figure of speech defined by the repetition of the initial word or words of a clause or

sentence at the end. The beginning and the end are the two positions of stronger

emphasis in a sentence; so, by having the same phrase in both places, the speaker

calls special attention to it.

Epanalepsis Examples• Water alone dug this giant canyon; yes, just plain water...• Hopper could not have created Hoppers.• To report that your committee is still investigating the

matter is to tell me that you have nothing to report.• Rejoice now, as I say rejoice!• "You are a great distance from home, and we do not wish

to detain you." (Seneca Chief Red Jacket, Address to White Missionaries and Iroquois Six Nations).

• "Church, why a church?" (Jonathan Kozol, Amazing Grace).

Hypotyposis[hahy-puh-tahy-poh-sis]

A vivid, picturesque description of scenes or events

Lifelike description of a thing or scene

Hypotyposis Examples

• As I lay silently underneath the two-hundred-year-old oak tree, I care about nothing more than the soft, breeze rustling the vibrant canopy of color overhead and the soft pillow of spent leaves underneath my head.

• If I hadn’t been rendered immobile with fear from the onslaught overhead, I might’ve appreciated the constant bomb bursts as a giant fourth of July fireworks display.

• “His name was Sandy, although he wasn't a Scotsman. He was a puli--a Hungarian sheepdog with a face full of hair. I am a German, with a face full of hair. “ (Why My Dog Is Not a Humanist, Kurt Vonnegut).

Hypotyposis Examples

• "If you weave enought bad things into the fibers of a person'slife--sickness and filth, old mattresses and other junk thrown in the streets and other ugly ruined things, and ruined people, a prison here, sewage there, drug dealerss here, the homeless people over there, then give us the very worst schools anyone could think of, hospitals that keep you waiting for ten hours, polilce that don't show up when someone's dying, take the train that's underneath the street in the good neighborhoods and put it up above where it shuts ou the sun, you can guess that life will not be very nice and children will not have much sense of being glad of who they are." (Jonathan Kozol, Amazing Grace).

Isocolon[i-so-co’-lon]

A rhetorical term for a succession of clauses of approximately

equal length and corresponding structure

Parallel parts of a sentence are the same length

Isocolon Examples

• "Climate is what we expect, weather is what we get.“ (Mark Twain)

• "It takes a licking, but it keeps on ticking!“ (advertising slogan of Timex watches)

• “I was aware of her hand. I was aware of my breathing.” (Tell Me How Long the Train’s Been Gone, James Baldwin).

• “Pack them tight. Don’t think about them. Keep your hands clean. Maybe they’ll kill each other off.” (Jonathan Kozol, Amazing Grace).

Metanoia[met-uh-noi-uh]

Qualifies a statement by recalling it (or part of it) and expressing it in a better, milder, or stronger way. (A negative is often used to do the

recalling).A profound, usually spiritual, transformation; conversion.

Metanoia Examples• The chief thing to look for in impact sockets is hardness; no, not so

much hardness as resistance to shock and shattering.• Weakening: "I will murder you. You shall be punished,"Strengthening: “I still fall short of it through my own fault, and through not observing the admonitions of the gods, and, I may almost say, their direct instructions.”

• “I am very busy now, facing the usual endless worry and discouragement, and trying to keep steadily in mind that I must not only be as resolute as Abraham Lincoln in seeking to achieve decent ends, but as patient, as uncomplaining, and as even-tempered in dealing, not only with knaves, but with the well-meaning foolish people, educated and uneducated, who by their unwisdom give the knaves their chance.”

-"Proper Place for Sports" by Theodore Roosevelt• “Do you believe the Bible is the word of God?”

“I think it’s God’s beliefs and His commandments. But He gave to man the wisdom and intelligence to write it.” (Jonathan Kozol, Amazing Grace)

Paralepsis[par-uh-lep-sis]

When a rhetor refuses to continue with their current discussion, or

passes over the rest of the conversation, or admits that they

do not know what else to sayStating and drawing attention to something

in the very act of pretending to pass it over. A kind of irony.

Paralepsis Examples• "Let's pass swiftly over the vicar's predilection for cream

cakes. Let's not dwell on his fetish for Dolly Mixture. Let's not even mention his rapidly increasing girth. No, no--let us instead turn directly to his recent work on self-control and abstinence."

-Tom Coates, Plasticbag.org, Apr. 5, 2003• “The immediate cause of the bickering is the Republican

ethics scandal involving lobbyist Jack Abramoff and House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, both of whom you can tell, just by looking at them, are guilty of something.”

-"That Blasted Year" by Dave Barry

Paralepsis Examples• "I am a naturalized U.S. citizen, which means that, unlike

native-born citizens, I had to prove to the U.S. government that I merited citizenship." (American Dreamer, Bharati Mukherjee).

• “He holds up the tape recorder to the man. “Say how old you are.” The man says, “Sixty-five.” “Okay,” says Cliffie, “That’s enough. So long.” (Jonathan Kozol, Amazing Grace).

Paraphrasis[puh-raf-ruh-sis]

The recasting of an idea in words different from that originally used, whether in the same language or

in a translationAdding in superfluous words to extend the

message you are trying to give.

Paraphrasis Examples• "The music, the service at the feast,

The noble gifts for the great and small,The rich adornment of Theseus's palace . . .All these things I do not mention now."(Chaucer, "The Knight's Tale," The Canterbury Tales)

• I have observed that within the time I subsituted for your class, the class participated in behaviours that were most unruly and displeasing in general vs. Your class misbehaved when I subsituted for you.

Paraphrasis Examples• “If it were not that I feel you will be so bitterly

disappointed, I would strongly advocate your acquiescing in the decision to leave you off the second squad this year.” (Theodore Roosevelt, “Proper Place for Sports”).

• "This is how everyone is cutting their hair..." The name of the hairstyle, he explains, is "25 Years to Life." She asks him, "Like in prison...? This is how you want to wear your hair?" (Jonathan Kozol, Amazing Grace).

Skotison [SKO-ti-son]

Purposeful obscurity. Intentionally obscure

speech or writing, designed to confuse an

audience rather than clarify an issue.

Skotison Examples• Seeing the look on my face, she says, “Some of

them wear G-strings and a pair of tiny shorts. –Amazing Grace

• I am not asking anyone to surrender. I am asking everyone to declare the victory of peace. –Tony Blair, Address to Irish Parliament

• He pulled the boy closer. Just remember that the things you put into your head are there forever, he said. You might want to think about that. You forget some things, don't you? Yes. You forget what you want to remember and you remember what you want to forget. –The Road

Skotison Examples• "I would say the biggest thing in baseball at the present

time now, and with the money that is coming in, and so forth, and with the annuity fund for the players, you can't allow the commissioner to just take everything sitting there, and take everything insofar as money is concerned, but I think he should have full jurisdiction over the player and player's habits, and the way the umpires and ball clubs should conduct their business in the daytime and right on up tight up here."(Casey Stengel, testimony on July 8, 1958 at the Senate Anti-Trust and Monopoly Subcommittee Hearing)

Zeugma[zoog-muh]

A general term describing when one part of speech (most often the main verb, but

sometimes a noun) governs two or more other parts of a sentence (often in a series).

A rhetorical term for the use of a word to modify or govern two or more words although its use may be

grammatically or logically correct with only one.

(Similar to syllepsis)

Zeugma Examples• He milked the situation and the cow. • "Kill all the poys [boys] and luggage!"

(Fluellen in William Shakespeare's Henry V) • "He carried a strobe light and the responsibility for the lives of his men."

(Tim O'Brien, The Things They Carried) • "The theme of the Egg Hunt is 'learning is delightful and delicious'--as, by

the way, am I."(Allison Janney as C.J. Cregg in The West Wing)

• Dark of the invisible moon. The nights now only slightly less black. By day the banished sun circles the earth like a grieving mother with a lamp. –The Road

• Athletic proficiency is a mighty good servant, and like so many other good servants, a mighty bad master. –Theodore Roosevelt

• “I call them spies because they are so vigilant and so observant.”

– Amazing Grace