Rhetoric Summary

Rhetoric is the art or discipline that deals with the use of discourse, either spoken or written (or visual), to inform, persuade and motivate an audience.
Claiming that “rhetoric is a useful skill”, which ”turns a week man into a strong one,” Aristotle defines rhetoric as ”the power to observe the persuasiveness of which any particular matter admits”
(The skill to observe/detect the persuasive aspects in any subject matter and to use them for argument).

Rhetoric deals with communicating an idea as effectively as possible. The classical art of rhetoric involves five phases described as inventio(discovery of ideas), dispositio
(Arrangement of ideas), elocutio (stylistic treatment of ideas), Memoria (memorization) and pronunciatio (presenting the subject matter).

In our study, we are especially interested in the third stage elocutio, where the stylistic treatment and shaping of the material is under consideration. The stylistic treatments that are applied to increase the overall effectiveness of the expression are gathered under the title: Figures of Speech (also referred as Rhetoric Figures).

Figures of Speech: Figures of speech are any artful deviations from ordinary mode of speaking, writing, or visualization. As a means of departure from the ordinary ways of expressing an idea, they endow communication with strong dynamic tension. In the class we will examine a specific class of rhetorical figures called troupes. For this purpose, we will use the following categorisation:
IRONY
ANTITHESIS

METAPHOR/SMILE
PERSONIFICATION

METONYMY
SYNECDOCHE
PERIPHRASIS
PUNS

AMPLICATION
HYPERBOLE
LITOTES

IRONY: Use of a word in such a way as to convey a meaning opposite to the literal meaning.
e.g. Robbing the savings of a poor man is certainly a noble act.
ANTITHESIS: Placing contrasting terms of ideas together to emphasise their differences and give the effect of balance.
e.g. A small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.
METAPHOR: An implied comparison between two things of unlike nature that have yet something in common.
SIMILE: When the comparison is explicit
e.g. Knowledge is like an instrument for cutting.
PERSONIFICATION: Comparison whereby human qualities are assigned to inanimate objects or to abstractions.
e.g. The houses in the valley seemed to be a sleep.
METONYMY: Substitution of some attributive or suggestive word for what is actually meant. The thing what is really meant is represented by something closely associated with it.
e.g. crown for royalty, pen for authors, gold for money, bottle for alcohol, ear for music.
SYNECDOCHE: Part stands for hole and thus something else is understood within th e thing mentioned. Bread for food, hand for helpers, steel for sword.
PERIPHRASES: The indirect reference by means of well-known attributes or characteristics. Substitution of a descriptive word or phrase for a proper name.
e.g. He is Pollyanna. /She has gone to be better world.
PUN: Play upon words, two or more meaning appear in one word or in two words of identical or similar sound.
e.g. There is a certain type of a woman who‘d rather press grapes than clothes.
AMPLIFICATION: The expansion of a topic through the assemblage of relevant particulars.
e.g. He went to see the world : the east, the west, the north, and the south.
HYPERBOLE: The usage of exaggerated terms for the purpose of emphasis or heightened effect, emphasized by saying more than what is really meant, or more than is literally true.
e.g. She swept a tone of mud through the hallway.
LITOTES: Under statement. It can be considered as the opposite of hyperbole.
e.g. It is a small world after all.






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