Identifying Rhetorical Devices
Assignment: Devices
Identifying Rhetorical Devices
AP Language
Directions: Carefully read each of the following statements and identify the rhetorical device/figure of speech contained in each. Some may contain more than one device. You may choose among these terms:
- Alliteration
- Allusion
- Analogy
- Antithesis
- Apostrophe
- Epithet
- Hyperbole
- Metaphor
- Metonymy/Synecdoche
- Onomatopoeia
- Oxymoron
- Parallelism
- Parenthesis
- Personification
- Rhetorical Question
- Simile
- Understatement/Litotes
1. The village went to sleep, window by window. (Edmund Gilligan)
2. You are as cold and pitiless as your own marble. (Nathaniel Hawthorne)
3. But if possibility of evil be to exclude good, no good ever can be done. (Samuel Johnson)
4. Frankly, my dear, I don't feel like dining out.
5. The true nature of man, his true good, true virtue, an true religion are things which cannot be known separately. (Blaise Pascal)
6. Clang battleaxes, and crash brand! Let the King reign. (Alfred Lord Tennyson)
7. His first irresistible notion was that the whole China Sea had climbed on the bridge. (Joseph Conrad)
8. Roll on, thou dark blue ocean, roll. (George Gordon, Lord Byron)
The rhetorical devices used in the given statements are: Alliteration, Metaphor, Antithesis, Litotes, Parallelism, Alliteration, Hyperbole, Personification. In statement 1, alliteration is used to create a rhythm and convey the idea of a quiet, peaceful village going to sleep. In statement 2, a metaphor is used to compare someone's personality to the characteristics of marble. Statement 3 uses antithesis to present a contrasting idea and make a point. In statement 4, litotes are used to understate the speaker's lack of desire to dine out. Statement 5 uses parallelism to emphasize that certain concepts cannot be understood in isolation. In statement 6, alliteration is used to create a sense of excitement and momentum. Statement 7 uses hyperbole to convey the idea of the sea engulfing the bridge. In statement 8, personification is used to give the ocean human-like qualities.
What are some of the rhetorical devices used in the given statements?
The rhetorical devices used in the given statements are: Alliteration, Metaphor, Antithesis, Litotes, Parallelism, Hyperbole, and Personification.