Beyond My Wildest TROPES and SCHEMES !

Beyond My WildestTROPESandSCHEMES! Rhetorical Tropes & Schemes in Writing and Speech

Rhetorical Tropes • Trope: a figure of speech that uses words or phrases in ways not intended by their normal meanings • Essentially, artful diction • Many literary devices are actually tropes • Tropes are poetic, but they can also change the tone of the writing—more playful, more solemn, more formal—it all depends on the context • First, a few familiar faces…

Rhetorical Tropes • Hyperbole • Exaggeration for effect • Oxymoron • Self-contradictory phrase – “cold fire” • Simile • Metaphor • Personification • Allusion • Sensory Imagery

Paradox • para- = “contrary to,”dox- = “opinion” • An apparent oxymoron that actually contains a deeper truth • Darth Vader is the epitome of a heroic villain: true, he exterminates the Jedi and murders countless innocents, but by throwing the Emperor to his death, he also saves the galaxy. • Note the difference from an oxymoron: paradox doesn’t just playfully juxtapose opposites; it makes an argument about the object’s complexity

Litotes “LIE-toe-tees” • Making a point by denying its opposite • He was not uncharitable toward his foes. • As you can see, usually functions as a form of understatement; he clearly wasn’t hugely generous, but he was somewhat charitable. • “But their response, it didn’t thrill us / They locked the doors and tried to kill us.” --Weird Al Yankovic, “The Saga Begins…” • Here understatement is sarcastic. Not only did it fail to thrill us; it really upset us.

Euphemism • eu- = “good/true,”phem- =“speak” • Substitution of a more favorable (and often less direct) term for an unpleasant or controversial one • They’re not civilian casualties! They’re collateral damage! • I’m not a criminal! I’m a troubled youth! • It’s not abortion! It’s reproductive health services! • I’m not a garbage man! I’m a waste disposal engineer!

Rhetorical Schemes • Scheme: a device that changes word order or pattern to produce an effect • Essentially, artful syntax • Tend to have Greek names describing their function • Schemes serve to call attention to certain elements in the sentence, change its tone, show relationships among ideas, or simplify eliminate awkwardness or create euphony.

Parallelism • Similarity of structure in a series of related words, phrases, or clauses. • parallelism of words:She tried to make her pastry fluffy, sweet, and delicate. • [adj], [adj], [adj] • parallelism of phrases: Singing songs, writing poems, and constructing cathedrals all glorify God. • [verb]ing [noun]s • parallelism of clauses:“The elephant is larger, the horse is swifter and stronger, the butterfly is far more beautiful, the mosquito is more prolific, even the simple sponge is more durable.”—Inherit the Wind • [noun] is [comparative adj]

Parallelism • Be the companion of his thought, the friend of his friendship, the lover of his virtue--but no kinsman of his sin. —Ralph Waldo Emerson • [noun] of his [noun] • How monotonously alike all the great tyrants and conquerors have been: how gloriously different are the saints.—C.S. Lewis • How [adverb] [adjective]…

Rhetorical Climax • “…you’re also likely to be tense, shaken—anything but reassured.”—Peter Suderman • “Political language has to consist largely of euphemism, question-begging, and sheer cloudy vagueness.”—George Orwell • [noun], [noun], and [adj.] [adj.] [noun] • Arrangement of a series of words, phrases, or clauses in order of importance, scope, or length • End with longest or most significant • Must have a series with parallel structure that gets slightly tweaked at the end

Ellipsis • And so the losers grow more aggrieved in defeat and the winners less generous in victory. —James Poniewozik • Happy the natural college thus self-instituted around every natural teacher; the young men of Athens around Socrates; of Alexander around Plotinus; of Paris around Abelard… —Ralph Waldo Emerson • Omission of certain words or phrases in a parallel series because they can be understood from context

Anaphora • Where is the wise one? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of the age? --1 Corinthians 1:20 • We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.--Winston Churchill, 1941 • Literally: “carrying back” • Repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of a series of successive phrases, clauses, sentences, or lines of poetry

Anastrophe (Inversion) • “Try not. Do, or do not. There is no try.”—Master Yoda • Punished we were, disproportionate to the crime! —Hector Barbossa • Gathered along the ramp were firefighters in their black helmets and black coats. —Suzanne Berne • Reordering of words in order to affect sentence rhythm or emphasis • How monotonously alike all the great tyrants and conquerors have been: how gloriously different are the saints. • And on the boy who lived in their letters, the splendid phantom who lived in all my hopes, it seemed to me I saw at last, my own face.

Antithesis • Americans in need are not strangers; they are citizens; not problems, but priorities.—George W. Bush, 2001 Inaugural • …Your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy. —Barack Obama, 2009 Inaugural • I’d rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints… —Billy Joel (never elected) • When he dives, the movie soars. —Peter Suderman • A juxtaposition of balanced opposites used for emphasis

Antimetabole • Ask not what yourcountry can do for you, ask what you can do for yourcountry. —John F. Kennedy • The reformer is always right about what is wrong. He is generally wrong about what is right. —G.K. Chesterton • Repetition of words in nearly identical successive clauses, with two words in reverse grammatical order

Antimetabole! • Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter, and those who matter don’t mind. —attr. to Dr. Seuss • There are some who use change to promote theircareers. And then there are those, like John McCain, who use their careers to promote change. —Sarah Palin • People the world over have always been more impressed by the power of our example than by the example of our power. —Bill Clinton

Zeugma • Literally: “yoke”(not “yolk”) • A series of 2 or more words “yoked” grammatically to an earlier word in the sentence, often in contrasting ways • I bought the salesman’s story, and his product. • He carried a strobe light and the responsibility for the lives of his men.—Tim O’Brien, The Things They Carried • You held your breath and the door for me. —Alanis Morrissette • I’m gonna lose my temper and some sleep.—Brad Paisley • You can leave in a taxi. If you can't get a taxi, you can leave in a huff. If that's too soon, you can leave in a minute and a huff. —Groucho Marx, Duck Soup

Beyond My Wildest TROPES and SCHEMES !