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Dive deep into the rhetoric of MLK's letter, color-code strategies, annotate examples, and understand Greek rhetorical terms. Explore ethos, pathos, logos, dialectic, anaphora, and more.
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Letter from a Birmingham Jail Rhetorical Device Review
Your Task • For two classes from now, I’d like you to highlight and annotate your copy of “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” with a focus on rhetoric. • Color-code the major Greek rhetorical strategies. • Point out other examples of good rhetoric. • This PowerPoint will provide a basic review of some terms you could consider.
The Opposition’s Argument • Dad, I know you’re going to say I shouldn’t be able to borrow the car again – because last time I drove into that house and all – but next time I promise I’ll be more careful.
Pathos • One of the basic Greek rhetorical strategies • Use of emotional appeal • For only 15 cents a day, you too can save a starving animal.
Ethos • One of the basic Greek rhetorical strategies • Use of an appeal to authority • You can’t tell me I can’t eat in class – Mr. Ross said it was OK! • Considering I am an Eagle Scout, I probably would know how to tie knots. • According to the Bible…
Logos • One of the basic Greek rhetorical strategies • Use of an appeal to logic • Think facts and figures and logical if-then statements
Dialectic • A form of reasoning that proceeds by juxtaposing contradictory ideas and synthesizing or finding areas of agreement between them. • Sort of like a Venn diagram does, right?
Digression • To move off track from the main subject. • Did I ever tell you about the time that I went snowtubing on an active volcano? Ah, but I digress.
Anaphora • Repetition of words at the beginning of phrases. • “I have a dream…I have a dream…I have a dream…” – MLK
Epistrophe • Repetition of words at the end of phrases. • It’s like anaphora at the end of a sentence. • You work hard in school because you’re a great student. You do all of your homework because you’re a great student. You’ll ace this test because you’re a great student.
Delayed Sentence • A sentence that delays the introduction of the subject or the verb until the end. • Just when you thought he couldn’t get nerdier, Mr. Ambrose brought back the rat tail.
Epanalepsis • Repetition of a clause of the word that appeared at the beginning of the clause. • “To each the boulders that have fallen to each.” – Robert Frost
Parison • The correspondence of words within successive sentences or clauses. • “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” • You might also note this as epanalepsis, or as parallel structure – and you’d be right!