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Rhetorical Devices

This text explores the use of rhetorical devices in the famous sermon "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" by Jonathan Edwards. It discusses the use of appositive phrases, polysyndeton, repetition of words and phrases, diction, imagery, sentence structure, and tone.

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Rhetorical Devices

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  1. Rhetorical Devices Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God

  2. Appositive Phrases “That world of misery, that lake of burning brimstone, is extended under you.” Notice that it is surrounded by commas. Appositives can also be set off by semicolons, parenthesis, and dashes. What purpose does the appositive serve in this sentence?

  3. Polysyndeton “you would immediately sink and swiftly descend and plunge into the bottomless gulf, and your healthy constitution, and your own care and prudence, and best contrivance, and all your righteousness would have no more influence to uphold you and keep you out of hell” The technique of repeating conjunctions in close succession is polysyndeton. What is the rhetorical effect?

  4. Repetition of words and phrases “Were it not for the sovereign pleasure of God, the earth would not bear you one moment; for you are a burden to it; the creation groans with you; the creature is made subject to the bondage of your corruption, not willingly; the sun does not willingly shine upon you to give you light to serve sin and Satan; the earth does not willingly yield her increase to satisfy your lusts; nor is it willingly a stage for your wickedness to be acted upon; the air does not willingly serve you for breath to maintain the flame of life in your vitals, while you spend your life in the service of God’s enemies.”

  5. Diction: author’s word choice • DICTION: • Laugh: guffaw, chuckle, titter, giggle, cackle, snicker, roar • Self-confident: proud, conceited, egotistical, stuck-up, haughty, smug, condescending • House: home, hut, shack, mansion, cabin, home, residence • Old: mature, experienced, antique, relic, senior, ancient • Fat: obese, plump, corpulent, portly, porky, burly, husky, full-figured

  6. Images/Imagery • The use of vivid descriptions or figures of speech that appeal to sensory experiences helps to create the author's tone. • My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun. (restrained) • An old, mad, blind, despised, and dying king. (somber, candid) • He clasps the crag with crooked hands. (dramatic) • Love sets you going like a fat gold watch. (fanciful) • Smiling, the boy fell dead. (shocking)

  7. LANGUAGE: • Like word choice, the language of a passage has control over tone. • Consider language to be the entire body of words used in a text, not simply isolated bits of diction. • For example, an invitation to a wedding might use formal language, while a biology text would use scientific and clinical language. •  When I told Dad that I had goofed the exam, he blew his top. (slang) •  I had him on the ropes in the fourth and if one of my short rights had connected, he'd have gone down for the count. (jargon) •  A close examination and correlation of the most reliable current economic indexes justifies the conclusion that the next year will witness a continuation of the present, upward market trend. (turgid, pedantic)

  8. SENTENCE STRUCTURE: • How a sentence is constructed affects what the audience understands. • Parallel syntax (similarly styled phrases and sentences) creates interconnected emotions, feelings and ideas. • Short sentences are punchy and intense. Long sentences are distancing, reflective and more abstract. • Loose sentences point at the end. Periodic sentences point at the beginning, followed by modifiers and phrases. • The inverted order of an interrogative sentence cues the reader to a question and creates tension between speaker and listener. • Short sentences are often emphatic, passionate or flippant, whereas longer sentences suggest greater thought. • Sentence structure affects tone.

  9. TONE • Tone is defined as the writer's or speaker's attitude toward the subject and the audience. Understanding tone in prose and poetry can be challenging because the reader doesn't have voice inflection to obscure or to carry meaning. Thus, an appreciation of word choice, details, imagery, and language all contribute to the understanding of tone. To misinterpret tone is to misinterpret meaning. • A list of tone words is one practical method of providing a basic "tone vocabulary." An enriched vocabulary enables students to use more specific and subtle descriptions of an attitude they discover in a text. Here is a short list of simple but helpful "tone words":

  10. Sinner’s Assignment Go to the AP wiki page (pixleysap.pbworks.com) Click on the weekly assignment link Scroll down to today’s date Click Link: Collaborative Annotating

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