Building a Toolbox for Rhetorical Analysis

Adapted from Amy Benjamin, Hendrick Hudson High School, Montrose, New York

Learning rhetorical tools the first step toward establishing a habit of mind that allows students to approach rhetorical
analysis in a systematic manner.

Students need to know how to do the kind of thinking that is necessary for rhetorical analysis. This kind of thinking is
abstract: We need to separate what is being said (content) from how it is being said (rhetorical analysis). We are not
looking solely for what the piece is about; we are discovering how it is about what it is about. If the piece were an
article of clothing, we'd be talking about the choice of fabric and how that particular kind of fabric falls and folds as it is
worn. We'd be turning the garment inside out, examining its seams and stitching to see how it was put together so that it
will stay put together. We'd be able to understand and explain why the eye is drawn to particular details or decorations on
the garment. And, importantly, we'd be using the language of the tailoring craft to do this analysis, to have this
conversation: We'd know the parts and processes that go into making a garment, and we'd have the technical language to
speak to each other as professionals.

Rhetorical Forms
We will be looking for nine possible rhetorical forms in the text: example, definition, comparison-contrast, classification,
process analysis, description, narrative, cause-and-effect, assertion/justification. These are broad forms that the speaker or
writer can take to shape the message. Writers decide to hang their message upon one or more of these forms. The first step
toward rhetorical analysis is to identify the dominant and subordinating forms that the writer has chosen.

Just as a sweatshirt goes nicely with jeans, and a sport shirt goes well with a pair of khakis, some of our rhetorical forms
tend to pair off comfortably: narrative and description; definition, classification, and example; cause-and-effect; and
assertion/justification.

Everything has features: jeans have zippers; blouses have buttons; tennis shoes have rubber soles. If you wanted to create
or describe these items, you would have to use the language of these features. Likewise, rhetorical forms have features
and the features are made of language: temporal language is a feature of process analysis and of narrative; spatial
language, of description; words expressing causal relationships (thus, therefore, hence...) are features of cause-and-effect
forms. When students learn to recognize the language features of the nine rhetorical forms, they improve their reading
comprehension and their writing skills.

Style
Style infuses rhetoric as dye infuses fabric. Style is to be found everywhere, but it has discrete elements: diction and
syntax. Via diction and syntax, the writer expresses tone, connotation, and figurative language. Students learn to analyze
style by developing an awareness of diction, syntax, tone, connotation, and the extent to which figurative language is
used. We begin training our minds to analyze style by asking broad questions:

Is the diction mostly formal or mostly informal? Mostly polysyllabic (Latinate and Greek) words or mostly short
(Anglo-Saxon) words? Is the diction scientific, scholarly, or conversational? If it's conversational, is it colloquial?
Slang?
Are the sentences mostly long or mostly short? Are most of the sentences meandering, or are they terse? What kinds of
punctuation do we see? How does this punctuation establish relationships among ideas within the sentences? Is there
cataloging of information?
Is the tone mostly serious or mostly playful? What emotions do you sense from the writer?
Is the language mostly literal or mostly metaphorical? Do the metaphors bring to mind something positive or
something negative?

Rhetorical Devices
Rhetorical devices are the jewelry of rhetoric: they create sparkles and interesting little gems of writer's craftsmanship.
Like jewelry, rhetorical devices should not be used to excess lest they become garish. Most rhetorical devices have Greek
names: metonymy, synecdoche, apostrophe, anaphora, cataphora, polysyndeton, asyndeton, chiasmus, diacope.
Students need to learn how to go beyond the mere identification of rhetorical devices. But let's not forget the devices that
are named by more accessible language: allusion, parallel structure, repetition.