Rhetorically Speaking: What is Rhetoric and How to Use It

No longer specific only to the AP Language and Literature exams, rhetorical analysis has officially made its way into the mainstream, appearing as part of the prompt on the new version of the SAT Essay and playing a role in numerous other tests. Problematically, with so much to cover, many regular-level English classes are unable to sufficiently review the idea of rhetoric and how to properly analyze a piece of writing. In this post, we aim to explain this important type of analysis, and how to use it for practical endeavors, like succeeding on standardized test writing components and being able to intelligently break down and inspect arguments.

What is “rhetorical analysis?”
If you look in a literary dictionary, you’ll probably find a definition of rhetoric that sounds something like this: the art of using language for persuasion, in speaking or writing. That’s it. Like many concepts in literature, it sounds complex, but isn’t really. If you’ve ever heard and been moved by Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous I Have a Dream speech, you already have a basic understanding of rhetoric. Thinking about how King goes about persuading through his word choice, his style, and his appeal to pathos, logos, and ethos, is step one in grasping rhetoric. That said, the next obvious question is

What are pathos, ethos, and logos?
Again, this sounds scary and confusing—but isn’t. Putting the Latin words aside, we might simply call this emotion, authority, and logic. If I am trying to convince you that dogs are better pets than cats, for instance, and I tell you a vivid story of how my dog is the reason I came out of a crisis in my life, and that he is a compassionate creature, I’ve just appealed to pathos, or emotions. If I make a point of saying that I have been studying dog and cat behavior for the past thirty years, I am appealing to ethos, which is essentially establishing my credibility: here is why you should listen to me. If I provide a plethora of scientific data regarding how much more emotionally tuned-in dogs are compared to cats, I’ve just appealed to logos, the cold, hard proof. These three Latin words are your go-to terms in a rhetorical analysis.

What else should I look for?
Now that you’ve nailed down the Latin trifecta, you should familiarize yourself with other rhetorical strategies that writers and speakers use. There are a multitude of resources for these online, but here we will highlight a few basic ones that you’re bound to run into:

1. Diction
Yet another intricate sounding term that can be easily simplified: word choice. The words writers choose are not picked by accident. Why does Martin Luther King, Jr. refer to the Emancipation Proclamation as “a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity,” rather than just as a “good thing?” The words can directly influence the audience’s reaction, serving to advance the writer or speaker’s main argument. This is also true in poetry, which you will encounter if you take the SAT Literature Subject Test. Consider Mary Oliver’s description of the great horned owl: “razor-tipped toes rasp the limb.” If you don’t think she picked “razor” and “rasp” to create a particular sound and elicit a particular response from the reader, think again. And this is, indeed, the heart of rhetoric: not so much what does the writer do, but why? A pretty good writer in his own right, Mark Twain once said “the difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between the lightning-bug and the lightning.”

2. Structure
Something as seemingly simple as sentence structure can deeply affect the impactfulness of a piece of writing. MLK repeating the lines, “I have a dream” throughout his speech creates a form of parallelism, phrases or sentences of similar construction and meaning placed side by side, balancing each other, which serve to draw the reader in. Building on the idea of pathos, this carefully calculated way of structuring a piece of writing is a main element of persuasion, and is something you should look for when doing a rhetorical analysis.

3. Allusion
When writers refer to events and things past, it’s always for a reason. MLK referencing the Emancipation Proclamation exactly 100 years later was intentional: it puts his argument in a historical frame. You will run into all types of allusions in your reading: biblical, historical, biographical, literary, etc. Don’t assume they are just in there for the heck of it—think, as always, about what is the writer’s intent in including this information?

How is this relevant?
This type of literary analysis may seem light years away from a typical English class reading assignment, however more and more, rhetoric is becoming a skill that you need to master in order to have success on standardized tests. The SAT Essay, for instance, now includes a 50-minute prompt in which you are charged with, among other tasks, considering how a writer uses “stylistic or persuasive elements, such as word choice or appeals to emotion, to add power to the ideas expressed.” This is quite a change from the old version, which was a simple “agree or disagree” prompt. Additionally, the ACT Essay now gives you three perspectives and asks you to “analyze the relationship between your perspective and at least one other perspective.” The SAT Literature Subject Test, as well as both the AP English Language and Literature exams also require a deep understanding of rhetoric, asking you to display your knowledge through multiple-choice questions and written responses. It seems that analysis is the wave of the future on these tests, and an ability to understand and apply rhetoric will help you to perform successfully. Furthermore, these vital skills will hone your ability to be analytical in all areas of your education and life.

Written by Phil Lane

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