Rhetorical Devices antithesis farce pun oxymoron understatement

Phrases sink or swim to be or not to be (Hamlet) Antithesis Phrases sink or swim to be or not to be (Hamlet)

Antithesis Sentences "We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.“ (MLK, speech at St. Louis, 1964) "You're easy on the eyes; hard on the heart.” (Terri Clark) Extremism in defense of liberty is no vice, moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue. (Barry Goldwater ) The vases of the classical period are but the reflection of classical beauty; the vases of the archaic period are beauty itself." Sir John Beazley

Antithesis Paragraphs "I would rather be ashes than dust! I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dryrot. I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet. The proper function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time." (Jack London)

Farce Taking one of the opponent’s ideas and making it seem ridiculous, not in a mean way, but an extreme way.

Farce Ex. Democrat Alan Grayson said during the healthcare debate that the Republicans healthcare plan is: Don’t get sick, and if you do get sick, die quickly. Ex. Republican claim that Democratic healthcare plan is to form death panels to decide who lives and dies.

Pun Play on words that are identical or similar in sound but have sharply different meanings. Puns can be serious or funny. The ones below are funny, but in the MLK speech, you will see a serious one.

Pun Examples Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet is dying and he says to his friends “Ask for me tomorrow, and you shall find a grave man.” (Shakespeare) A streaker was found dead this morning. Police say the details are quite revealing. Did you hear about the guy whose whole left side was cut off? He's all right now. I couldn't quite remember how to throw a boomerang, but eventually it came back to me. Show me a piano falling down a mineshaft and I'll show you A-flat minor. To write with a broken pencil is pointless. The butcher backed up into the meat grinder and got a little behind in his work.

Oxymoron Examples Examples act naturally student teacher random order original copy found missing alone together criminal justice peace force even odds awful good Examples student teacher definite possibility definite maybe terribly pleased civil war real phony ill health small crowd clearly misunderstood

Understatement Definition: Deliberately representing something as being much less than it really is. This generally works when poking fun at opponents arguments.

Understatement An example would be if a politician was talking about how the rich need to pay a higher percentage of taxes and was trying to counter the opponent’s argument that all Americans needed to do their part to pay taxes instead of expecting the rich to pay a higher percentage. The politician may say, “You have to think about these people having to figure out how to survive on a salaries of two million dollars a year.”