Rhetorical Devices Worksheet
Lecture: Elements of Eloquence
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Overview: Eloquence and excellence in speech emerges not by chance but from our average
language inputs. To naturally use rhetorical devices like anaphora and alliteration, familiarity
through exposure is key. Below, you’ll find examples of these devices. Read them aloud and
record yourself. When you’re finished, listen back to the recording. Listening to your own
voice might be uncomfortable, but it's crucial for growth. Understand that eloquence is
shaped by what we hear and repeat. Your journey to articulate speech starts with embracing
the sound of your own voice.
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Anaphora:
Anaphora is starting each sentence with the same words.
"When the rain speaks, the earth listens. When the rain speaks, life pauses. When the rain
speaks, we understand silence”
“It rained on his lousy tombstone, and it rained on the grass on his stomach. It rained all over
the place.”
“You may shoot me with your words. You may cut me with your eyes. You may kill me with
your hatefulness, But still, like air, I’ll rise.”
“Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the
dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to
lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is
the time to make justice a reality”
“Get busy living, or get busy dying.”
“If I asked you about art you’d probably give me the skinny on every art book ever written.
But I bet you can’t tell me what it smells like in the Sistine Chapel. If I asked you about
women you’d probably give me a syllabus of your personal favorites. But you can’t tell me
what it feels like to wake up next to a woman and feel truly happy. If I ask you about war,
you’d probably, uh, throw Shakespeare at me, right? But you’ve never been near one.”
“Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever. Give thanks to
the God of gods, for his steadfast love endures forever. Give thanks to the Lord of lords, for his
steadfast love endures forever.”
© Joseph Tsar 2024 betterspeakpro.com
“With each page turned, a journey begins. With each page turned, a mind expands. With
each page turned, a new world awaits.”
“I would rather be ashes than dust. I would rather that my spark should burn out in a
brilliant blaze than it be stifled by dry-rot. I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of
me in a magnificent glow, than to be a sleepy and permanent planet.”
A more subtle example with “that”:
“It’s the answer told by lines that stretched around schools and churches in numbers this
nation has never seen; by people who waited three hours and four hours, many for the first
time in their lives, because they believed that this time must be different; that their voice
could be that difference.”
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Alliteration:
Alliteration is the repetition of any letter in two or more closely associated words.
“Up the aisle, the moans and screams merged with the sickening smell of woolen black
clothes worn in summer weather and green leaves wilting over yellow flowers.”
“But four hours later the fish was still swimming steadily out to sea, towing the skiff, and the
old man was still braced solidly with the line across his back.”
“So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.”
“His appearance: something displeasing, something down-right detestable. I never saw a
man I so disliked and yet I scarce know why. He must be deformed somewhere."
“She had no room for gaiety and ease. She had spent the golden time in grudging its going.”
“This city deserves a better class of criminal, and I'm gonna give it to them.”
“The rich man was so cheap that it was chilling.”
“I forgot my flip phone but felt free.”
“When the tests were distributed, the guys grimaced and groaned.”
© Joseph Tsar 2024 betterspeakpro.com
