Rhetorical Devices, "Good Readers and Good Writers"

Rhetorical devices are terms used to characterize the way literature is written. Some common rhetorical devices would be hyperbole, onomatopoeia, or irony. This essay was very cleverly written, and used some rhetorical devices. One device I noticed more than once was the use of heniadys. Hendaidys are the use of two words that are connected a conjunction rather than subordinating one to the other. This helps express a single idea. Another rhetorical device that i believe is used would be tautology. Tautology is the repetition of an idea in which you use different words or phases in the repetition. Nabokov continually draws everything back to the original idea, using tautology to help (Nabokov 2). I also believe slight versions of paraprosdkian were used. This is a surprise ending to a series of thoughts. Now, I would not say there were many "surprises" but there were times when I expected him to continue on with the topic.

Many different rhetorical devices were used, but that is just three. Each work of literature uses different devices to get the point, whatever it may be, across. Rhetorical devices give writers a way to change up their common way of writing; they help make writing more interesting.

Nabokov, Vladimir Vladimirovich, and Fredson Bowers. "Good Readers and Good Wrtiters."Lectures on Literature. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1980. Print.