AP Lang video series
Fall 2020
How do you identify rhetorical choices?
https://youtu.be/9FOLlluITKU
First, make sure you understand what the purpose of the text is.
If you don’t have an idea of what the speaker is trying to accomplish with his audience, you aren’t going to get anywhere. Make sure you understand what the rhetorical purpose is. What does the speaker want the audience to take from this speech/letter/etc.
Let’s practice with this excerpt from Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. What is Edwards’s purpose in this sermon?
The first part of a thesis might look like this: “In order to convince his congregation to repent of their sinful ways,”
What choices (out of an infinite amount of possible choices) does Edwards make to accomplish this?
Next, label the progression of the text with strong rhetorical verbs...
Meaning, label the paragraphs or groups of paragraphs with verbs that describe how the author is trying to achieve his/her purpose.
Q - What are strong rhetorical verbs?
A - They are active verbs that involve a speaker and an audience.
There are tons of lists of these verbs on the internet. But notice that these verbs are all very common words. Specific, yes, but very common. Don’t try overcomplicate this and use fancy words for the sake of seeming fancy.
Paragraph 1 of the Sinners excerpt...
There is nothing that keeps wicked men at any one moment out of Hell but the mere pleasure of God. There is no Want of Power in God to cast wicked Men into Hell at any Moment. Men's hands can’t be strong when God rises up: The strongest have no power to resist him, nor can any deliver out of his hands. He is not only able to cast wicked men into Hell, but he can most easily do it. Sometimes an earthly Prince meets with a great deal of difficulty to subdue a rebel, that has found means to fortify himself, and has made himself strong by the numbers of his followers. But it is not so with God.
In this paragraph, Edwards...emphasizes God’s power
OR Illustrates mankind’s feebleness
Does it work to achieve his purpose? Yes.
Do we have examples of this? Yes.
Does it appeal to the audience? Yes. Emotionally. Maybe some authority as well.
Does it have a tone? For sure.
Paragraph 2 of Sinners excerpt...
The God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider, or some loathsome Insect, over the fire, abhors you, and is dreadfully provoked; his wrath towards you burns like fire; he looks upon you as worthy of nothing else, but to be cast into the fire; he is of purer eyes than to bear to have you in his sight; you are ten thousand times so abominable in his eyes as the most hateful venomous serpent is in ours. You have offended him infinitely more than ever a stubborn rebel did his prince: and yet ‘tis nothing but his hand that holds you from falling into the fire every moment: 'Tis to be ascribed to nothing else, that you did not go to Hell the last night; that you was suffer’d to awake again in this world, after you closed your eyes to sleep: and there is no other reason to be given why you have not dropped into hell since you arose in the morning, but that God’s hand has held you up: There is no other reason to be given why you han’t gone to hell since you have sat here in the house of God, provoking his pure eyes by your sinful wicked manner of attending his solemn Worship: Yea, there is nothing else that is to be given as a reason why you don’t this very moment drop down into hell.
In this paragraph, Edwards...emphasizes God’s power
OR depicts God’s wrathful nature
O Sinner! Consider the fearful danger you are in: 'Tis a great furnace of wrath, a wide and bottomless pit, full of the fire of wrath, that you are held over in the hand of that God, whose wrath is provoked and incensed as much against you as against many of the damned in Hell: you hang by a slender thread, with the flames of divine wrath flashing about it, and ready every moment to singe it, and burn it asunder; and you have no Interest in any mediator, and nothing to lay hold of to save yourself, nothing to keep off the flames of Wrath, nothing of your own, nothing that you ever have done, nothing that you can do, to induce God to spare you one moment.
In this paragraph, Edwards...depicts his audience’s danger
And you children that are unconverted, don’t you know that you are going down to Hell, to bear the dreadful wrath of that God that is now angry with you every day, and every night? Will you be content to be the Children of the Devil, when so many other children in the land are converted, and are become the holy and happy Children of the King of Kings?
In this paragraph, Edwards...calls out his audience
And now you have an extraordinary opportunity, a day wherein Christ has flung the door of Mercy wide open, and stands in the door calling and crying with a loud voice to poor sinners; a day wherein many are flocking to him, and pressing into the kingdom of God; many are daily coming from the East, West, North and South; many that were very lately in the same miserable condition that you are in, are in now an happy state, with their hearts filled with love to Him that has loved them and washed them for their sins in his own blood, and rejoicing in Hope of the glory of God. How awful is it to be left behind at such a day! To see so many others feasting, while you are pining and perishing! To see so many rejoicing and singing for Joy of Heart, while you have cause to mourn for sorrow of heart, and howl for vexation of spirit! How can you rest one moment in such a condition?
In this paragraph, Edwards...calls his audience to action
OR condemns those who stand idle
Therefore let everyone that is out of Christ, now awake and fly from the wrath to come. The wrath of almighty God is now undoubtedly hanging over the great part of this congregation: Let everyone fly out of Sodom: Haste and escape for your lives, look not behind you, escape to the mountain, least you be consumed.
In this paragraph, Edwards...begs his audience to take action
What this would look like as a thesis...
In order to convince his congregation to repent from their sinful ways, Edwards emphasizes God’s power, depicts his congregation’s danger, and begs them to take action.
Purpose → In order to convince his congregation to repent from their sinful ways,
Claim 1 → Edwards emphasizes God’s power,
Claim 2 → depicts his congregation’s danger,
Claim 3 → and begs them to take action.
With a strong-verb thesis, your analysis can take into account any number of specific things...
In order to convince his congregation to repent from their sinful ways,
Edwards emphasizes God’s power,
depicts his congregation’s danger,
and begs them to take action.
Diction and syntax choices
Figurative language
Logical, emotional, authoritative appeals
Tone
Diction and syntax choices
Figurative language
Logical, emotional, authoritative appeals
Tone
Diction and syntax choices
Figurative language
Logical, emotional, authoritative appeals
Tone
What this looks like in a body paragraph...
Edwards begins his speech by emphasizing to his congregation God’s extraordinary power. As Edward puts it, “[God] is not only able to cast wicked men into Hell, but he can most easily do it.” Edward’s absolute tone would appeal to the sense of fear in his congregation of churchgoers, all of whom certainly fear damnation, and would trust the authority of a preacher like Edwards. They would be motivated to listen to the rest of Edward’s message and learn how to avoid an afterlife in hell. Edward later uses eerie imagery to emphasize just how pitiful humans are to God, saying that God “holds you over the pit of hell much as one holds a spider [...] over the fire.” This imagery would surely disgust the churchgoers -- all of whom would be very familiar with spiders and fires in the eighteenth century -- but it would also further horrify them, knowing that their sinful ways make them so wretched in the eyes of God. Edwards begins his sermon with this dramatic and vivid emphasis to hook the startled the congregation and make them invested in learning how to save their dirty souls from such a cruel God.
Edwards begins his speech by emphasizing to his congregation God’s extraordinary power.
As Edward puts it, “[God] is not only able to cast wicked men into Hell, but he can most easily do it.”
Edward’s absolute tone would appeal to the sense of fear in his congregation of churchgoers, all of whom certainly fear damnation, and would trust the authority of a preacher like Edwards. They would be motivated to listen to the rest of Edward’s message and learn how to avoid an afterlife in hell.
Edward later uses eerie imagery to emphasize just how pitiful humans are to God, saying that God “holds you over the pit of hell much as one holds a spider [...] over the fire.”
This imagery would surely disgust the churchgoers -- all of whom would be very familiar with spiders and fires in the eighteenth century -- but it would also further horrify them, knowing that their sinful ways make them so wretched in the eyes of God.
Edwards begins his sermon with this dramatic and vivid emphasis to hook the startled the congregation and make them invested in learning how to save their dirty souls from such a cruel God.
Claim →
Evidence →
Analysis →
Evidence 2 →
Analysis 2 →
Synthesis →
What if I have a thesis like this?
In order to convince his congregation to repent from their sinful ways, Edwards uses angry diction, violent imagery, and an urgent tone.
The problem with a thesis like this is that you will have more trouble writing effective analysis. You can write an acceptable essay with a thesis like this, but you probably won’t write a sophisticated essay that fully examines how the choices made by Edwards work together to achieve his purpose. In my experience, essays written this way are often a scattered assemblage of quotes without a consistently strong line of reasoning.
In conclusion...
A thesis that uses strong rhetorical verbs gives you the best chance of earning full credit on a timed write or out of class paper.