In discussions on literature and politics, the word ‘rhetorical’ is sometimes used, but rarely explained. It’s a word people are expected to know the meaning of, but often don’t.

It’s most commonly used in reference to the language device known as the rhetorical question, which is a question with an implied answer, posed for effect.

For instance, on this topic, someone might ask, ‘Who cares?’, implying no one does or should. In this example, the question is dismissive in tone, and serves to convince others to disregard the subject at hand.

Rhetoric is the art of persuasive speaking or writing, and rhetorical language is the kind used to have persuasive impact. Rhetorical language is also known as ‘figurative’ or ‘stylistic’ language, which helps to qualify it as words doing more than stating facts or speaking plainly.

Literal language is straightforward; it means precisely what it says. Rhetorical language is indirect; it works through implication and suggestion, making it better understood as how something is said.

This ‘how’ involves a language twist - a form of expression that plays with its audience and aims to impress an idea upon their receiving minds.

In a certain sense, rhetorical language is elevated by its heightened quality.

For example, a repeated word or phrase in a speech is amplified through its repetition. Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous ‘I Have a Dream’ speech (1963) repeats that phrase, and ends on the repetition of another aspiring one: 'Free at last! Free at last! Thank God almighty, we are free at last!' Repetition in a speech beats like a drum, ‘resounding’ certain words to imprint them on the memory of the listener.

On the written page, repeated words are brought into relief by their recurrence as the eye perceives it. In both spoken and written modes, the rhetorical device accentuates and lifts the words, making them stand, and even fly out from the surrounding words.

We might say then, in the simplest terms, that rhetorical language is outstanding, amplified language used to impress an audience. Its goal is to persuade an audience to think, feel and act as the speaker or writer intends.

[RESOURCE] Further explanations of the classical origins of the art of rhetoric and the Aristotelian distinction between logos (content) and lexis (style) can be found on the Silva Rhetoricae (‘The Forest of Rhetoric’) website created and maintained by Dr Gideon Burton of Brigham Young University.