Protherapeia (pro-ther-a-pei’-a): Preparing one’s audience for what one is about to say through conciliating words. If what is to come will be shocking, the figure is called prodiorthosis.
We sit here on this beautiful spring morning. We hear birds. We see blue skies. We feel the gentle breeze on our faces, and we think of our loved ones whose innocence was perfect, whose hope was true, who, like us, took it for granted that tomorrow would come.
I’m am sorry to say, and we all know, that their tomorrow did not come. Instead, in a moment, they were taken from us . . .
Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu).
Buy a print edition of The Daily Trope! The print edition is entitled The Book of Tropes and is available on Amazon for $9.99.
The Daily Trope 