In “My Friend Lodovico”, Masello uses a conversational tone in order to tell us of his relationship with his friend Lodovico, who happens to be a painting. Through Masello’s use of rhetorical devices in “My Friend Lodovico”, he not only allows the reader to understand better his essay, but also helps it flow better.
Masello’s use of questions in his writing betters his essay. When he asks, “Why do I continue to visit this mute, overdressed, imperious young man?” he mirrors the question that is currently flowing, unspoken, through the reader’s mind. As a result, his subsequent answer to this question allows the reader to settle down and enjoy the essay without wondering if Masello is indeed sane to have such interactions with a painting.
Furthermore, Masello uses parallelism, such as when he says, “I admired Lodovico’s regal bearing, his unblinking confidence, and his solid ownership of a defined station in life” to facilitate the flow of the passage, and add power to his description of Lodovico. Moreover, the above quote is also an example of tricolon, which adds even more power to Masello’s description of Lodovico.
In addition, Masello uses repetition, for example, when he says, “he [Lodovico] neither smiles nor frowns, seems judging or indifferent, appears happy or sad” to hammer in the idea of why he likes Lodovico so much.
The little anecdotes, such as when Masello says, “rather than confront Lodovico in tears, I collected myself beside the waters before presenting myself to him for consolation”, really made me laugh. Such humor made me like the essay better because it helps break up the long descriptive paragraphs about Lodovico into little, digestible, pieces.
The tone that Masello uses in “My Friend Lodovico” is pensive and adoring. Masello creates a pensive tone when he wonders, “Will his [Lodovico’s] youth eventually intimidate me?” At this point, the author contemplates the course of his life from Lodovico’s perspective. He imagines looking down on himself and watching his transition from youth to man. Masello then proceeds to consider what it would be like if Lodovico were to come alive. The adoring tone in “My Friend Lodovico” shines through in Masello’s description of him. Masello exclaims, “He is simply a young, well-dressed, attractive man”, and “he is an expert creation”.
Masello’s tone in “My Friend Lodovico” made me like the essay so much more because it adds flavor to the essay to know what Masello thinks of Lodovico, and the pensive-ness that appears at the end of the essay really puts the entire essay in perspective. This is because it allows the reader a glimpse of the true reason why Lodovico is so important to Masello, besides companionship.
Although I really like the tone that Masello adopted in “My Friend Lodovico”, I don’t think it’ll work for an AP essay because it causes Masello to spend too many words praising and mulling over Lodovico instead of constructing a logical argument on why Lodovico is a good painting and person.
All in all, "My Friend Lodovico" is a enchanting essay that is neatly executed and has no weaknesses that I can perceive.
Source: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B01E0DF1E3BF93BA35751C0A9629C8B63
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