D. Pathos
Pathos is a literary device that is used to garner emotions of pity, sorrow, anger, or other passionate feelings to the point where readers/listeners/audience members are persuaded into acting or thinking in a way the author/speaker wishes. Thus, it is a persuasive literary device. That said, let’s look at a few phrases from the excerpt that employ pathos by manner of describing scenes of injustice and cruelty:
“He has plundered our seas…destroyed the lives of our people.”
“…to complete the works of death, desolation, and tyranny...”
“…scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages…”
From these lines alone, it can be seen how readers might be compelled to view the one being described in the light the author does because the emotions that might be invoked by descriptions provided.
Answer: D) pathos.
Explanation: When writing, an author can use several rhetorical devices in order to persuade, inform or impact the audience in the desired way. Pathos is a rhetorical device commonly used, and it is an appeal to the audience's emotions. In the given excerpt we can see an example of the use of pathos, produced by the choice of words like "plundered," "ravaged," "destroyed," "death," "desolation," etc.
