Claudio Monteverdi's (1567-1643) ninth book of madrigals, the Madrigali e Canzonette, was published posthumously in 1651. These accompanied madrigals are for two or three voices, and some of them were previously published in his earlier books of madrigals, though the majority were unpublished. One of the types of analyses that helps to provide a plausible rationale for many of Monteverdi's melodic and harmonic decisions within those madrigals is musico-rhetorical analysis. Analyzing a madrigal rhetorically involves attempting to identify the musical techniques that coincide with rhetorical devices in a certain text setting. Rhetorical analysis of the first eight madrigals of Claudio Monteverdi's Madrigali e Canzonnette elucidates the composer's decisions concerning both pitch content and harmonic structure, and casts new light upon his expressive intent vis-à-vis his texts.