Silva Rhetoricae
The Forest (and Trees)
of Rhetoric
What is Rhetoric?
Rhetoric, Content, Form,
Relationship between content and
form
Rhetoric
• “The whole process of education for me
was learning to put names on things I
already knew” (as said by Kinsey Millhone in Sue Grafton’s
novel, C is for Corpse)
• You already ‘know’ rhetoric, you just might
not know the terms
• Rhetoric is all around us in conversation,
in movies, in ads, in books, in body
language, and in art
Your Job as AP Students is:
• 1) to perceive how language is at work
orally and in writing, and
• 2) to become proficient in applying the
resources of language in your own
speaking and writing
• 3)in other words, to become a rhetorician
Rhetoric
• The study of effective:
– Speaking
– Writing
• What is said (content)
• How it is said (form)
How vs. What
• how one says something conveys meaning as
much as what one says
• Don’t be mislead by the saying “mere rhetoric”
• “Rhetoricians divided form and content not to place
content above form, but to highlight the
interdependence of language and meaning, argument
and ornament, thought and its expression.
• “[This] means that linguistic forms are not merely
instrumental, but fundamental—not only to persuasion,
but to thought itself.”
Content vs. Form
“ornament”-two definitions
• “superficial”
• “inessential
decoration”
OR
• “to equip”
• equipment required to
achieve the intended
meaning
Speaker
Subject
Audience
Aristotle’s Rhetorical Triangle
Speaker and Subject
• Rhetor = speaker or writer
• Subject = what the writer knows and
needs to know
Audience
• Often neglected by the rhetor
• Involves speculating about reader’s
expectations, knowledge and disposition
relating to the subject
• Often teacher-driven (write 5 pages
about…)
• More on audience in a little while……..
Speaker
8 year old boy, 7th grade science teacher, youth pastor, AIDS counselor
Audience
Subject
Context
SEX
Aristotle’s Rhetorical Triangle
Encompassing
Terms
Kairos, Audience, Decorum
Kairos
• exigencies and constraints of place, time,
culture, and audience that affect choices made
by speakers and authors to influence that
moment
• considers the opportunities within this specific
context for words to be effective and appropriate
to that moment
• In its most simple form: I see you getting bored
so I cut out part of my lecture or add something
funny to get your attention
Halloween is coming up…
Audience
• Those who will hear or read your work
• The stylistic choices you make depend on
the audience you are writing to
Decorum
• Decorum = good manners, appropriate behavior
• Words and subject must fit with the audience
and occasion
• If they match, your speech will be successful
• Speech to school board about frosted animal
cookies in vending machine?
• Slang?
• Logos, ethos, etc.
What students need to know
• Read the following
three slides that
contain an
introduction to an
essay that answers
the question:
• “What do AP students
need to know about
rhetoric?”
• Which one is best?
What do students need to know?
• The AP Exam places a strong emphasis
on students’ ability to analyze texts
rhetorically. It’s an important question for
teachers to consider what students need
to know about this often misunderstood
term in order to write confidently and
skillfully.
What do students need to know?
• The traditional definition of rhetoric, first
proposed by Aristotle, and embellished
over the centuries by scholars and
teachers, is that rhetoric is the art of
observing in any given case the “available
means of persuasion.”
What do students need to know?
• “The whole process of education for me was
learning to put names to things I already knew.”
That’s a line spoken by Kinsey Millhone, Sue
Grafton’s private investigator in one of her series
of alphabet mystery novels, C is for Corpse.
When I began a graduate program that
specialized in rhetoric, I wasn’t quite sure what
that word meant. But once I was introduced to
it, I realized rhetoric was something I had always
known about.
So…which one is best?
• It’s a rhetorical
decision based on
what the writer knows
about:
• herself
• her subject
• her audience
Persuasive Appeals
Pathos, Logos, Ethos
Pathos
• Appeals to emotion
• Anger, love, hate,
sympathy
Logos
• Appeals to logic
• authority
• Statistics, facts
• reasoning
Ethos
• Relates to writer’s ‘character’
• Credibility of speaker or writer
• Must appear both knowledgeable and
benevolent
• Also appeals to audience’s ethics, sense
of right and wrong, sense of duty, sense of
patriotism
What appeal is it?
• “Because so much is
riding on your tires.”
What Type of Appeal?
1. Brand XLNT tires
had 50% fewer
blowouts than
Brand SCK
2. Don’t let this
happen to you!
Canons of Rhetoric
Canons of Rhetoric
“Cannons”
•
•
•
•
•
Invention
Arrangement
Style
Delivery
Memory
Invention
• Having something to say
• The art of finding and developing materials
• The ability to discover ideas
• Relates closely to memory
Arrangement
• Organization
• How do I put my ideas together?
• Selecting evidence and ordering it with a
purpose
Arrangement
• Aristotle’s Classical Arrangement
Excordium—introduction
Narration—background info/ context
Partition—outlines and defines scope
of argument
Confirmation—offers evidence
Arrangement
• Basic 4-part structure
assertion (I think…)
concession (Others may think…)
evidence/rebuttal (However, here’s why
I’m right)
Conclusion (Therefore…agree with me)
Arrangement
• Modes of development
- Example/illustration
- Classification
- Comparison and contrast
- Analogy
- Process analysis
- Cause and effect
- Definition
- Description
- Narration
Style
• Artful expression of ideas
• To equip one’s thoughts with verbal
expression for a purpose
• Includes figures of speech (lit. terms),
appeals, diction, syntax
• Also includes elements of persuasion
Delivery
• How it appears on the page
• Spelling, grammar and punctuation
• Neatness counts!!!!!
Memory
• You have to know stuff
• Refers to what students know, can access,
and use
• Mature Academic Perspective
• Read widely—books, newspaper,
periodicals like Time or Newsweek,
political cartoons
Rhetorical Pedagogy
Rhetorical analysis
Imitation
Rhetorical Analysis
• Looking at both content and form
• Analyzing grammar, logic, rhetoric
Imitation
• imitate/copy the form of something but use
new content
• Imitate/copy the content but use a new
form
you will be asked to do this by writing a
descriptive essay; then, using the same
topic, you will be asked to write a
cause/effect essay (or some other form)
Categories of Change
Tropes and Schemes
Tropes
• Trope: An artful deviation from the ordinary
or principal signification of a word.
• i.e. figurative, not literal, language
• Metaphor, simile, etc.
schemes
• An artful deviation from the ordinary
arrangement of words.
• Having to do with syntax (arrangement of
words)
• Very similar (almost interchangeable with
trope)