English 505
Rhetorical Theory
Session Seven Notes
Goals/Objectives:
1) To begin to understand the canon of Style
2) To begin to understand the canon of Delivery
3) To begin to understand the canon of Memory
Questions?
How important are style and delivery to rhetoric?
Are people more swayed by what people say or how they say it?
Questions/Main Ideas (Please
write these down as you think
of them)
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STYLE
Was considered another of the available means of persuasion
Another way of arousing the emotional response in the audience
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Also another means of establishing the proper ethical image
Cicero/RAH: three types of style used by rhetors
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Grand Style
Uses ornate words
Features a smooth arrangement of the words
For example:
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Antithesis: combining opposing ideas in the same sentence
Alliteration: using the same consonant sound at the beginning of words located near each
other
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Middle Style
Uses words that are more common in meaning but that are not everyday speech
Clear, conversational and direct, but lacking the ornamentation of grand style
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Simple Style
Sounds like everyday speech
Lacks both ornamentation and smoothness
Some examples of each:
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“Many challenges, abroad and at home, have arrived in a single season. In two years,
America has gone from a sense of invulnerability to an awareness of peril; from bitter
division in small matters . . .
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. . . to calm unity in great causes. And we go forward with confidence, because this call of
history has come to the right country.”
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“Our country and the nations of the Middle East are now safer. We’re keeping our word to
the Iraqi people by helping them to make their country an example of democracy and
prosperity throughout the region.
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This long-term undertaking is vital to peace in that region and to the security of the United
States. Our coalition and the people of Iraq have made remarkable progress in a short time.”
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“There are some who feel like that, you know, the conditions are such that they can attack
us there. My answer is, bring ‘em on. We got the force necessary to deal with the security
situation.”
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Each style must have certain qualities if it is to be appropriate and suitable to the speaker’s
purpose
RAH identifies three qualities of style:
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1. Taste
Refers to the “correctness and clarity” of the words used
Correctness meant that rhetors should use words that are current
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Should adhere to the grammatical rules of the language they are using
(This was more important in Greek and Latin since they are case-marked systems; English
is primarily word order)
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2. Clarity
“lucidity” or “perspicuity”
Easy to understand
Connoted language that let meanings “shine through” like light through a window
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Should use words in their ordinary or usual everyday senses, unless compelled to do
otherwise
Avoid obsolete, technical, new or colloquial words
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Should understand the standards of behavior required by an occasion for which the
discourse was composed
Quintilian: the best course is to call things by the names people ordinarily use
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Use language that is familiar to your audience
3. Artistic Composition
Arrangement of words that gives a uniform finish to the discourse in every part
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Pay attention to the composition of sentences
RAH pays most attention to distinction – the effect of making the speech ornate and varied
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Two primary techniques
1. Figures of diction/speech
Derives ornament from the choice of words
Some typical figures of diction/speech:
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Alliteration
“Nattering nabobs of negativism”
Tricolon – veni, vidi, vici
“I came, I saw, I conquered”
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Repetition
“A great American novelist wrote that you can’t go home again. He could not have
imagined this evening. Tonight, I am home. Home, where my public life began and those
who made it possible live.
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Home where our nation’s history was written in blood, idealism, and hope.
Home where my parents showed me the values of family, faith, and country.”
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2. Figures of thought
Derived from the sorts of ideas involved
Involve artful changes in ideas, feelings, or conceptions
Depart from ordinary patterns of moving an argument along
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Some typical figures of thought:
Antithesis: the juxtaposition of contrasting words or ideas, usually in parallel structure
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“My fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for
your country.”
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Paradox: a statement that on its face is self-contradictory, yet upon closer inspection makes
a seemingly true statement
“For whoever will save his life shall lose it: but whoever will lose his life for my sake, the
same shall save it.”
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Oxymoron: placing two ordinarily opposing terms adjacent to one another
“Deafening silence”
“Friendly fire”
“Italian WWII Military Victories”
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DELIVERY
RAH gives a comprehensive treatment
It divides delivery into two components:
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1. Voice Quality
Which has three parts:
A) Volume – refers to the loudness or softness of a speaker’s voice
Was thought of primarily as a gift of nature
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B) Stability – refers to the health of the voice
Can be cultivated by practice
Can be conserved by following several guidelines
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Such as not exerting the voice until it is warmed up by speaking
(a pleasant, smooth delivery was thought of as not only good for the voice, but also pleasing
to the audience as well)
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C) Flexibility – the ability to vary the intonation of the voice
Can be cultivated by practice
Three forms, or tones, of vocal flexibility:
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i) Conversational tone – closest to normal conversation
It can be used to narrate a series of events or elicit a laugh from the audience
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ii) Tone of debate – used to present and refute arguments
It can be quick and full-voiced or punctuated with frequent pauses
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iii) Tone of amplification – used to rouse the hearer to wrath or move the audience to pity
Each type was thought useful to a particular type of speech
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2) Physical Movement
Includes gestures and facial expressions
Gestures were not supposed to be conspicuous
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Facial expressions were thought to lend credibility to what is said
Gestures should match the tone of the speaker
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For example: to enhance conversational tone, the speaker should lightly move the right
hand and use facial expressions that correspond to the tone of the speech
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MEMORY
Without access to libraries of research, ancient rhetors could only rely on their memory to
construct speeches
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The great teachers of rhetoric included instruction in how to memorize large amounts of
information
Usually the student was encouraged to create mental pictures of objects, ideas, etc.
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Question?
Overall, do you think the Romans believed that a great orator was born or made?
Summary/Minute Paper: