This website contains various
information concerning the history, purpose, examples, and differing definitions
of rhetoric. The first thing I noticed was that on the page labeled as “What is
rhetoric?” it defines it as “the
study of effective speaking and writing. And the art of persuasion. And many
other things.” This was similar to my previous understanding of the
concept so I was not that impressed. However, it continues on to describe the
many changes it went through and the way it was used, but maintaining the main purpose
throughout its history.
After having
read through the contents of this website, I came up with a conclusion of what
rhetoric was. It emphasizes the difference between what is being said and how
one says it. In other words, it is about how a presentation of an argument and
other literary works is delivered and phrased. This highly depends on the
figures of speech, or the means of expression and strategies of an argument. How
one uses the various forms of figures of speech controls the pathos and logos of
a literary work. They influence how the audience feels towards the contents and
the author. The appeals to pathos is done by using the literary terms to make the
audience feel emotional and therefore feel more sympathetic towards to work of the
author. The literary figures can also be used to appeal to ethos by affecting
the persuasiveness of the literary work. This could be done by establishing the
credibility of the author through his reputations and previous experiences, or
backing up the information of the work by showing signs of research and
providing evidences. The appeals to logos are important as well. The use of
logos in a literary work makes it logical and easy to understand. This leads to
the audience being able to be more engaged in the work and the purpose of the paper
can be more easily achieved. When all three are utilized properly, the work it
was used is more rhetoric in the sense that it achieved the purpose of
rhetoric.
The art of
rhetoric can be put into practice through more than the uses of ethos, pathos,
and logos. In order to make a literary work more persuasive, the timing is important
as well. This method is called kairos. When presented while a major event or
issue is occurring, the work about it can spark more interest and become more
relatable. Speaking of which, the understanding of the audience can determine the
whole literary work. Depending on whom the audience is the author needs to know
what he or she needs to explain or present. On the other hand, decorum must be
applied to in all circumstances. The author must always keep specific etiquette
and manner.
All in all,
rhetoric is the art of conveying the purpose of a literary work in the most
effective manner through the use of rhetoric figures and various forms of methods.
I found this website very helpful in organizing what goes into making a literary work truly rhetoric. It taught me many different ways of using the various forms of tools and even provided a list of rhetoric figures. However, I could not find many examples of their uses and I still don’t quite understand what the branches of oratory and rhetorical pedagogy are.
I found this website very helpful in organizing what goes into making a literary work truly rhetoric. It taught me many different ways of using the various forms of tools and even provided a list of rhetoric figures. However, I could not find many examples of their uses and I still don’t quite understand what the branches of oratory and rhetorical pedagogy are.
Burton, Gideon O. "The Forest of
Rhetoric." Silva Rhetoricae:. Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License, 26
Feb. 2007. Web. 23 Jan. 2016.
Luke, like you, I really found it interesting that the history of rhetoric was included in the website. I felt that including the history of rhetoric would help in convincing us of the relevancy and importance of learning rhetoric. When you mentioned that pathos is used to make the audience more sympathetic towards you, I also wanted to add that pathos can be used to stir up an audience or cause horror in them, causing them to have a strong reaction. When I think of pathos, I like to think of a human rights advocate who uses compelling personal stories and crazy statistics to get a rise out of their audience. By getting a strong reaction out of your audience, they will likely remember what you've said and maybe even feel compelled to join you. Lastly, I agree with the site not having enough examples of their concepts, which I would have found very helpful.
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