Before taking
this class, I never really understood what the word rhetoric meant. I knew it
had to do with literature and writing, but that was about it. I agree with Dr.
Gideon Burton when he claims how it is difficult to see the forest of rhetoric
because of the trees. In this case he was referring to the forest as the big
picture and the trees as the different Greek and Latin terms. To me, this is
completely true because there are so many different parts of rhetoric to know
about. Even when you are aware of what it is, there are always new terms to be
discovered out there.
After being in this class for a
couple weeks, I have learned that rhetoric has to do with persuasive writing. After
going through the website by Dr. Gideon Burton, I agree with his definition of
anamnesis. According to the website, ana means “again” and mimneeskein means
“to put in mind.” Since rhetoric is the art of effective or persuasive speaking
or writing, the main goal is to put what you think into the mind of others.
Anamnesis also has a lot to do with ethos, which we talked about in class.
Ethos deals with credibility. Credibility plays a big role in trying to
persuade someone of something. Along with ethos is logos and pathos. Pathos is
a quality that evokes emotions while logos meaning logical.
From knowing the definition of
rhetoric, I have more confidence in my work for this semester. After being in
the class for a couple weeks I can tell there is going to be a lot of writing.
Another obvious reason is that the name of this class has rhetoric in it. After
reading through and exploring this website, I feel that I will be successful in
this class.
Dr. Gideon Burton really caught my
eye when he wrote about the pedagogy. Burton stated that “Within rhetorical
pedagogy it was the practice of imitation that most required students to
analyze form and content.” Imitation can help persuade people than if someone
is timid in their writing. Imitation first started out in elementary school
when students were learning the basic of writing. An example of this that
Burton gave was spelling and grammar. I can relate to this because I grew up
taking spelling and grammar classes. I would have spelling tests all the time
when I was younger. It is interesting that I have been dealing with rhetoric
just never knew it.
I have spent some time looking
through this website and found it very helpful. I would say that there was a
little too much information at times where it became confusing. There were many
different ways to come about the definition of rhetoric since different
students went to different terms on the website. This blog has helped me to
receive a better understanding of rhetoric.
"The Forest
of Rhetoric." Silva Rhetoricae:. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Jan. 2016.
Caitlin, I also really liked the analogy of the rhetoric forest with the trees being Latin and Greek terms. When you mentioned how rhetoric literally translates to "again" and "to put in mind", that really reminded me of something I read for this class. In They Say, I Say, the author repeats multiple times how important it is to keep the readers in constant knowledge of your opinion by reminding them as they read. Also, I agree that our writing will definitely improve by the time our class has finished. This class may require more work than usual, but we should also be glad that our teacher is so invested in us. In terms of this class, I believe that the harder we work, the better we will become.
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