1. The Forest (and Trees) of Rhetoric
Silva Rhetoricae
The Forest (and Trees)
of Rhetoric

2. Anybody??
Sesquipedalian????

3. Rhetoric, Content, Form, Relationship between content and form
What is Rhetoric?
Rhetoric, Content, Form, Relationship between content and form

4. 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

5. 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

6. Rhetoric The study of effective: What is said (content)
Speaking
Writing
What is said (content)
How it is said (form)

7. 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.”

8. Content vs. Form “ornament”
“superficial”
“inessential decoration”
• “to equip”
• equipment required to achieve the intended meaning

9. Aristotle’s Rhetorical Triangle
Speaker
Audience
Subject
Aristotle’s Rhetorical Triangle

10. Speaker and Subject Rhetor = speaker or writer
Subject = what the writer knows and needs to know

11. 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……..

12. Aristotle’s Rhetorical Triangle
Speaker
8 year old boy, 7th grade science teacher, youth pastor, AIDS counselor
Audience
Subject
Context
8 year olds, 7th graders, teens, hookers
SEX
Dirty picture, PPT, bible, brochure
Aristotle’s Rhetorical Triangle

13. Kairos, Audience, Decorum
Encompassing Terms
Kairos, Audience, Decorum

14. 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

15. Halloween is coming up…

16. Audience Those who will hear or read your work
The stylistic choices you make depend on the audience you are writing to

17. 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.

18. 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?

19. 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.

20. 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.”

21. 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.

22. So…which one is best?
It’s a rhetorical decision based on what the writer knows about:
herself
her subject
her audience

23. Persuasive Appeals Pathos, Logos, Ethos

24. Pathos
Appeals to emotion
Anger, love, hate, sympathy

27. Logos
Appeals to logic
authority
Statistics, facts
reasoning

28. 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

29. What appeal is it?
“Because so much is riding on your tires.”

30. What Type of Appeal?
Brand XLNT tires had 50% fewer blowouts than Brand SCK
2. Don’t let this happen to you!

31. Canons of Rhetoric

32. Canons of Rhetoric “Cannons”
Invention
Arrangement
Style
Delivery
Memory

33. Invention Having something to say
The art of finding and developing materials
The ability to discover ideas
Relates closely to memory

34. Arrangement Organization How do I put my ideas together?
Selecting evidence and ordering it with a purpose

35. Arrangement Aristotle’s Classical Arrangement Excordium—introduction
Narration—background info/ context
Partition—outlines and defines scope of argument
Confirmation—offers evidence

36. 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)

37. Arrangement Modes of development - Example/illustration
- Classification
- Comparison and contrast
- Analogy
- Process analysis
- Cause and effect
- Definition
- Description
- Narration

38. 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

39. Delivery How it appears on the page Spelling, grammar and punctuation
Neatness counts!!!!!

40. 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

41. Rhetorical analysis Imitation
Rhetorical Pedagogy
Rhetorical analysis
Imitation

42. Categories of Change
Tropes and Schemes