Introduction to Rhetoric

A Quick Primer in the Essential Elements

Based on Silva Rhetorica

Definition(s)

Rhetoric is the study of effective speaking and writing…

And the art of persuasion… And many other things

A discipline for training students to perceive how language is at work

A language to discuss the writing and speaking of others

Definition(s)

Rhetoric studies the effectiveness of language comprehensively including Emotional impact (pathos) Content (logos)

Content and Form

Rhetoric requires understanding a fundamental division between what is communicated through language (logos - the logical content) and how this is communicated (lexis - the style and delivery)

This divide between form and content is always an artificial and conditional one

Content and Form

The artificial division between Content and Form helps point out that Form has an impact on how Content is understood

Seeing language this way highlights the interdependence of language and meaning, of thought and its expression

Form and Content work together to create meaning

Key Terms in Rhetoric Kairos - the opportune moment/context Audience - Shaping/responding to the text Decorum - the “fit” to the context and reader

“Together these terms invoke the rhetorical worldview in which, sensitive to the contingencies of the moment, a writer tailors words to contexts and audiences towards some discernible result or effect.”

The Canons of Rhetoric

Based on Rhetoric as the study of public speaking…

Invention - “finding something to say” Arrangement - ordering the presentation Style - “the artful expression of ideas” Memory - Delivery -

Persuasive Appeal

Logos - The appeal to reason Pathos - the appeal to emotion Ethos - the persuasive appeal of one’s

character (credibility)

Although they can be analyzed separately, these three appeals work together in combination toward persuasive ends