Presentation Transcript

1. What is rhetoric anyways?

   It is using communication effectively for a chosen audience… Rhetoric: The Art of Communicating
2. Rhetoric is not…
3. Rhetoric is… Plato:  [Rhetoric] is the “art of enchanting the soul.” (The art of winning the soul by discourse.) Aristotle: Rhetoric is “the faculty of discovering in any particular case all of the available means of persuasion.” Andrea Lunsford:  “Rhetoric is the art, practice, and study of human communication.” Kenneth Burke:“The basic function of rhetoric [is] the use of words by human agents to form attitudes or to induce actions in other human agents.”
4. So… How do writers/speakers persuade or influence others? What specific strategies or devices do writers/speakers use to do this?
5. Aristotle? Greek philosopher Aristotle said that rhetoricis simply the ability to see the available means of persuasion in a given situation. Translation: We should think about how and why something is or could be persuasive--you know, to help us communicate better… (so we can get what we want!)
6. Think about your efforts to persuade (convince) a parent, teacher or friend to do or believe something. What happened?
7. Let’s take a closer look. Consider Aristotle’s logos, pathos, and ethos. Logos Pathos Ethos
8. Let’s discover… Logos Using logical appeals… Using reason and factual information to persuade… It appeals to patterns, conventions, and modes of reasoning that the audience finds convincing and persuasive.
9. Pathos Using emotional appeals that trigger emotional responses…
10. Ethos Using the author’s character or ethics to appeal to the audience using the power of image…
11. Most often, appeals are combined… "As your doctor, I have to tell you statistics suggest that if you don't stop smoking, you're going to die a painful, miserable death."
12. Logos Pathos Ethos
13. Key Elements of Rhetoric Rhetoric is always situational: it always has a context and a purpose. Context: the occasion, time, place it was written or spoken Purpose: goal that the speaker or writer wants to achieve.
14. Key Elements of Rhetoric Context and Purpose are essential to analyzing effective rhetoric. First, consider the context: occasion, time, place; Then, consider the purpose: What is the speaker’s goal in this communication?
15. The Rhetorical Triangleor Rhetorical Situation Speaker Purpose Audience Subject
16. SOAPSTone Speaker – Ethos Occasion – Why and When speech is given. Audience – The people who observe or listen to the speech and their expectation and reaction. Purpose – What is the speech trying to do to the audience? Subject – What the speech is about? Tone – The attitude of the speaker. Another tool one can use to analyze rhetoric is SOAPSTone. If the Rhetorical Triangle is a wide angle lens of a speech, SOAPSTone is the close-up shot.
17. SOAPStone SPEAKER: The voice that tells the story. The author and the speaker are NOT necessarily the same. An author may choose to tell the story from any number of different points of view (character or persona). When analyzing non-fiction, consider important facts about speaker that will help assess his/her point of view or position.
18. SOAPStone When discussing the speaker of an essay, the author’s name is never enough. Question: what do we know about the speaker by reading the text?
19. SOAPStone OCCASION: (part of the context): The time and place of the piece; the context that encouraged the writing to happen. Writing does not occur in a vacuum. There is the larger occasion: an environment of ideas and emotions that swirl around a broad issue. Then there is the immediate occasion: an event or situation that catches the writer’s attention and triggers a response.
20. SOAPStone AUDIENCE: The group of readers or listeners to whom this piece is directed. The audience may be one person, a small group, or a large group; it may be a certain person or a certain people.
21. SOAPStone PURPOSE: The reason behind the text. The author/speaker’s GOAL in the communication. Consider the purpose of the text in order to examine the argument and its logic. “What does the speaker want the audience to think or do as a result of reading this text?”
22. Purpose Is the speaker… Trying to win agreement? Persuade us to take action? Evoke sympathy? Make us laugh? Inform?
23. Purpose Does the speaker want to… Provoke? Celebrate? Repudiate? Put forth a proposal? Secure support? Bring about a favorable decision?
24. SOAPStone SUBJECT: The general topic, content, and ideas contained in the text. The main idea. You should be able to state the subject in a few words or a phrase.
25. SOAPStone TONE: The attitude of the author toward the subject matter. With the written work, it is tone that extends meaning beyond the literal. Tone can be determined by examining the author’s diction (choice of words), syntax (word order), and imagery (vivid descriptions that appeal to the senses).
26. Tone Tone: Is the author… amiable? detached? passionate? zealous? sardonic? sincere?
27. Arrangement Another element of rhetoric: organization of an essay.
28. Arrangement Classic arrangement: Introduction: draws the reader in Narration: facts and background Confirmation: main part developing the proof Refutation: addresses the counterargument Conclusion: appeal to pathos, reminds reader of ethos established earlier. Answers the question, “so what?”
29. Modern Patterns Modern Patterns of Development: Narration Description Process Analysis Exemplification Comparison and Contrast Classification and Division Definition
30. Some Common Rhetorical Devices Repetition Anaphora Anecdote Allusion Imagery Irony Metaphor Paradox Litotes Antithesis Asyndeton Chiasmus Synecdoche Simile Hyperbole Metonymy
31. Some Terms and Definitions
32. Rhetorical Devices Literary techniques that an author or speaker use to convey meaning with the goal of persuading the reader or listener to consider a topic from a different perspective The goal of rhetoric is persuasion
33. Anaphora The repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive phrases, clauses or lines. We shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills. We shall never surrender. Churchill.
34. Juxtaposition Poetic and rhetorical device in which normally unassociated ideas, words, or phrases are placed next to one another, creating an effect of surprise and wit. Ezra Pound: “The apparition of these faces in the crowd; Petals on a wet, black bough.” Juxtaposition is also a form of contrast by which writers call attention to dissimilar ideas or images or metaphors. Martin Luther King: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
35. Imagery Imagery involves one or more of your five senses (hearing, taste, touch, smell, sight). An author uses a word or phrase to stimulate your memory of those senses. These memories can be positive or negative which will contribute to the tone and/or mood of the text.
36. Paradox An assertion seemingly opposed to common sense, but that may yet have some truth in it. What a pity that youth must be wasted on the young. George Bernard Shaw
37. Litotes Understatement, for intensification, by denying the contrary of the thing being affirmed. War is not healthy for children and other living things. One nuclear bomb can ruin your whole day.
38. Understatement Deliberately expresses an idea as less important than it actually is, either for ironic emphasis or for politeness/tact Example: If your audience already knows a lot about the subject, so the writer/speaker chooses to draw on the audience’s own power of description Speaking about the destruction of a massive earthquake: “The earthquake in Haiti interrupted business somewhat in that area.” The reader supplies a more vivid and personal description than the writer might have
39. Understatement (continued) Example: As a tool for modesty and tactfulness, such as whenever you represent your own accomplishments or position and want to avoid people accusing you of being egotistical or self-interested “Yes, I know a little bit about coaching rowing.” Especially useful in dealing with a hostile audience or in disagreeing with someone, because you can make the same point without being as offensive. The goal is to persuade, not offend - “The degree and power of pride in the human heart must never be underestimated.”
40. Hyperbole A deliberate exaggeration or overstatement which helps to emphasize a point In formal writing, must be clearly intended as an exaggeration and should be used sparingly “Treat hyperbole like an exclamation point, to be used only once a year.”
41. Hyperbole - Example An effective attention getter or introductory line: “There are a thousand reasons why more research is needed on solar energy.” Make a single point very enthusiastically: “I said ‘rare’ not ‘raw.’ I’ve seen cows hurt worse than this get up and get well.” Exaggerate one thing to show how really different it is from something supposedly similar to which it’s being compared: “This stuff is used motor oil compared to the coffee you make, my love.”
42. Antithesis Opposition, or contrast of ideas or words in a balanced or parallel construction. Extremism in defense of liberty is no vice, moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue. Barry Goldwater Brutus: Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more. Shakespeare, Julius Caesar The vases of the classical period are but the reflection of classical beauty; the vases of the archaic period are beauty itself." Sir John Beazley
43. Asyndeton Lack of conjunctions between coordinate phrases, clauses, or words. We shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardships, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty. J. F. Kennedy, Inaugural But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. Lincoln, Gettysburg Address
44. Chiasmus Two corresponding pairs arranged not in parallels (a-b-a-b) but in inverted order (a-b-b-a); from shape of the Greek letter chi (X). Those gallant men will remain often in my thoughts and in my prayers always. MacArthur
45. Synechdoche Understanding one thing with another; the use of a part for the whole, or the whole for the part. Give us this day our daily bread. Matthew 6 I should have been a pair of ragged clawsScuttling across the floors of silent seas.T. S. Eliot, "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"
46. Metonymy Substitution of one word for another which it suggests. He is a man of the cloth. The pen is mightier than the sword.
47. Rhetorical Question Asked merely for effect, with either no answer expected or an obvious answer implied Used for effect, emphasis, provocation, or for drawing a conclusion from the facts at hand Be carefult to avoid sinking into absurdity! “The use of this device allows your reader to think, query and conclude along with you; but if your questions become ridiculous, your essay may become wastepaper!”
48. Repetition The repeating of words or phrases for emphasis Amplification: Repeating a word or expression while adding more detail to it “This orchard, this lovely, shady orchard, is the main reason I bought this property.” Anaphora: Repetition of the same word or words at the beginning of successive phrases, clauses or sentences “In books I find the dead as if they were alive; in books I foresee things to come; in books warlike affairs are set forth; from books come forth the laws of peace.”
49. Irony The use of a word or phrase to mean the exact opposite of its literal meaning Verbal Irony: When an author says one thing and means something else (a.k.a. sarcasm) Situational Irony: Incongruity between what is expected or intended and what actually occurs
50. Allusion A short, informal, direct or indirect reference to a well-known person, place, thing or event that the writer assumes the reader is familiar with Allusions should be well-known, not obscure Best sources are literature, history, Greek myth, Bible Reference serves to explain, clarify or enhance whatever subject is under discussion, without sidetracking the reader “Plan ahead: it wasn’t raining when Noah built the ark.”
51. Abnormal Word Order Modify the usual subject-verb sentence pattern Gives variety & emphasis to your writing Example: Normal word order (subject-verb): “The actor’s worst nightmares stood laughing at him from the shadows.” Abnormal word order (verb-subject): “Laughing at him from the shadows stood the actor’s worst nightmare.”
52. Balanced Sentence Expresses two or more equal and parallel ideas Two ideas are set one against the other in statements that are grammatically similar Example: “Silence is as deep as eternity; speech is as shallow as time.”
53. Balanced Sentence (continued)CONTRAST You can also use parallel structure to demonstrate contrast Example: “Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more.” Example: “Knowledge comes, but wisdom lingers.”
54. Climactic Word Order Presents several facts from least to most important Example: “The young politician’s career rise was meteoric; after beginning as a municipal councilor, she became mayor, and three short years later a Member of Parliament.”
55. Parallel Structure Repeats specific words, phrases, or clauses in a series, giving emphasis to key words and making them memorable Ideas which are parallel in thought should be parallel in form Example: “Government of the people, by the people, for the people” Preposition + definite article + noun repeated in a series
56. Periodic Sentence Withholds an important part of the sentence until the end so that it doesn’t make complete sense until the last word is read Keeps the reader in suspense Example: “Whether playing a young wild adventurer, a fugitive from the law, or a U.S. president, there is one actor whose films always make money – Harrison Ford.”
57. Sentence Fragment Places emphasis on key words to create an overall effect, such as humour or suspense Example: “A cold room. A lonely room. A bare room. No place to spend twenty years of a life.”
58. Reversals (Chiasmus) Make a balanced sentence even more memorable by repeating words in reverse order “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.”
59. Subordination and Coordination Subordination indicates that one clause (Clause A) is more important than another (Clause B) See your smoking example – it’s fairly easy to spot Coordination, on the other hand, indicates that both clauses are equally important or independent of one another These can be recognized by the presence of FANBOYS – the coordinating conjunctions For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, or So.
60. Rhetorical Questions These questions aren’t asked with the intention of eliciting a response Rather, they’re there to cause the audience to question the other side – and, in turn, accept yours They attract the audience’s attention and gain interest because the audience supplies the answer! “How many times do I have to tell you to do your homework?” does not invite a response. However, the “puppy” example functions better as a rhetorical device Imagine the debate is about the best way to treat a wounded animal, and the other side argues that it’s best to leave the animal to heal on its own.
61. Let’s take a closer look at a text…
62. Building Background Knowledge Lou Gehrig: The Luckiest Man By David A. Adler Illustrated by Terry Widener Link to audio clip http://www.entertonement.com/clips/wxjzjnnwxj--Lou-Gehrig-Farewell-SpeechBaseball-Lou-Gehrig-Lou-Gehrigs-Last-Game-
63. Rhetorical Situation I On July 4, 1939, the New York Yankees held "Lou Gehrig Day" at Yankee Stadium. Gehrig had been diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) just two weeks earlier. With more than 62,000 fans in attendance, the Iron Horse took the microphone for what would become one of the most memorable moments in baseball history.
64. SOAPSTone “Luckiest Man”
65. Speaker Lou Gehrig
66. Occassion
67. Audience Yankees’ Fans at the ballpark that day
68. Purpose
69. Supject Speech given to the crowd in attendance to convince his fans that he is “the luckiest man alive.”
70. Tone
71. Text "Fans, for the past two weeks you have been reading about the bad break I got. Yet today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth. I have been in ballparks for seventeen years and have never received anything but kindness and encouragement from you fans. Look at these grand men. Which of you wouldn’t consider it the highlight of his career just to associate with them for even one day? Sure, I'm lucky.
72. Sure, I’m lucky. Who wouldn’t consider it an honor to have known Jacob Ruppert? Also, the builder of baseball’s greatest empire, Ed Barrow? To have spent six years with that wonderful little fellow, Miller Huggins? Then to have spent the next nine years with that outstanding leader, that smart student of psychology, the best manager in today, Joe McCarthy? Sure, I'm lucky.
73. "When the New York Giants, a team you would give your right arm to beat, and vice versa, sends you a gift — that’s something. When everybody down to the groundskeepers and those boys in white coats remember you with trophies — that’s something. When you have a wonderful mother-in-law who takes sides with you in squabbles with her own daughter — that's something.
74. When you have a father and a mother who work all their lives so that you can have an education and build your body — it's a blessing. When you have a wife who has been a tower of strengthand shown more courage than you dreamed existed — that's the finest I know. "So I close in saying that I might have been given a bad break, but I've got an awful lot to live for. Thank you."
75. Assignment Write a few paragraphs trying to persuade ANYONE of ANYTHING… You may be humorous in your approach. You will need to use at least two appeals –logos, pathos, ethos—an appeal to your audiences emotions, logics or their image of credibility… Create a SOAPSTone organizer to include. Be prepared to share your writing tomorrow.