Reading Blog 13

November 3, 2011

ARCS Ch. 10; RT Vico pp. 862-879 and Sheridan 879-888

Style: Composition and Ornament
I love the stylistic elements of rhetoric.  I like the fact that there is persuasion in delivery.  The antithesis used in many writings is very interesting.  Aristotle knew of this power and recognized that it needed to be studied along with the other elements of rhetoric.  Similes, metaphors and personification are used in many works to make the words more relatable.  I think this is a great way to incorporate more visual meanings into the words being said.  Correctness, sometimes translated literally as 'purity' from Latin or Greek, meant that rhetors should use current words and grammatical rules.  I think this is mostly true, however, to make a point, sometimes going to an extreme one direction or another can be rhetorically effective.  Appropriateness is very important.  There is literally a time and a place for every conversation and every situation.  Ornamental styles is an extremely good way to produce an effective text.  The 3 categories, figures of speech, figures of thought, and tropes are used to ornament rhetorical style with an extreme effect.  This is important to persuade listeners and/or readers to interpret the intended meaning of a text.

Giambattista Vico
Vico describes himself as an autodidact, or one who is both self-taught and free from academic prejudices.  He was a professor of rhetoric from 1699-1741 at University of Naples- I find this very interesting, especially since he had no professional schooling himself.  So was he providing prejudices to his students that he was 'lucky enough' to go without?  Very interesting concept.  Vico is seen as a major figure in the development of rhetoric with a culturally based epistemology, in his time, he was regarded as reactionary because he opposed the thoughts of Descartes.  He criticized his (Descartes) works for basing the only sources of knowledge on mathematics and science.
Vico provides three stages through which human history evolves: the poetic, the heroic, and the human.  The poetic stage uses knowledge as a metaphor.  In the heroic stage, nations are developing, while rigid systems of law preserve the organization of society. And the human stage provides self-conscious study of human knowledge leads to greater equity and democracy in politics.  This shows that individualism is growing, both with this idea, and with society.

Thomas Sheridan
Sheridan did receive an education, with a career as a stage actor, whose son is now a famous playwright.  Rhetorical influence at work, a rhetorically effective writer.  Sheridan had an overwhelming interest in correcting language.  Leading him to a career in elocution.  He gave a very successful lecture course on the subject.  He found an ideal forum for his own talents and interests and he was encouraged by the contemporary desire for linguistic self-improvement and educational reform.  The thing I find most interesting about Sheridan is that he was so interesting in the correctness of writing and the fact that he was a professional speaker as an actor.  It makes me think that he became this way because of his acting and of his talent with words.  I would like to compare the writings of his son's to Sheridan's to see if there are any rhetorical similarities.