S T Y L E , D E L I V E R Y, A N D

RHETORICAL THEORY
ENG 211: RHETORIC
T H U R S D AY J A N U A R Y 2 1 2 0 1 6

TEACHING DEMOS
BY FACULTY CANDIDATES
Thursday 1/28: G Patterson: Specialist in Rhetoric and
Gender/Sexuality Studies. Specialized in Gender Identity and
Rhetoric.
Tuesday 2/2: Mark Bernard: Specialist in Film and Mass
Media. Broad Teaching Background. Researches Horror Films.
2/4: Mariana Grohowski: Specialist in Rhetoric and
Composition Studies. Researches Military Veterans and
Rhetoric & Writing.

50 CE TO 400 CE:
THE SECOND
SOPHISTIC AGE
THE GRECO-ROMAN WORLD

THE SUBLIME
The use of language to momentarily list the
audience members outside of themselves.
Has natural and artistic qualities.
Natural qualities include the speakers passion and
great thoughts.
Artistically, the sublime can be achieved through
figures of speech and thought, diction, and
composition.
Typically the sublime uses amplification to creating an
ascending order of great thoughts and passion.

ST AUGUSTINE & CHRISTIAN

RHETORIC
Truth could be discovered in the Scriptures.
Developed a theory of signs and meaning.
Distinguished between literal and metaphorical
meanings in Scripture.
Knowing the truth of propositions was often a matter
of faith.
Preachers must be understandable, eloquent, and use
the three levels of style.

THE MIDDLE AGES/MEDIEVAL EUROPE

In Western Europe, the Middles Ages were defined by
feudal systems of government.
Letter-writing and preaching were primary forms of
rhetorical practice.
Very limited literacy and limited availability of books.
Courts and monasteries were the only real centers of
literacy and learning.
However, the Byzantine Empire and the rising
Arab/Muslim Empire had great centers of learning,
especially in Constantinople, Alexandria, Damascus,
and Baghdad.

PETER RAMUS, 1515-1572, FRANCE

Taught that rhetoric included only style
and delivery and that the other canons of
rhetoric (invention, arrangement,
memory) belonged to the discipline of
philosophy.

BELLETRISTIC
MOVEMENT:
T
H
18 CENTURY
E X PA N D E D F O C U S , B U T M A I N TA I N E D A
H E AV Y E M P H A S I S O N S T Y L E A N D
D E L I V E R Y.

HUGH BLAIR, 1718-1800, SCOTLAND

Defined taste as the power of receiving pleasure from the
beauties of nature and of art.
Blair discussed how language can be used to achieve
eloquence.
Style creates a picture in the minds of the audience.
Perspicuity is the use of language to clearly state the speakers
ideas.
Ornament is achieved through graceful, strong, and melodious
sentences that use figurative language.

ELOCUTIONARY MOVEMENT:
18 TH & 19 TH CENTURIES
Focused almost entirely on delivery.
Two main schools of thought, focused on natural and
mechanical approaches.
Natural: conventional, plain style
Mechanical: systematic, adhering to rules.

Thomas Sheridan focused on ideas such as

articulation, pronunciation, and emphasis.

TWO DEFINITIONS OF THE SUBLIME

LOThe
process
by which we
NGIN
US
raise our natural powers to
a required advance in
scale.
An appeal not to logic or
emotion but to the stylistic
and aesthetic faculties of
the audiences.
Subliminity is remembered,
impossible to resist, and
promotes reflection.

H USaw
GH B
L AI R
grandeur

and sublimity
as synonymous.
it is not easy to describe
the precise impression
which great and sublime
objects make upon us, when
we behold them.
Gives rise to a mixture of
delight, awfulness, and
solemnity.
Often found in nature.

EXAMPLE OF THE SUBLIME:

THE TREE OF LIFE, DIR. TERRENCE MALICK, 2011

Experimental, non-linear film. The central character, Jack, is

depicted as a child and an adult and struggles with
moral/ethical challenges and conflicts with his stern, but loving
father and gentle, nurturing mother.
This clip uses a section of Symphony No. 3 (
The Symphony of Sorrowful Songs) by the Polish composer
Henryk Gorecki.
The lyrics in the symphony come from a medieval Polish hymn, an early
twentieth century Polish folk song, and a prayer carved into the wall of a
Gestapo prison in Warsaw. All three sources concern the relationship
between a mother (including the Virgin Mary) and a child who is in
danger or dying.