Ancient Rhetorics for Contemporary Students revives the classical strategies of ancient Greek and Roman rhetoricians and adapts them to the needs of contemporary writers and speakers.
This fresh interpretation of the ancient canons of composing--invention, arrangement, style, memory, and delivery--shows that rhetoric, as it was practiced and taught by the ancients, was an intrinsic part of daily life and of communal discourse about current events. The book presents stasis theory, common and special topics, formal topics, ethos, pathos, extrinsic proofs, and Aristotelian means of reasoning, and it places particular emphasis on the classic balance between principles and practice by offering ample opportunities for students to develop habits of rhetorical thinking and composing. The authors' engaging discussion and their many contemporary examples of ancient rhetorical principles present rhetoric as a set of flexible, situational practices. This practical history draws the most relevant and useful concepts from ancient rhetorics and discusses, updates, and offers them for use in the contemporary composition classroom.
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Preface
Part One: Invention
Chapter 1: Ancient Rhetorics: Their Differences and the Differences They Make
Ancient Rhetorics: The Beginnings
Comparing Ancient and Contemporary Rhetorics
Extrinsic and Intrinsic Proofs
That's Just Your Opinion
On Ideology and the Commonplaces
Language as Power; Language as Action
Practice, Practice, Practice
Progymnasmata
Progymnasmata I: Fable
Composing Fables
Progymnasmata II: Tale
Composing Tales
Notes
Works Cited
Chapter 2: Kairos and the Rhetorical Situation: Seizing the Moment
Ancient Depictions of Kairos
Kairos, Change, and Rhetorical Situations
Kairos as a Means of Invention
How Urgent or Immediate is the Issue?
Arguments and Interests
The trigger and the damage done
Freedom, yes, but which one?
Power Dynamics in a Rhetorical Situation
A Web of Related Issues
Rhetorical Activities
Progymnasmata II: Chreia
Progymnasmata: Chreia
Works Cited
Chapter 3: Achieving Stasis by Asking the Right Questions
On Inventing: How to Proceed
The Importance of Achieving Stasis
Theoretical Versus Practical Questions
The Four Questions
A Simple Example
Expanding the Questions
Questions of Quality: Simple or Complex
Questions of Policy
Using the Stases
Rhetorical Activities
Pro-life Arguments
Pro-choice Arguments
Progymnasmata III: Proverb
Proverb
Rhetorical Exercises: Proverb
Notes
Works Cited
Chapter 4: The Common Topics and the Commonplaces: Finding the Available Means
Aristotle's Topical System
The Common Topics
The Common Topic of Past and Future Fact (Conjecture)
The Common Topic of Greater/Lesser (Degree)
The Common Topic of Possible/Impossible
Commonplaces and Ideology
Commonplaces in American Political Rhetoric
Using Common Topics and Commonplaces to Invent Arguments
Rhetorical Activities
Progymnasmata IV: Common-place
Rhetorical Activities for Progymnasmata: Common-place
Notes
Works Cited
Chapter 5: Logical Proof: Reasoning in Rhetoric
Probabilities
Aristotle on Reasoning in Rhetoric
Deduction
Induction
Enthymemes
Rhetorical Examples
Historical Examples - Brief and Extended
Fictional Example
Analogy
Similar and Contrary Examples
Using Examples
Maxims
Signs
Rhetorical Activities
Progymnasmata V: Confirmation and Refutation
Exercises in Progymnasmata: Confirmation and Refutation
Works Cited
Chapter 6: Ethical Proof: Arguments from Character
Ethos in Ancient Rhetorics
Invented Ethos
Demonstrating Intelligence by Doing the Homework
Establishing Good Character
Securing Good Will
Situated Ethos
Rhetorical Activities
Progymnasmata VI: Character
Progymnasmata: Character
Works Cited
Chapter 7: Pathetic Proof: Passionate Appeals
Ancient Teachers on the Emotions
Emotions as Rhetorical Proofs
The Characters of Audiences and Rhetors
Composing Passionate Proofs
Enargeia
Honorific and Pejorative Language
Rhetorical Activities
Progymnasmata VII: Encomium and Invective, Description
Exercises: Encomium and Invective
Description
Exercises: Description
Works Cited
Chapter 8: Extrinsic Proofs: Arguments Waiting to Be Used
Extrinsic Proofs in Ancient Rhetorics
Testimony
Community Authorities
Evaluating Community Authorities
Proximate Authorities
Data
Evaluating Data
Rhetorical Activities
Notes
Progymnasmata VIII: Introduction of Law
An Opposition of a Law That Permits Assault Weapons
Rhetorical Activities: Introduction of Law
Works Cited
Part Two: Arrangement
Chapter 9: Arrangement: Getting It Together
Ancient Teachings about Arrangement
The Exordium, or Beginning
Introductions
Topics for Making Audiences Attentive and Receptive
Insinuations
The Narrative (Statement of the Case)
The Partition
The Arguments: Confirmation and Refutation
The Peroration (Conclusion)
Composing a Summary
Exciting Indignation Toward an Opponent Or the Opposing Position
Enhancing Ethos
An Extended Example
Rhetorical Activities
Progymnasmata IX: Thesis
Rhetorical Activities: Thesis
Notes
Works Cited
Part Three: Style, Memory, and Delivery
Chapter 10: Style: Composition and Ornament
Correctness
Clarity
Appropriateness: Kairos and Style
Ornament
Sentence Composition
Paratactic and Periodic Styles
Figurative Language
Figures that Interrupt Normal Word Order
Figures of Repetition
Figures of Thought
Figures of Thought That Enhance Ethos
Figures of Thought That Involve Audience
Figures of Thought That Arouse Emotion
Figures of Thought Borrowed from Invention and Arrangement
Onomatopoeia
Antonomasia
Metonomy
Periphrasis
Hyperbaton
Hyperbole
Synecdoche
Catachresis
Metaphor
Allegory
Voice and Rhetorical Distance
Rhetorical Exercises
Notes
Works Cited
Chapter 11: Imitation
Imitation I: Reading Aloud and Copying
Imitation Exercise I: Reading Aloud and Copying
Imitation II: Inhabiting through Practice
Imitation Exercises II: Imitation
Imitation III: Translation and Paraphrase
Translation
Paraphrase
Paraphrasing Poetry
Examples of Paraphrase
Paraphrase Exercises
Works Cited
Chapter 12: Delivery and Memory: Attending to Eyes and Ears
