English 310 Rhetorical Analysis

The purpose of this course is to introduce students to rhetorical criticism. The focus is primarily "practical," in that students examine the rhetorical devices and strategies that authors use in specific artifacts or performances; but the course also involves rhetorical theory, given that identifying and assessing the rhetorical strategies requires an understanding of such matters as the rhetorical situation in which a rhetor addresses an audience, and the arts of invention, arrangement, style, and delivery.

Syllabus

1. Part One: The classical heritage

Week 1. The nature and scope of rhetoric.
Foss, chapter 1-2;
Fish, "Rhetoric."
Lanham, "The Rhetorical Ideal of Life."

Week 2-5. The Classical Tradition: Gorgias, Plato and Aristotle.
Foss, chapter 3, Neo-Aristotelian criticism. Gorgias,
Encomium of Helen. Plato Phaedrus. Aristotle, Rhetoric, selections.

Test 1; paper 1

The first paper is to use Aristotle's terminology to analyze Gorgias' Palamedes.
The first test is to use traditional rhetorical terms and categories to analyze a short essay taken from Esquire, "The Only Way to Mow."

Part two: Contemporary Developments I Weeks 6-7. Generic Criticism

Generic criticism originates with Aristotle's distinction between political, legal and epideictic rhetoric. Recent scholars attend to various genres, examining the ways in which recurrent situations tend to foster similar responses by speakers.

Foss chapter 4, "Generic Criticism."
Shaw, Punch. "Generic Refinement on the Edge: The Game Show."
Bitzer, Lloyd. "The Rhetorical Situation." Philosophy and Rhetoric 1 (1968):1-14.

Weeks 8-9. Narrative Criticism
Attention to narrative may be seen in Aristotle's notion of the example (paradigm) in rhetorical argumentation. The "narrative" is often the second stage in traditional forensic rhetoric, following the introduction and preceding the proof.

Foss chapter 7, "Narrative Criticism." Kirkwood,William. "Parables as Metaphors and Examples."
Keillor, Garrison, Lake Wobegone Days
(selections). Olson, Scott. "Meta-Television: Popular Postmodernism.11
Week 10-11. Metaphoric Criticism
Attention to metaphor and other "stylistic" devices is found in Book 3 of Aristotle's Rhetoric. Contemporary critics often expand the notion of metaphor, seeing it as a device for inventing and organizing material, as well as means of conveying information. Foss, chapter 6: metaphoric criticism
Brown, Richard,"Rhetoric and the Science of History: The Debate Between Evolutionism and Empiricism as a Conflict of Metaphors."
Osborn, Michael, "Archetypal Metaphor in Rhetoric: The Light-Dark Family." Paper 2; test 2

The assignment for the second paper is to use generic, narrative or metaphoric criticism to analyze and evaluate a rhetorical artifact chosen by the student. The second test requires the student to use one of the three methods to analyze a short essay.

Part Three: Contemporary Developments II: Gender and Dramatism

Week 12-13. Feminist Criticism
Attention to the issue of gender in rhetoric leads us to examine the role of gender in a culture, and hence to inquire into the ways in which gender influences beliefs and values.

Foss, chapter 5.
Ostriker, Alicia. "The Thieves of Language: Women Poets and Revisionist Mythmaking.
Ragan, Sandra and Anita Taylor. "Women's' Response to Men's Silence: A Fictional Analysis." Week 14-16. Burkean dramatism Foss, chapters 9-10.
Burke, Grammar of Motives, selections;
Burke, Rhetoric of Motives, selections;
Burke, Language as Symbolic Action, selections.
Foss chapter 9.
Appel, Edward. "The Perfected Drama of Reverend Jerry Falwell."
Hahn, Dan and Ann Morlando. "A Burkean Analysis of Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address."
Lincoln, Abe, "Second Inaugural Address." Test three; paper three.

The assignment for the third paper is to use either feminist criticism or Burke' pentad to analyze a rhetorical artifact chosen by the student. The third test requires the student to analyze a selected text using one or of the two approaches.

Required Texts: Foss, Sonya, Rhetorical Criticism: Exploration and Practice
Course packet