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Ancient Rhetorics for Contemporary Students, 5th edition

Published by Pearson (September 30, 2011) © 2012

  • Sharon Crowley
  • Debra Hawhee
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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.

  • Lively, contemporary examples show rhetoric in everyday practice in civic discourse.
  • Ancient means of invention, including kairos and stasis theory, receive extensive treatment.
  • Discussion of argument includes logical, ethical, and pathetic proofs.
  • Exercises at the end of chapters helps students learn and apply concepts:  Rhetorical Activities encourage students to think about how rhetoric works in the contemporary world and offers opportunities for discussion and informal writing, and Progymnasmata are explained and illustrated throughout the book with special opportunities for practice.
  • Relevance of classical commonplaces to American political ideologies is thoroughly discussed.
  • A brief history of ancient rhetorics gives students necessary and interesting background information about their course of study.
  • The chapter on Delivery addresses page design and layout as well as electronic delivery systems such as e-mail, web sites, and blogs.

  • Examples drawn from current events are updated throughout, showing ancient rhetorical principles at work in viral Facebook campaigns, sustainable living activism, tuition tax protests, blogs about concealed weapons on campus, and even Congressional outbursts in order to help students recognize rhetoric in the world around them and understand how it works.
  • New examples of rhetoric at work in visual texts in contemporary culture range from an advertisement for a world hunger organization to flag lapel pins, illustrating how images and words can work together or even how images can stand alone to convey meaning in different rhetorical situations. 
  • A new chapter on Imitation, culled from sections previously appearing in chapters on arrangement, style, and memory, presents a more unified discussion of this ancient practice and its modern applications (Ch. 11).
  • Explanations have been revised and lengthy examples streamlined to improve clarity and readability throughout the text and usability overall.
  • The progymnasmata have been reorganized so that each exercise better fits the chapter in which is appears. 
  • Coverage of memory has been shortened and added to chapter on delivery to better reflect current usage (Ch.12 ).
  • The expanded glossary includes more terms and allows students easier access to complex topics at a glance.

  • 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
    • Ancient Commentary on Delivery
    • Delivery of Oral Discourse
    • Ancient Memory
    • Ancient Memory Systems
    • Delivery of Written Discourse
    • Correctness
    • Correctness: Traditional Grammar and Usage
    • Visual Rhetoric
    • Ocular Demonstration
    • Textual Presentation
    • Klavika: A sans for the 21st century
    • Picture Theory
    • Digital Rhetors
    • Rhetorical Activities
    • Notes
    • Works Cited

Glossary

Appendix: Signposts in Ancient Rhetorics

Bibliography

Suggestions for Further Readings

Credits

Index

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