I found this read to be more entertaining than most of our previous reads. Especially the opening chunks when the author continuously ridicules the Greek rhetoricians for their modesty. Then how he actually uses Greek mythology to further ridicule this modesty. Alluding to Prometheus was probably my favorite saying, "Prometheus wishing to distribute fire amongst mortals, had himself gone about with an urn begging a few coals of his neighbors, he would have appeared ridiculous." (247, first column). While this method first made me think back to Aristotle's methods of slighting and inciting anger I also began to recognize it in our writing today.
Most papers I have written require multiple sources to earn a passing grade. Reading through these post most of use use citations while writing our short blogs (myself obviously included in this). While these citations help support our case and add credibility to our writings I can see how easily it would be for use to rely on others' works and add little of our own. While grading high school papers I have seen some where half the writing were in quotation. Most of the time these quotes didn't fit in the paper and took away from what the student wanted to say. While citations can be used to enhance writing we need to be careful to avoid being as the modest Greeks and rely on other sources to hold our writings together.
Exactly! I think this is a flaw of teaching rhetoric in school: we focus on ethos, pathos, and logos too much. Obviously they are central to rhetoric, but seriously how fun would it be to use epanaphora or antithesis in the classroom? That would take some brain power that our students haven't used before. There are OTHER WAYS (gasp) that make papers come together.
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