Definitions and Examples of Rhetors

In the broadest sense of the term, a rhetor is a  public speaker or writer. Rhetor: Fast Facts Etymology: From the Greek, oratorPronunciation: RE-tor Word Origin The word  rhetor  has the same roots as the related term  rhetoric,  which refers to the art of using language to affect audiences, usually persuasively. Although it is used more often in the context of spoken language, rhetoric can also be written.  Rhetor  derived from  rhesis, the ancient Greek word for speech, and  rhema, which specifically defined that which is spoken. According to Jeffrey Arthurs, in the  classical rhetoric  of ancient Athens,  the term rhetor had the technical denotation of a professional orator/politician/advocate, one who actively participated in the affairs of state and court. In some contexts, a  rhetor was roughly equivalent to what we would call an attorney or a lawyer. Meaning and Usage The word rhetor, says Edward Schiappa, was used in Isocrates time [436–338 BC] to designate a very specific group of people: namely, the more or less professional politicians who spoke often in the courts or in the assembly. The term rhetor is sometimes used interchangeably with rhetorician to refer to a teacher of rhetoric  or a person skilled in the art of rhetoric.  Rhetor  has fallen out of popular usage and is generally used in more formal or academic language in the modern world. However, the rhetors art is still taught as part of many educational and professional courses of study, particularly for persuasive professions such as politics, law, and social activism. Since [Martin Luther] King was the ideal rhetor at a critical moment to pen the Letter [from Birmingham Jail], it transcends the Birmingham of 1963 to speak to the nation as a whole and to continue speaking to us, 40 years later.(Watson) The Sophist as Rhetor How next can we define the rhetor? Essentially, he is a man skilled in the art of rhetoric: and as such he may impart this skill to others, or exercise it in the Assembly or the law courts. It is of course the first of these alternatives that interests us here; for†¦the sophist qualifies for the title of rhetor in this sense should one choose to describe him in purely functional terms. (Harrison) The Aristotelian vs. the Neo-Aristotelian Edward Cope recognized the cooperative nature of rhetorical argument in his classic commentary on Aristotle, noting that the rhetor is dependent upon the audience, for in ordinary cases he can only assume such principles and sentiments in conducting his argument as he knows will be acceptable to them, or which they are prepared to admit.†¦Unfortunately, under the influence of the nominalistic individualism of the Enlightenment, the neo-Aristotelian left behind the community framework inherent in the Greek tradition to focus on the rhetors ability to work his will. This rhetor-centered approach led to such oxymorons as considering a community destroyer like Hitler to be a good rhetor. Whatever accomplished the rhetors purpose was taken to be good rhetoric, regardless of its consequences for the ecosystem as a whole†¦[T]his rhetor-centered approach blinded itself to the value implications of reducing the criteria of rhetorical practice to mere effectiveness in achieving the r hetors purpose. If pedagogy follows this idea of competence, then the neo-Aristotelian teaches that whatever works is good rhetoric. (Mackin) The Humanist Paradigm of Rhetoric The humanist paradigm is based on a reading of classical texts, especially those of Aristotle and Cicero, and its governing feature is the positioning of the rhetor as the generating center of discourse and its constitutive power. The rhetor is seen (ideally) as the conscious and deliberating agent who chooses and in choosing discloses the capacity for prudence and who invents discourse that displays an ingenium and who all along observes the norms of timeliness (kairos), appropriateness (to prepon), and decorum that testify to a mastery of sensus communis. Within such a paradigm, while one does recognize the situational constraints, they are, in the last instance, so many items in the rhetors design. The agency of rhetoric is always reducible to the conscious and strategic thinking of the rhetor. (Gaonkar) The Power of Eloquence Him only we call an artist, who should play on an assembly of men as a master on the keys of a piano; who, seeing the people furious, shall soften and compose them; should draw them, when he would, to laughter and to tears. Bring him to his audience, and, be they who they may—coarse or refined, pleased or displeased, sulky or savage, with their opinions in the keeping of a confessor or with their opinions in their bank safes—he will have them pleased and humoured as he chooses; and they shall carry and execute that which he bids them. (Emerson) Resources and Further Reading Arthurs, Jeffrey. â€Å"The Term Rhetor in Fifth† and Fourth†Century B.C.E. Greek Texts.† Rhetoric Society Quarterly, vol. 23, no. 3-4, 1994, pp. 1-10.Emerson, Ralph Waldo. â€Å"Fate.† The Conduct of Life, Ticknor and Fields, 1860, pp. 1-42.Gaonkar, Dilip Parameshwar. â€Å"The Idea of Rhetoric in the Rhetoric of Science.† Rhetorical Hermeneutics: Invention and Interpretation in the Age of Science, edited by Alan G. Gross and William M. Keith, State University of New York, 1997, pp. 258-295.Harrison, E. L. â€Å"Was Gorgias a Sophist?† Phoenix, vol. 18, no. 3, Autumn 1964, p. 183-192.Mackin, James A. Community over Chaos: an Ecological Perspective on Communication Ethics. University of Alabama, 2014.Schiappa, Edward. The Beginnings of Rhetorical Theory in Classical Greece. Yale, 1999.Watson, Martha Solomon. â€Å"The Issue Is Justice: Martin Luther King Jr.s Response to the Birmingham Clergy.†Ã‚  Rhetoric and Public Affairs, vol. 7, no. 1, Spring 2004, pp. 1-22.

Profiles in Courage by John Fitzgerald Kennedy Essay

One the most memorable presidents ever was elected in nineteen sixty one. He was the youngest president in the history of the United States. He was also the first catholic president in us history. Some people loved him and some people hated him. On November twenty second nineteen sixty three weather they hated or loved him everyone in the United States were shocked at what happened at about twelve thirty in the afternoon. John Fitzgerald Kennedy was shot while riding on his motorcade through Dealey Plaza downtown Dallas. It was a really bad day for Americans. John Fitzgerald Kennedy was born in Brookline Massachusetts on May twenty ninth nineteen seventeen. The Fitzgerald and the Kennedy families were prominent†¦show more content†¦In 1952 John Fitzgerald Kennedy challenged Henry Cabot Lodge for his seat on the United States Senate. Kennedy was backed by his fathers financial resources and he hired his brother as his campaign manager. John Fitzgerald Kennedy’s Brothe r Robert Kennedy put together and made one of the best campaigns in the history of Massachusetts and maybe even anywhere. John Fitzgerald Kennedy ran in a year when the Republican Party had control of the United States Senate and the House of Representatives. According to one of his aide one John Fitzgerald Kennedy’s deciding factors for him winning the election that year was his personality he was a new kind of politic that everyone in the United States was looking for in the election that year. Shortly after he won the election, Kennedy met a young woman that he thought was beautiful and her name was Jacqueline Bouvier. Kennedy met Jacqueline at a dinner party and according to him he had leaned across the asparagus and asked her to go on a date with him. John Fitzgerald Kennedy and Jacqueline Bouvier were married on September twelfth nineteen fifty three. While in the United States John Fitzgerald Kennedy frequently suffered from illnesses. 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Marvell vs Herrick Free Essays

Youth comes around once in a lifetime and it’s not something you can save for later. â€Å"To His Coy Mistress† by Andrew Marvell and â€Å"To the Virgins, To Make Much of Time† by Robert Herrick portray the underlying theme of carpe diem or â€Å"seize the day,† enjoying life to the fullest. Both of these poems mainly try to pursue women who have grand beauty to realize the advantage of their good looks when young, before time takes a toll on their beauty. We will write a custom essay sample on Marvell vs Herrick or any similar topic only for you Order Now Both poets use their words to convince someone to act, in this case to savor youth, virginity and beauty; they are trying to convince young virgins to live life to the fullest potential. Marvell and Herrick poems share the same theme and central belief but have different audience and use different ways to express their ideas. Both poems use carpe diem as their major theme. Herrick’s poem portrays carpe diem by citing the shortness of life and persuading young women to marry and enjoy life taking advantage before death takes its turn. He says â€Å"gather ye rosebuds while ye may, old time is still a-flying†, which shows that the virgins in this case referred to as rosebuds are just beginning to live and don’t have any experience yet, but time flies and one ages fast by so it’s better to enjoy the good years while there is time (Herrick 1-2). Carpe diem is used from the beginning In Marvell’s poem, â€Å"Had we but world enough, and time this coyness, lady, were no crime† saying that even though he wants all the time in the world to spend with her, there isn’t enough so she is committing a crime by making him wait for her virginity (Marvell 1-2). By stating to live life to its fullest potential he wants to persuade his mistress to a sexual relationship. â€Å"To The Virgins, to Make Much of Time† uses the meaning of carpe diem by encouraging young women to make use of their time by finding love while young and getting married before they get old and lose their beauty. Marvell and Herrick encourage young women to seize the day and don’t pass up chances since opportunities are hard to find. Marvell and Herrick’s poems share a central belief that young virgins should not wait to have sex because nobody knows what the future holds. Both poets want to idealize that tomorrow may never come, so it’s better to do it now and not wait because of coyness. They use death and getting old as the excuse to not lose time and make use of virginity when young. Marvell tries to lure a woman into sleeping with him by using time as a defense to experience pleasure now, he tells her that time is running out and â€Å"Now let us sports us while we may, and now, like amorous birds of prey† making use of their strength and youth to consummate their love (Marvell 37-38). He tries to convince the mistress that it is better to have sex now than to save her virginity for the future. Herrick recommends to all virgins to make use of the youth and to find love and enjoy life’s pleasures because old age is near. He emphasizes to not waste time as he feels women are their best at their prime, when they are young and untainted saying â€Å"then be no coy, but use your time, and, while ye may, go marry†(Herrick 13-14). The idea in both poems is to take advantage of being young and beautiful because times flies and people get old sooner than later. Marvell and Herrick dedicate the poems to a different audience. Marvell is writing specially to his mistress trying to woo her with promises of everlasting love. Herrick however, dedicates his poem to young virgins and wants to give them the idea of marriage while love and flesh is young to not have to suffer in the later years of life and not be lonely. In the beginning of To His Coy Mistress†, Marvell praises his woman writing how her modesty wouldn’t affect them if time was not an issue, but it is. He states she is a virgin because she is coy and later begins to diminish her ideals and beauty with aging and death saying â€Å"then worms shall try that long-preserved virginity, and your quaint honor turn to dust,† to state there is no reason for her to keep her virginity till the grave (Marvell 27-29) . Everything in Marvell’s poem is about his wishes to enjoy sexual pleasure with this woman and does everything in his power to scare her of dying without having sex first. Herrick’s poem is about the urgency and duty for the virgins to go forth and marry while young and beautiful before everything is loss with time and old age, warning them of the sufferings that come if they fail to listen to his advice. Marvell and Herrick use different ways to express their ideas on the poems. In â€Å"To the Virgins, To Make Much of Time,† Herrick uses a rather short poem to make his point short and simple versus the long and descriptive â€Å"To His Coy Mistress† by Marvell. Herrick focuses in an optimistic look to take advantage of youth and has basic and warmth imagery to state that beauty fades over the years and the effects of wasting time. On the other hand, Marvell’s poem is more detailed, beautiful and at the same time dark to suggest the mistress she shouldn’t waste her youth and virginity while she is at the prime of her life. He uses ugly and realistic ideas to snap the mistress out the notion of eternal love to finally lure her to make love with him and make time the last thing on their minds. Marvell is more in-depth and emotional while Herrick is calm and regretful. Both poems compare to each other by using the underlying theme of carpe diem, making the most of each moment before old age and beauty disappears. Marvell is very emotional and persuasive while Herrick is less personal giving useful advice to young people. To His Coy Mistress† is an expression of Marvell ‘s most deeply rooted impulses, how he feels about the ideas the lady has about losing her virginity, and the fact he wants to spend time loving her and adoring her in bed. â€Å"To The Virgins, to Make Much of Time† is a poem about the wishes of Herrick for the youth to realize that now it’s their time and to not waste any amount because of coyness, addressing his thoughts to the young generation to have a fulfill ed life, to not be shy of trying new things as those who are not afraid are the ones who will enjoy the most. Works Cited Marvell, Andrew. â€Å"To his coy mistress. † The Seagull Reader Poems. Ed. Joseph Kelley. W. W. Norton Company, Inc. , 2008. 220-222. Print. Herrick, Robert. â€Å"To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time. † The Seagull Reader Poems. Ed. Joseph Kelley. W. W. Norton Company, Inc. , 2008. 159-160. Print. How to cite Marvell vs Herrick, Essay examples