Ancient rhetoric and poetic : $b Interpreted from representative worksBaldwin, Charles Sears
History
Ancient rhetoric and poetic : $b Interpreted from representative works
Baldwin, Charles Sears
Classical literature -- History and criticism -- Theory, etc.; Poetics -- History -- To 1500; Rhetoric, Ancient
Book III studies the speech itself. Book I having presented rhetoric from
the view of the speaker, and Book II from the view of the audience, Book
III now applies it directly to the speech.[36]
Since rhetoric must treat systematically three things: (1) what
the means of persuasion are to be, (2) the diction,[37] (3)
how to arrange[38] the parts of the speech, ... [the first has
been discussed]. We have next to speak of the diction. For it
is not enough to know what we ought to say; we must also know
how we ought to say it, and this contributes much to the effect
of the speech. The first subject of our inquiry [(1) above]
was naturally that which comes first by nature, the facts
themselves—in what aspects they are persuasive. The second is
the expression of these in the diction. The third [_not_ (3)
above], which is of very great importance, is the delivery.
The threefold division sketched here seems at first sight to coincide,
so far as it goes, with the one that afterward became traditional.
Classical rhetoric as a whole assumes a fivefold division: (1) εὕρεσις,
_inventio_, the gathering and analysis of the material; (2) τάξις,
_dispositio_, _collocatio_, the arrangement, sequence, or movement in
the large; (3) λέξις, _elocutio_, the diction, or the choice of words
and their combination in phrases, clauses, and sentences, the movement
in detail; (4) ὑπόκρισις, _pronuntiatio_, delivery, or “elocution”; (5)
μνήμη, _memoria_, memory. But Aristotle’s division neither corresponds
to this nor is consistent with itself. The first item is the same in
both. Aristotle’s second item is clearly the same as the later third,
and has the same name (λέξις, diction). The third item of his opening
sentence seems equivalent to the traditional second (τάξις), and uses the
corresponding verb (τάξαι); but below he makes his third item instead
delivery (ὑπόκρισις), which is the fourth item of the traditional
division, and then proceeds in the same chapter to include delivery,
by implication, under diction.[39] In a word, the opening division of
Book III is baffling. But the actual development of the book is quite
clear: chapters i-xii on λέξις, diction, or, in the widest sense, style;
chapters xiii-xix, on τάξις, or arrangement.
Delivery, after declaring it to have the greatest force (δύναμιν ...
μεγίστην), he dismisses in a few sentences. Tantalizing in its brevity,
this passage is nevertheless suggestive; for it sketches an analytic
division of delivery into voice-placing and volume, pitch, and rhythm; it
points to the value for public speaking of the arts of dramatic recital;
and, most important of all, it relates delivery to the whole idea of
style as concrete presentation _versus_ abstract formulation.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account