Essay One Assignment

Your first essay begins with two speeches: one from an ancient rhetor (Greek or Roman) and one by you--an Imitatio of the ancient rhetor's speech. Ultimately, you'll write an essay that reflects on what you learned from studying the ancient speech and from working up your imitatio.

Step One
First, this week, find a short speech or excerpt of a speech (not more than two pages, if possible) by a pre-Dark Ages rhetor (anyone from the Sophists through Augustine and Boethius) and become very familiar with that speech. The speech can be from literature (In Homer's Iliad, for example, the envoys plead with Achilles) or from actual rhetors such as Pericles, Socrates, Xenophon, Gorgias, Cicero, Isocrates, or any of the rhetors listed in ARCS or RT. You may need to look ahead in your texts a bit in order to finish this step, which involves performing a close reading of the speech you choose. Really get inside it. Understand it as if you wrote it yourself. Pay special attention to the rhetorical devices the speaker uses, from the global (logos, pathos, ethos, arrangement, style, delivery, etc.) to the local (figures of speech, rhetorical tropes, etc). You can find a good summary of the local features on the Web at Rhetorica.net. For an edgier version, try Homer Simpson's rhetorical tropes. At any rate, analyze the heck out of it. Really take it apart in order to understand how it works. Research the speech and the rhetor to find out as much as possible about the occasion, the rhetor's purpose, the overall context.

Step Two
Develop your own short speech as an imitatio of the ancient rhetor. Pick a contemporary topic that is consistent with the ancient speech. If it focused on values, then choose a modern issue that centers on values. If it is a speech of praise or blame (epideictic), then choose something or someone to praise. Et Cetera. Develop your speech using the same appeals, schema, arrangement, delivery, style, etc, as the original. You will deliver this speech in class, so pay attention to sound as well as sense. Speeches will be delivered in class on Tues, Sept. 27 or Tues, Sept 29. The text of your speech should be no more than two pages; at two minutes per page, the speech will take no more than four minutes. You will perform the speech, not read it. So learn it well. Practice your delivery so that you exploit all the nuances you have built into it.

Step Three
Write a reflection (about three pages) about steps one and two. Discuss the challenges you faced in analyzing the original and in developing your imitation. Tell us about what you discovered in the experience of Step Two, in particular about what you learned about ancient rhetoric and about to what extent the ways of ancient rhetors translate into modern times. Step Three is due in class, in draft, on Tuesday, Oct 4. On that day, we'll do a peer review. The revised essay is due Tuesday, Oct 11. Hand in a paper version to me, and post your final version on your blog. The final version should include a copy of the ancient speech, along with the text of your imitatio and your reflection (the latter two should total about five pages).

Basically, the goals here are to learn about ancient rhetoric by doing it and to share what you've learned with the rest of us. I expect we'll find out a great deal about the effectiveness and the limitations of the ancient rhetors. And I hope you'll find the process interesting and fun.

Enjoy!