Canons of Rhetoric

The Five Canons of Rhetoric

Arrangement The order in which the content is organized for a communication (think five-paragraph essay); genre

Invention The process of coming to the content we are going to communicate; rhetors have debated whether this is a process of developing knowledge or not.

Style The signs-often words-one chooses for communication

Tropes Figures of speech, often refers to metaphors, apostrophe (addressing a person who is not there or addressing an abstraction), metonymy (substitution for an arbitrary or suggestive word in place of what is actually meant), synecdoche (understanding one thing with another); in our current age tropes are often problematized for be valued as reality

Memory The pedagogy for remembering what one will state during a given communication

Delivery The process of relating the word to the given audience; often understudied, but becoming more important in an electronic age

Depew, Kevin Eric. “Rhetorical Principles.” Introduction to Rhetoric and Writing: English 686. Old Dominion University. 05 May 2009. Web. 20 Dec. 2012.

Defines terms related to rhetoric: Purpose, Appeals (ethos, pathos, logos), Five Canons of Rhetoric: Arrangement (order), Invention (choosing content), Style (specific words and figures of speech/rhetorical devices), Memory, Delivery. Note: The last two apply to oratory more than composition.

Site includes “Resources for Writers and Instructors” including links to academic journals: http://ww2.odu.edu/~kdepew/resources.html

Link to “Rhetorical Principles”: http://ww2.odu.edu/~kdepew/eng686su09/rhetoricalconcepts.html