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DOCUMENT 'RESUME ED 027 301 TE 001 211 By-Correll, Robert M. Very Like a Whale--A Report on . Pub Date Oct 65

Note- 7p. . Journal Cit-College and ; v16 n3 p138-43 Oct 1965 MRS Price MF-$0.25 HC-$0.45 Descriptors-*Composition (Literary), *English Instruction, Expository , , *Rhetoric, Skills, Teacher , Writing The basic issues of the "new" rhetoric include (1) theways in which contemporary rhetoric is "new", (2) some of the problems facing contemporary rhetoric, and (3) the relation of rhetoric to the teaching of English. Two factors contributing to the of a "new" discipline are a revival of interest in classical rhetoric and the development of new approaches to rhetoric based on from related disciplines. Basic among the current problems is the tendency to confuse the rhetoric that is a theoretical study of (including subjects like , , linguistics, and ) with the rhetoric that is a summary of precepts about writing and speaking. A teaching rhetoric 'should differ from either of these in that it must attempt to describe the choices available to a writer, explain the effects of the different choices; and, at the same time, be comprehensive enough lo take account of all aspects of composition. More emphasis on rehtoric is needed in the training of teachers at all levels. (LH) Very Like A Whale A Report On Rhetoric

ROBERTM.GORRELL

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Reprintedfrom College Composition and Communication October, 1965 Vol. 16, No. 3 U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION & WELFARE

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11fIrt1rEi1, P.Relf-vo1)17T T .e. 01.k.TIall1.1.C.J141.4

HAMLET. Do you see yonder that's almost in shape of a camel? POLONIUS. By the mass, and 'tis like a camel indeed. HAMLET. Methinks it is like a weasel. PoLoNnys. It is backed like a weasel. HAMLET. Or like a whale? Po LoNrus. Very like a whale.

RHETORIC ISVERY Lum an umbrella.viously circulated questions, whichwe Under its expansive shade,more or lesshad all about. We found,per- comfortably, clustera of subjectshaps, more new questions thananswers semantics, logic, usage, . Rhetoricto those we already had. We began the is very like an arch. Itspans widely,discussions with feelings of humility bridging psychology, linguistics,sociol-which were reinforced byour proceed- ogy, . Rhetoric is very likeaings. I have a transcript ofour discussion, dynamo. It is the machinery forgenerat-but I am not attemptinga summary. The ing the ideas and of communi-comments that follow aremy own, in- cation. Rhetoric is sometimesvery likefluenced by the seminar butnot neces- a whale, with its mouth open, sweepingsarily reflecting it. the ocean. Rhetoric is alsovery like a jelly First of all, to adda , rhet- fish. oric is very like a chameleon. Andin its The seminar authorized lastyear byrelation to the whole of English, the CCCC Executive Committee,to bewhatever that is, it isvery like linguistics organized by the chairman,met Decem-eight or ten yearsago. That is, as linguis- ber 11 and 12 in Denverto discusstics was, rhetoric is the ,or at least rhetoric.' The seminarwas prolific ofis becoming the word. Like linguistics,it . But we didnot attempt tois possibly threatenedmore by its friends reach conclusionsor to formulate -than its enemies. Like linguisticsit means nouncements or recommendations. Wemany different things to different people, centered our attentionon a series of pre-and often it meansvery little. Often it is namsloolpMo, only a reflection of the current fashionin 1 Participants in the seminar.were Waynebook titles, titles which frequentlyare Booth, of Chicago;Virginia Bur lce, irresponsible in describing University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee;Francis contents. Like Christensen, University of SouthernCalifornia; linguistics, rhetoric is gainingstatus as Edward P. J.Corbett, Creighton University;the new cure-all for the problemsof Robert Correll, University of Nevada,chairman; Albert Kitzhaber, 'University ofOregon; Rich-teaching English. The "new" rhetoricis ard Ohmann, Wesleyan University;James R. plaguing the academic conscience.It squire, University of Illinois; RicharclYoung, seems to ire, therefore, important to con- University of Michigan; and KarlWallace, University of Illinois. In preparing thispapersider the following: ( 1 )some in I have been influenced bynumerous commentswhich rhetoric may be "new"; ( 2 )some It from the five reels of recordingtape which theproblems and directions ofcontemporary conference produced, but I donot pretend to express either consensus or the indiviolual viewsrhetoric; and ( 3)some relations of rhet- of participants. oric to the teaching of English. A REPORT ON RHETORIC 139

I suppose that any writer thinks of hisment, rhetoric as a serious study had rhetoric as "new" in some ways, or hetended to disappear from all but the title could hardly justify writing it. Georgeof the freshman course. Looking cynically Campbell, as well as ,at what was happening in the classroom used the word "new," with , Iand what often happens stillone think. Some of the current vitality of thewould find a variety of related subjects notion of a new rhetoric results from an-replacing rhetoric and the study of com- alogy with the new mathematics or theposition surviving mainly in the assign- new . Certainly the "new" rhe-ment and criticism of the weekly . toric has gained some status; articles areInvention had become largely a matter beginning to question its existence"theof assigning a book of , presum- chimera of a new rhetoric" and the like.ably to provoke thought or stimulate I think, however, that there are legiti-i leas for writing. Disposition was likely mate for considering the newb.: be drill on the form for an outline. rhetoric as more valid than andElocution or style was likely to be mainly more substantial than . workbook drill on usage. There was One major reason for the developmentobviously, and still is, need for a new of a new rhetoric is the need, especiallyrhetoric. as it has been disclosed through recent One of the development of a investigations by CCCC and others ofnew rhetoric is a revival of interest in old Freshman English and the teaching ofrhetoric. Recent studies have suggested composition generally. The "philosoph-that classical rhetoric has beyond ical" rhetoricians of the eighteenth cen-its historic interest, that it can still be :he tury revived interest in classical rhetoricbasis for a working approach.P Anthol- but also from the 1760's on made signifi-ogies of rhetorical studies have begun to , broadening the do-appear, reprinting selections from some main of rhetoric by relating it to bellesearly rhetcrics which are not readily lettres and by approaching the nature ofavailable.4 The reprints of "landmark" rhetorical invention through the psychol-texts by the University of Southern Illi- ogy of the day. Their view persisted innois Press are symptoms of interest, and the nineteenth century; but as it wasmore such reprints are needed. Journals adapted and made "practical" in the text-of the speech associations an ac- book rhetoric of writers like John Genungtive interest in classical rhetoric among or or Adams Shermanscholars of speech, much of their impor- Hill,itoften approached absurdity.tant work virtually unknown in depart- Philosophicalobservationsabout thements of English. Certainly one kind of nature of discourse were more and morenew rhetoric is a revived and revised commonly translated into dogmatic pro-classical rhetoric. scriptions concerning style and usage, so More dramatic are approaches to rhet- that I. A. Richards in 1936 could expectoric which grow from new knowledge or a good deal of sympathy with his de-new techniques in related disciplines- scription of the "present.state of Rhet- oric" as "the dreariest and least profit- 8 For example, see Edward P. J. Corbett, Classical Rhetoric for the Modern Student, New able part of the waste that the unfor-York, 1965, or Dudley Bailey, "A Plea for a tunate travel through in Freshman Eng- Modern of Topoi,' College English, XXVI, lish."2 ( 1964 ), 111-17. 4 Among them are Dudley Bailey, Essays Oft Actually, by the time of Richard's corn- Rhetoric, New York, 1965; Joseph Schwartz and John A. Rycenga, The Province of Rhetoric, New 'Philosophy of Rhetoric, New York, p. 3. York, 1965. 140 COLLEGE COMPOSITIONAND COMMUNICATION linguistics,psychology,, definition of rhetoric something like "the and others. Daniel Fogarty finds the rootsart of effective discourse"io which the for new in the work of Kennethseminar kept returning, as a starting Burke or I. A. Richards or the generalplace, at leastwe risk the same sorts of semanticists,5 all of whom owe a goodconfusion through multiple meanings or deal to psychology and other relatedapplications that have confused grammar. disciplines.Structural and generativeThat is, rhetoric refers to the of have enabled Richard Ohmannwhat happens in communication; in this and Francis Christensentodevelopsense it is a descriptive study attempting different approaches to rhetorical anal-to determine what occurs and why. ysis.6Indeed,currentdiscussionsof Rhetoric, however, also refers to what- transformational grammars take an essen-ever body of precepts or accumulation of tially rhetorical attitude in their emphasisadvice we can offer to writers or speakers. on the processes which generate sen-Other distinctions in might also tences.7 Kenneth Pike's development ofbe drawn, but these are sufficient to ac- tagmernics grew out of his work incount for a good deal of difficulty. The linguistics and anthropology, and the usetwo aspects of the subject must be re- of the terms particle, wave, and field inlated, but they must also be distin- rhetorical theory by Pike, Richard Young,guished. As we slip indifferently from one and others at Michigan developed frommeaning to ancther, we develop frustrat- an analogy with physics.8 There may being confusions. Rhetoric is very like a no new rhetoric, but new rhetorics areweasel. developing. If rhetoric is becoming very This confusion, it seems to me, can like a camel, it is like a camel with manyexplain the way in which the of humps. rhetoric appears as an almost cyclical The participants in the seminar gen-pattern of enthusiasm and decadence. erally welcomed tile prospect of a varietyTheory develops, is taken seriously, is of new rhetorics, partly recognizing theconfused with precept, is translated into inevitable but also seeing this trend asdogma, and develops into absurdity. The the logical appraach to fundamentalRenaissance enthusiasm for classifying problems of rhetoric. Basic among thesetropes produced distinctions that became problems is the two- or perhaps three-meaningless when multiplied into dozens faced meaning we must attach to theof precepts. Or, more significantly, eight- term rhetoric. If we accept as a workingeenth-centuryrhetoricianslikeLord Kames or modified 's 8 Roots for a New Rhetoric, New York, 1959. observations on metaphor into precepts 'For example,see Richard M. Ohmann,and then took their precepts seriously. "Prolegomena to the of Style," Style in Prose , ed. Harold C. Martin Blair, for example, by specifying that a (EnglishInstituteEssays), "A Generativemetaphor must be based on a resem- Rhetoric of the ," CCC, XIV (1963), 155-61. blance that is "clear and perspicuous, 'See , "Current Issuesin not far-fetched, nor difficult to discover"9 Linguistic Theory," in Jerry A. Fodor andrejects a great deal of metaphysical Jerrold J. Katz, The Structure of Language,. By proscribing the mixed meta- Englewood Cliffs, N. J., 1964, pp. 50-118. phor, making "two different Metaphors ' See E. R. Fagan, Field: A Process for Teach- ing ,StateCollege,, meet on one ," he manages to object 1964; Kenneth L. Pike, "Language as Particle,to much of Shakespeare and even some of Wave, and Field,""Texas Quarterly, VIII ( 1961 ),no.6;Hubert English,"Linguistic Theory as an Aid to Invention," CCC, XV Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres, ( 1964 ), 136-41. London, 1801, I, 351-52. A REPORT ON RHETORIC 141

the writing of "more correct writers thangrammar. It needs to be a comprehensive Shakespeare" like Addison.'° Similarly,theory, and it needs to be based on fresh many of the elocutionists of the eight- of what modern prose is eenth century systematized delivery tolike, the point of specifying gesturesor pos- Rhetoric as the basis for teaching writ- tures or movements for every sort ofing or speaking, however, has different thought or idea. Much of the currentproblems. For example, it would seem abuse of the teaching ofusage resultsthat today any comprehensive theory of from the same sort of development, inrhetoric would have to incorporate the which observation becomes dogma andfindings of generative grammars; it does the teaching of English becomespro-not followthatgenerative grammar scription against initial and's or finalshould be part of every course in writing. prepositions. The nature of the relation-A theory of rhetoric attempts to describe ship between theory and practice tendsaccurately and consistently and fully to produce this kind of cycle. The prob-what happens; practieal rhetoric is con- lem is to develop both theory and peda-cerned with choices. The teacher of gogy, relating them without confusingwriting is concerned with the effects of them. different grammatical alternatives, so that As a theoretical study of discourse,he can offer advice about which choices rhetoric must include within its domainto make for different circumstances. subjects like logic, semantics, linguistics, In other , rhetoric considered as psychology. Just as George Campbellorpractical advice about writing and speak- Joseph Priestly turned to study of theing grows from comprehensive rhetorical human understanding as an approach totheory, but it is not just a of rhetorical invention, rhetoricians todaythe theory. The problem is that when the need to learn from psychologistsor logi-theory gets put into practical terms, when cians or anyone else who knows anythingit becomes norms or precepts, it risks about the relations between thought andbeing useless, being only partly appli- language. There has been no extensivecable, and being dogmatic. For example, analysis of the patterns of modernprose,the effort spent to separate the forms of analysis that might aid considerably indiscourse as expository, argumentative, the development of of disposi-narrative, and perhaps descriptive may tionof what a paragraph is, if it isany-reflect theoretical understanding of the thing more than an indentation for theends of discourse, but it seems to have sake of visual appeal; of the effects andlittle value for the teaching of composi- uses of different sorts of sentence pat-tion.Or, the traditional advice with terns. Further analysis is needed to deter-models about the six or eight or eleven mine how patterns of speech and writingways of developing a paragraph tends to differ; one participant in the seminar, forbe unconvinci ng because so frequently instance, questioned whether the apposi-the methods do not describe what ac- tive construction has any significantusetually happens; that it, when the theory in speechor the absolute construction,becomes concrete its weaknesses show. which seems rather frequent in writtenOr, agaL, attempts to specify what is prose, although it receives only sketchymeant by theoretical statements about treatment in the textbooks. A rhetoricalperspicuity or unity often produce such theory needs to incorporate what hasrules as "never include more thanone been happening in semantics and inthought in a sentence" or "always place

MINIM a as near its antecedent as " Ibid., 357-58. possible." 142 COLLEGE COMPOSITIONAND COMMUNICATION

I know of no way to eccape these dan-ranking in most textbooks tends topro- ger' completely, but I think that a teach-duce awkward theory, but itmay work. ing rhetoric must be neither a directex- For example, it seems to me useful to position of theory nor a collection of rulesmake one approach to the sentenceor or warnings. It must rather attempt toparagraphor any of discourse describe the choices available to theas a sequence of commitments and re- writer, to explain the results or effectssponses. That is, when a writer selects a of different choices, and thereby give thesubject for his sentence or choosesa sen- writer a basis for choosing. Itmay, oftence opener, he commits himself to a course, involve analysis of paragraphs,limited of patterns anda limited but its aim must be to try to describeset of meanings that can follow. If what some waysnot the waysoi: putting ahe wants to say about the subject, the paragraph together, to try to show whatpredication which is probably his motive results such an effortcan be expected tofor making the statement, doesnot re- produce. It does not tell the writer al-spond logically to the commitment he has ways to begin a sentence with the subjectmade, he probably needs to startover. or to avoid the use of the expletive orOr more broadly, a topic sentenceor never to use the be. It rather at-statement of a main idea can profitably tempts to enumerate the situations inbe examined for more than its validity which the expletive sentence is useful, toas a generalization, for the expectations indicate something of the effects of theit creates. Both the meaning and the pattern, and to give the writer some basisstructure of the statement make commit- on which to decide when or whether toments, more or less restricting, which use it. It does not simply say "He doneneed to be honored. The topic sentence of good on his test" is wrong,or avoid "Hea paragraph is likely to regulate the type done good on his test" because goodof support that can follow, to de termine writers avoid it. It establishes the cus-something of the degrees of specificity tomary for the expression, specu-which the development will attain, to lates about itseffects, and helps thehelp determine the organizational scheme writer choose. of the paragraph. The following sentence A. teaching rhetoric, in other words,rather obviously indicates what should may classify the materials of rhetoricfollow it: differently, because it attempts to guide the and because itcan The results of the efforts of these few never deal in total isolation with one part grammarians may be illustated by re- of itthe writer, unlike the theorist, is ferring to a couple of anda few using a variety of devices as he studies . one. Although for theory an organiza- tion like that of classical rhetoricmay be fairly consistent, practical requirementsThe sentence limits the choices of the writer clearly; it is obviously framed to have produced a variety of oftenover- lapping systems of classification. Wefit a preconceived plan for thepara- classify by compositional unitsthe graph The responses must be examples sen-using "a couple of pronouns and tence, the paragraph, the longer composi- a few tion; or by alleged virtues of compositionverbs." Another topic sentence isless limiting: unity, coherence, emphasis,economy, perspicuity; or by devices or techniques Perhaps the most noticeable change that trankition, continuity, elaboration, has occurred since 1500 is not in grammar analysis; or in other ways. Thecross- but in . A REPORT ON RHETORIC 143 The writer has various choices for histurns only to a small part of the final next sentence, but he is also limited. Hestage. cannot start listing grammatical changes; The interest in a new rhetoric, or in he cannot turn to a generalization aboutnew rhetorics, therefore, seems to me the state of the language in 1500. Hedoubly important, because rhetoric is not might mention aspecific vocabularyonly vakable itSeif liyitt is the logical change, he might make a generalcom-subject matter for the Freshman English ment about vocabulary in 1500. Perhapscourse. I am not suggesting that Fresh- the most likely response is the one thatman English trace the history of rhetoric does follow, a specification of the openingor expound rhetorical theory. Neither am sentence: I suggesting that all freshman courses should be the same or that students learn Through borrowings from dead ,to write simply from studying methods dead Greek, and most of the importantor precepts or models. There is more than living of the world English hasone way to skin a freshman, and many multiplied its store of words manyfold."different approaches work for different teachers and diffeient students. I am Such an approach to writingasasuggesting that there isstill need for a sequence of commitments and responsescourse on the college level which con- may have usefulness for rhetorical theory,centrates on developing the art of dis- may indicate something about how writ-course and that rhetoric is logically the ing is generated; but it is more obviouslycentral subject matter ofthis course. a basis for practical exercises in para-Furthermore, as new rhetoric develops graph construction, and it involves at theor is revived, organizing and unifying a same time all stages in the composingnumber of fundamentalsubjects,it process, from invention to the finishedshould resume something nearerits product. classical importance in elementary and A teaching rhetoric, then, is likely tosecondary training. emphasize devices organized unsuitably It seems obvious, therefore, that rhet- for rhetorical theory; but it must, never-oric deserves more emphasis in the train- theless, be comprehensive enough to takeing of teachers, that elementary and account of all aspects of composition.secondary teachers should have some And it is a lack of comprehensivenesstraining in the subject that occupies much which seems to me to weaken the rhet-of their teaching day, that graduate stu- oric of many typical Freshman Englishdents should have work n rhetorical courses. The course based on literaturetheory as well as practice in writing. or on a book of readings has advantages Like any discipline exposed to sudden in stimulating thought, providing subjectand unusual prosperity, rhetoric has matter, and sometimes motivation. Butinspired its share of in the its attention is almost exclusively on in-course of the current enthusiasm. But it vention, only the first stage in the prccessseems to me that the outdis- of composing. The course based on whattances the backsliding. I think that a new is called grammar, but is usually usage,rhetoric is developing. Rhetoric is lmge and often difficult to manage; it has its =111111 share of blubber, but it is also solid. Per- it The sentences are from paragraphs in J. N. Hook and E. C. Mathews, Modern Americanhaps it is very like a whale. Grammar and Usage, New York, 1956, pp. 25-26. University of Nevada