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Selections from Bain’s English Composition and Rhetoric and Hill’s The Principles of Rhetoric BH, pp. 1145-1151

By longaker
Created 9 Nov 2007 - 8:22am

Often, Bain and Hill are categorized as part of a long (roughly 200 years) period of decline from the rich classical tradition to a formulaic manner of teaching and conceptualizing rhetoric, particularly writing. Their tendency to give rules (such as Hill's "Fundamental Principles" or Bain's directions for composing a good paragraph) without context is blamed for the shift from talk of tailoring one's work to the interests of the audience towards the now-reviled 5-paragraph essay. Do you find that these authors are so prescriptive as to be stultifying? Do you find that some direct guidance would so terribly violate a rhetorical pedagogy such as that advocated by Quintilian or Isocrates? Is there a way to accomplish what the ancients recommend while also prudently offering students some guidelines, even templates?

‹ Selections from Quintilian’s Institutio Oratoria BH 380-395 [0] Plato’s Gorgias BH, pp. 100-115 › [0]

Source URL:
http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu/node/1230