Burke's Argument As Conversation

Throughout the centuries, there have been an infinite amount of literary works written by a sea of authors that write a variety of genres. All of these works are precious in their own way, and even if their theme is similar to that of another, the author always ads a bit of his/her own flare in order to make said literary creation unique in some way. William Wordsworth’s “London 1802” and Paul Laurence Dunbar’s “Douglass”, although quite similar in form and sentence structure, do add their own flare through the use of specific details. Through the use of these devices, the speakers show their disgust for the evil deeds humans do and

In her article “I Stand Here Writing”, Nancy Sommers examines the writing process and formulating ideas for writing in a more empirical manner. She states that before she found her creative zeal/ niche her writing was often undisciplined, unmethodical, and sloppy. Sommers reveals that in college she was less known for her writing and more for her long hair and misapplication of phrases. She found her true inspiration while writing her Senior Thesis on Emerson’s “Eloquence.” Throughout the entire essay, Sommers provides the reader with advice about writing. A key point that she mentions is, “If I could teach my students about writing it would be to see themselves as sources, as places from which ideas originate, to see themselves as Emerson’s transparent eyeball, all that they have read and experienced-the-dictionaries of their lives circulating through them.”

Possibly the three most important components a writer must understand are audience, genre, and rhetorical situation. When reading critically we become acquainted with these concepts therefore become better writers ourselves. While learning about rhetorical writing and composition we have analyzed Billy Collins “ Commencement Address at Choate- Rosemary Hall” , Martin Luther King Jr’s “letter from Birmingham Jail” and Lloyd Bitzer’s essay on “Rhetorical Situation”. In this paper I will analyze and make connections between the concepts of audience, genre and rhetorical situation in connection to the fore-mentioned readings. In doing so I will focus on how each used these concepts as means to communicate their main ideas and purpose.

From writing thoughtful poems to research papers, I have experienced composing a diverse portfolio of literary analysis and criticisms throughout the school year. I started out the year writing minimally. By the end of the year, I noticed I was able to express my ideas and thoughts in a more clear and concise way on paper. Ultimately, each composition allowed me to widen my horizons as a writer and see how I could improve as a writer.

15. In order to create credibility in analytical writing, which one of the following writing strategies might a writer use? (Points : 5)

In the informational essay “Reading to Write,” King incorporates rhetorical strategies such as ethos, pathos, and logos, to develop his position on the importance of talent and practice in life. Throughout the paper, the author establishes credibility by introducing the specific methods he employs in his everyday life. One sentences states, “The sort of strenuous reading and writing program I advocate-four to six hours a day, everyday”(King 214). King provides this statement to display how his writing skills have strengthened, ultimately informing the audience that in order to develop better literary techniques, you need to read multiple hours of the day.

To bolster this position against contemporary historians, Gallagher used a specific methodology to both undermine other historians while simultaneously buttressing his own positions. Gallagher used a format that, at first, discussed what other historians have asserted in their respective works. Then, Gallagher made his own assertions discounting the positions of his scholarly contemporaries. In this fashion, Gallagher’s book is an exercise in rhetoric

In literary education, from childhood to maturity, individuals are taught how to write not to improve themselves as critical thinkers, but to fulfill the requirements given to them in a prompt. Whether to analyze or argue, this form of writing has led to a cease of literary improvement in students today, making many question the effectiveness of writing classes. Mike Bunns, in his article “To Read like a Writer”, explores this topic and stresses the necessity for young readers to critically examine the author’s choices in order to improve their own pieces of work. Bunns effectively argues to his audience of college students that improved comprehension comes from focusing on the rhetorical choices authors decide to make in their compositions by tying personal narratives with repetitive questioning throughout his article.

I showed that I accomplished the goal of knowing how to discover, develop, and explain ideas through writing processes that include generating, planning, revising, editing, and proofreading multiple drafts of a text in my discourse community analysis. The analysis was on my church, St. Luke Church of

This program involved the integration of analytical writing into almost every subject, most times where students are taught the fundamentals of writing, almost like a formula, and often times through these methods were able to take in this knowledge and be able to create and mold ideas and sentences on their own. This technique has been deemed to be more effective than the catch method that has been taught in American

In an analogy named the “Unending Conversation Metaphor”, Kenneth Burke, the famous rhetorician and critic suggests that there is no concrete starting point and ending point in a conversation which makes the conversation feel like a foreign language that needs to be approached with an open mind. He supports this widespread claim by first telling the reader that they have come late to the parlor and they must depart whilst the discussion still goes on. This implies that the discussion already began long before you, and it will continue long after you. Then, he asserts that no one in the parlor can retrace how the discussion began and we must listen until we have the tenor of the argument. Finally, he states that when you put in your oar others

As a historian, or anyone studying to be one, one must understand who is responsible for the historical text we study every day. Lucretius did not just survive time because it was passed down, but because one single man never gave up his search. Historians praise Poggio and his correspondents for the finding, restoring, and distribution of these important texts. To understand past historians, we are to understand the correspondence between these past historians. Examining these four letters and the text by Stephen Greenblatt, “The Swerve,” will help me understand what History is. What one piece of historic information conveyed clearly by these sources most deeply qualifies, limits, undermines or eve negates what you believe to be Greenblatt’s fundamental argument

Steven Lynn’s essay “The Paradoxical Unity of Writing a Wrong” carries the many traits of a New Critical Essay; based on the language and choices of examples within his text. The New Critic Theory believes that the key to understanding a text “exists within the text itself”, otherwise known as “Formalism” which is very evident in Lynn’s opinion on Brendan Gill’s article. Lynn covers majority of the New Criticism concepts in his essay including; Paradox, Irony, Tensions and concludes his text with evidence behind a unifying idea. A paradox is when the outcome is opposite of the reasonable expectation. Lynn states that this is evident in Gill’s reading by using quotes to prove the point such as; “dolphin diving skyward” and “progress downward.”

In the essay “Our Time” by John Edgar Wideman he often takes a break from the narrative to address that he has many problems as a writer. He does this to try to consciously address these problems and hopefully solve these problems. He believes that if these problems are not rectified he would destroy any chance he has at telling a truthful account of his brother’s story. To rectify these problems he employs a variety of unique techniques in his writing. Looking at these techniques it is not always 100% clear how these are fixing his problems. It is also evident that the way he is writing may be going against a lot of things we were taught in school about our writing.

“I was treading where academics cannot go because of the rigour of their discipline” (p. 10, l. 260-262). This combination of two such different ways to write allows her to bring back the voices of those who were left out of the historical texts.