Dear Carlos and Susan,
This is a brief note supported by evidence for what I am about to say. Definitions appear below, and sources for further reading appear in the reference list.
Carlos Pires is responding to the word rhetoric in a contemporary pejorative sense of the term that we often see used in newspapers, political campaigns, and the like. This is one limited version of the word. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary online gives this kind of definition as a short definition. The full definition from the same source is significantly different. [See below]. The short definition seems to be intended for those satisfied with a quick web search — people, say, who might want to know what a commentator means in criticising a political speech for empty rhetoric. The long definition isn’t often used in newspapers, precisely because it involves the issues that researchers and scholars intend in their use of the term: the skilled and creative use of language to bring ideas to life, express them well, and through the application of this art, help readers or listeners to deepen their understanding of a subject. The Oxford English Dictionary brings the word to life in its many senses, with good exemplars. [See below.]
Rhetoric is also a creative art of invention and design using words. Several people in the fields of design and design research speak about rhetoric in this way. Dick Buchanan is one of them. Susan Hagan is another.
Susan is using the word in its deep historical sense. You can tell that she misdoing so because she refers to herself as a rhetor, a person who practices the art of rhetoric. Some rhetors were sophists who used their skills in mercenary or frivolous ways. This led to the first pejorative use of the term already in classical Greece. The true rhetor should ideally be a philosopher, one who loves knowledge and truth, using the art of rhetoric to understand and disclose truth. It is in this sense that Eugene Garver (1994) described rhetoric as “an art of character” allied to logic and ethics, to be used logically for ethical purposes.
Aristotle’s (1991) Art of Rhetoric was the first great classic in the field, available in an easy-to-find Penguin paperback. George Kennedy’s (2006)excellent new translation of Aristotle goes into greater depth, and it includes Socrates’s famous critique of sophist rhetoric and several examples of excellent rhetoric.
Carlos seems to be dead set again the sly and mendacious sophist rhetors whom Socrates condemned. I condemn them, too.
Susan seems to be saying that there are other kinds of rhetors. These people use the art of rhetoric as a virtuous skill in the ethical service of our fellow human beings, examining issues in the public forum to reach wide conclusions. For Susan, this is allied to the productive and generative arts of design. I agree.
Knowing both, I’d say that they share common ideals of what is good and right to do. They are divided by a word. Carlos uses this word in its colloquial, pejorative sense. Susan uses the word in its richer historical sense, and in the technical sense used by those who engage in study, teaching, and research rhetoric as a philosophical discipline or an art in the field of communication.
Because so many rhetorical topics involve issues akin to lateral thinking and design thinking, I find Susan’s approach useful and valuable. Her comments to the list were intended as a way of disclosing and bringing forward these other meanings of the word, and their uses in design.
Yours,
Ken
Ken Friedman, PhD, DSc (hc), FDRS | Chair Professor of Design Innovation Studies | College of Design and Innovation | Tongji University | Shanghai, China ||| University Distinguished Professor | Centre for Design Innovation | Swinburne University of Technology | Melbourne, Australia
Email [log in to unmask] | Academia http://swinburne.academia.edu/KenFriedman | D&I http://tjdi.tongji.edu.cn
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References
Garver, Eugene. 1994. Aristotle’s Rhetoric: An Art of Character. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Aristotle. 1991. The Art of Rhetoric. Trans. with introduction and notes by H. C. Lawson-Tancred. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books.
Aristotle. 2006. On Rhetoric. A Theory of Civic Discourse. Second edition. Trans. George A. Kennedy. New York: Oxford University Press.
Corbett, Edward P. J., and Robert Connors. 1998. Classical Rhetoric for the Modern Student. 4th Edition. New York: Oxford University Press.
—
Definitions
Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary
rhetoric
noun rhet·o·ric \ˈre-tə-rik\
: language that is intended to influence people and that may not be honest or reasonable
: the art or skill of speaking or writing formally and effectively especially as a way to persuade or influence people
Full Definition of RHETORIC
1
: the art of speaking or writing effectively: as
a : the study of principles and rules of composition formulated by critics of ancient times
b : the study of writing or speaking as a means of communication or persuasion
2
a : skill in the effective use of speech
b : a type or mode of language or speech; also : insincere or grandiloquentlanguage
3
: verbal communication : discourse
—
Oxford English Dictionary
rhetoric, n.1
Pronunciation: Brit. /ˈrɛtərɪk/ , U.S. /ˈrɛdərɪk/
Forms: ME reteryke, ME retherique, ME rethorice, ME rethorik, ME rethorikke, ME rethoriqe, ME rethoryk, ME rethoryke, ME rethorykk, ME rethoryque, ME retorik, ME retorique, ME retorryke, ME retoryk, ME retris (transmission error), ME retteoryk, ME rettorike, ME–15 rethorique, ME–15 retoryke, ME–16 rethorike, ME– rhetoric, 15 rethoricke, 15 retorike, 15 rhetorik, 15 rhetoryck, 15 rhetorycke, 15–16 rethoric, 15–16 rethorick, 15–16 rhethorick, 15–16 rhethorike, 15–16 rhethorique, 15–16 rhetoricke, 15–16 rhetorike, 15–16 rhetorique, 15–17 rhetorick, 16 reth'rick, 16 retorick, 16 rhetorke, 16 rhet'rique, 16–17 rhet'ric, 16–17 rhet'rick, 17 retrick; Sc. pre-17 rethorick, pre-17 rethorik, pre-17 rethorike, pre-17 rethoryk, pre-17 retoric, pre-17 retorik, pre-17 retoryk, pre-17 rhetorick, pre-17 17– rhetoric; N.E.D. (1908) also records a form ME rethorick.
Etymology: < Anglo-Norman rethorik, Anglo-Norman and Old French, Middle French rethorique, Middle French retorique (French rhétorique ) (as one of the liberal arts) art of speaking and writing well and persuasively or with eloquence (12th cent.), eloquence, facility of expression (14th cent.), treatise on rhetoric (14th cent.) and its etymon classical Latin rhētoricē (Quintilian; also rhētorica (Cicero; see below), in post-classical Latin also rethorica (7th cent.)) art of public speaking, oratory < ancient Greek ῥητορική , use as noun (short for ῥητορικὴ τέχνη ) of feminine of ῥητορικός rhetoric adj. Compare also classical Latin rhētoricī(masculine plural, short for librī rhētoricī ) books on rhetoric (Quintilian's name for Cicero's De Inventione), rhētoricus (singular) particular book in this work, rhētorica (neuter plural) teachings on rhetoric. Compare Old Occitan rethorica (13th cent.), Catalan retòrica (13th cent.), Spanish retorica (c1250), Portuguese retórica(14th cent.), Italian retorica (a1294). Compare rhetoric n.2, rhetoric adj.
Classical Latin rhētorica may be interpreted either as a naturalization (i.e. Latinization) of the form rhētoricē , or as use as noun (short for ars rhētorica ) of the feminine of rhētoricus rhetoric adj.
1.
a. The art of using language effectively so as to persuade or influence others, esp. the exploitation of figures of speech and other compositional techniques to this end; the study of principles and rules to be followed by a speaker or writer striving for eloquence, esp. as formulated by ancient Greek and Roman writers.
In the Middle Ages rhetoric was included in the seven liberal arts and was taught as part of the trivium (see trivium n.).
c1330 Seven Sages (Auch.) 6 (MED), Þerinne was paint..alle þe seuen ars; Þe firste was grammarie..Rettorike and ek fisike.
▸a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1871) III. 361 (MED), Aristotle..tauȝte faire and noble spekynge as it is specialliche i-sene..in his Dyalogus of Poetis and in Tretys of Rethorik.
c1425 Lydgate Troyyes Bk. (Augustus A.iv) i. 1402 (MED), Evene lik as rethorik doth teche, He gan his tale so by crafte conveie.
c1475 (▸a1449) Lydgate Minor Poems (1934) ii. 665 (MED), Was neuer clerk by rethoryk nor scyence Koude alle hir vertues reherse.
c1475 (▸?c1300) Guy of Warwick (Caius) 90 (MED), Of Sophestrie she was also witty, Of Rhetoric, and of other clergye.
1481 Myrrour of Worlde (Caxton) i. ix. 34 The therde of the vii sciences is called Rethoryque.
1553 T. Wilson Arte of Rhetorique 1 Rhetorique is an art to set furthe by utteraunce of wordes matter at large.
1586 A. Day Eng. Secretorie i. sig. B7, Manye excellent Figures and places of Rhetorique.
1656 T. Stanley Hist. Philos. II. v. 48 Rhetorick is conversant in Singulars, not in universalls.
1691 D. Gregory Let. 8 Aug. in I. Newton Corr. (1961) III. 157 Besides these four regents there is in some coledges a fifth..who..teaches Roman Authors, Rhethorick, and the beginnings of Geography and Chronology, to those who have passed the Grammar School but are willing to be further instructed in Latin befor they begin to read Greek.
1700 P. Danet Compl. Dict. Greek & Rom. Antiq. sig. Ss4, At fifteen years of age he taught Rhetorick with general applause.
1741 I. Watts Improvem. Mind i. xx. 350 Rhetorick in general is the Art of Perswading.
1800 J. Salmon Hist. Descr. Anc. & Mod. Rome II. 92 Tradition says, that St. Augustin taught rhetoric here before he went to Milan.
1843 J. S. Mill Syst. Logic I. Introd. §3 The communication of those thoughts to others falls under the consideration of Rhetoric.
1889 Times 1 Aug. 8/1 The art of rhetoric should be more studied.
1922 W. M. Tanner Composition & Rhetoric i. 2 Rhetoric consists of the study of the principles governing the clear, forceful, and elegant expression of thoughts.
1965 Bull. School Oriental & Afr. Stud. 28 210/1 The elaborate genre of a treatise on rhetoric and dramaturgy designed as a panegyric.
2002 Church Times 15 Nov. 22/4 Rhetoric..was in some respects the Cinderella subject of the trivium in the Middle Ages.
b. As a personification. Now hist.
?c1400 (▸c1380) Chaucer tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos. (BL Add. 10340) (1868) ii. pr. i. l. 761 Wiþ Rethorice com forþe musice a damoisel of oure house.
?1435 (▸1432) Lydgate Minor Poems (1934) ii. 638 (MED), Rethoryk hadde eke in hire presence Tulyus, called Mirrour off Eloquence.
c1500 (▸?a1437) Kingis Quair (1939) cxcvii (MED), Gowere and Chaucere..on the steppis satt Of rethorike.
1559 D. Lindsay Test. Papyngo l. 11 in Wks. (1931) I For quhy the bell of Rethorick bene roung Be Chawceir, Goweir, and Lidgate laureate.
1642 T. Fuller Holy State ii. vii. 73 Some condemne Rhetorick as the mother of lies.
1662 Duchess of Newcastle Several Wits iv. xxxvii, in Playes Written 114 My lips shall be as flowery banks, whereon sweet Rhethorick grows, and cipherous fancy blows.
1742 Pope New Dunciad 24 There stript, fair Rhet'ric languish'd on the ground.
1809 Port Folio (Philadelphia) July 14 Behold how enamoured of herself is Rhetoric with her ornaments and colours.
1902 Catholic Univ. Bull. Apr. 222 Dionysius is a faithful slave of Dame Rhetoric.
1992 C. Desmet Reading Shakespeare's Characters vi. 135 In the Renaissance, Orator's sketchy personification of Rhetoric, with her curled hair and pink and white complexion, becomes a familiar figure.
c. A treatise on the theory and practice of rhetoric; (also) a textbook dealing with the art of rhetoric.
Now freq. as the title of the treatise by Aristotle.
c1450 (▸?a1400) Wars Alexander (Ashm.) 4360 (MED), Ne rede we neuire na retorik ne rial to speke.
c1485 (▸1456) G. Hay Bk. Law of Armys (2005) 111 Jn a buke yat he maid callit Retorik.
1565 T. Cooper Thesaurus at Rhetoricus, In primo Ciceronis rhetorico.., in the firste booke of Ciceroes rhetorike.
1580 G. Harvey in Three Proper Lett. 32 To bring our Language into Arte, and to frame a Grammer or Rhetorike thereof.
1581 W. Lambarde Eirenarcha i. xi. 63 It is a good Counsell (which Aristotle giueth in his Rhetorikes ad Theodectem).
1628 in A. Morgan Univ. Edinb. Charters (1937) 111 The regent instructes theme in the Rethorick of Cassander or any uther commoun rethorick.
1654 T. Blount (title) The Academie of Eloquence, Containing a Compleat English Rhetorique.
1712 J. Addison Spectator No. 297. ¶17 Aristotle himself has given it a place in his Rhetorick among the Beauties of that Art.
1793 V. Knox Personal Nobility xiii. 70 You may wonder, perhaps, that I do not recommend the rhetoric of Aristotle. I leave it to your future studies.
1841 Penny Cycl. XIX. 449/2 Aristotle's Rhetoric is not only the best treatise upon this subject, but a model of profound thinking and reasoning.
1881 Trollope Life of Cicero II. xi. 249 It is well known that Cicero's works are divided into four main parts. There are the Rhetoric, the Orations, the Epistles, and the Philosophy.
1978 College Eng. 40 67 Thomas Wilson's Arte or Crafte of Rhetoric (1553) was the first rhetoric in English to be widely used.
1993 C. Richardson tr. G. Manetti Theories of Sign in Classical Antiq. v. 71 In the classification of the types of speech set out in his Rhetoric, Aristotle identified two categories of intended receiver of speech.
(Hide quotations)
d. Usu. with capital initial. The senior class (or one of the more senior classes) in some Roman Catholic schools, esp. Stonyhurst College and St Edmund's College, Ware.
†to make one's rhetoric : to be a member of this class (obs.).
The term is associated principally with Jesuit colleges (such as Stonyhurst) following the order's Ratio studiorum (1599), and remains in international use.
1599 in H. Foley Rec. Eng. Province Soc. of Jesus (1879) V. 569, I have made my rhetoric in these parts.
c1620 in Mem. Stonyhurst Coll. (1881) 8 They go down two by two with their books under their arms, and first those in Rhetoric, into the Refectory.
1791 G. Haydock Let. in J. Gillow Haydock Papers (1888) 91, I have been about half a year in poetry..being only preparation to the schools which follow, viz. rhetoric, philosophy, and divinity.
1879 E. Waterton Pietas Mariana Britannica i. i. iii. 27 (note) Rhetoric, Poetry, and Syntax, and the four lower schools.
1908 Stonyhurst Mag. in Tablet 25 Apr. 646/2 We are informed that any boy from Rhetoric down to Elements may join the class.
1946 D. Gwynn Bishop Challoner iii. 39 By the summer of 1708 he had passed through the two higher classes of Poetry and Rhetoric.
c1990 Stonyhurst Coll. Prospectus 3 As he progresses through the College he moves to Grammar, Syntax, Poetry and Rhetoric.
e. Literary prose composition, esp. as a school exercise. Now rare(chiefly U.S. in later use).
1783 H. Blair Lect. Rhetoric I. xiv. 272 On the subject of Figures of Speech, all the writers who treat of rhetoric or composition, have insisted largely.
1828 R. Whately Elem. Rhetoric 4 Some writers have spoken of Rhetoric as the Art of Composition, universally; or, with the exclusion of Poetry alone, as embracing all Prose-composition.
1944 H. J. C. Grierson Rhetoric & Eng. Composition p. iii, Of University teaching in English I had enjoyed just fifty lectures at Aberdeen, of which twenty-five were devoted to Rhetoric or, as Rhetoric had come to mean under Dr. Alexander Bain and his successor William Minto, English Composition.
1953 T. S. Eliot Amer. Lit. & Amer. Lang. 5, I am happy to remember that in those days English composition was still called Rhetoric.
1978 H. S. Wiener Any Child can Write i. 3 There is the world of ideas and the way a writer puts those ideas together. Often called ‘rhetoric’ or ‘composition’, this aspect of writing is the product of the way a mind works in dealing with thoughts.
2.
†a. Elegance or eloquence of language. Obs.
c1405 (▸c1395) Chaucer Clerk's Tale (Hengwrt) (2003) l. 32 Fraunceys Petrak..Highte this clerk whos Rethoryk swete Enlumyned al Ytaille of Poetrie.
c1425 Lydgate Troyyes Bk. (Augustus A.iv) ii. 4699 (MED), Noble Galfride..made first to reyne Þe gold dewe-dropis of rethorik so fyne.
a1456 J. Shirley in E. P. Hammond Eng. Verse Between Chaucer & Surrey (1927) 195 Of eloquencyale retorryke In Englisshe was neuer noon him [sc. Chaucer] lyke.
a1500 (▸1426) Lydgate Minor Poems (1934) ii. 615 (MED), I in my translacioun..Of rethoryk have no maner floure.
1508 W. Dunbar Goldyn Targe (Chepman & Myllar) in Poems (1998) 187 Thare was Mercurius, wise and eloquent, Of rethorike that fand the flouris faire.
b. An elegant expression; a rhetorical flourish; (also) a rhetorical figure. Also in extended use. Chiefly in pl. rare after 17th cent.
c1425 Lydgate Troyyes Bk. (Augustus A.iv) ii. 868 (MED), Þer-in stod an aw[n]cien poete, For to reherse by rethorikes swete Þe noble dedis..Of kynges.
a1475 (▸?a1430) Lydgate tr. G. Deguileville Pilgrimage Life Man (Vitell.) 19774 (MED), That poete [sc. Chaucer], Wyth al hys rethorykes swete..was the ffyrste in any age.
1543 J. Bale Yet Course at Romyshe Foxe sig. Dij, Neuer coude tolwyn throughlye knowe what these rhetoryckes ment, as are denuncyacyon, deteccyon, and presentacyon.
1589 G. Puttenham Arte Eng. Poesie iii. ii. 116 Graue and wise counsellours..do much mislike all scholasticall rhetoricks.
1628 G. Wither Britain's Remembrancer 42 b, Their fantastique Rhetoriques, Who trim their Poesies with schooleboy-tricks.
1676 News from Sessions House 5 The charming Rhetoricks of a Gray head, comely Visage, demure Countenance, and plausible tongue.
1703 P. Motteux et al. tr. Cervantes Don Quixote III. v. 51 Don't puzzle my Brains with your Harrangues and Retricks.
1889 Frank Leslie's Sunday Mag. Mar. 225/2 Flowers are the figures and rhetorics of vegetation, just as, conversely, figures of speech are the flowers of language.
1942 W. Stevens Parts of World 143 Midsummer love and softest silences, Weather of night creatures, whistling all day, too, And echoing rhetorics more than our own.
1976 Sunday Times (Lagos) 3 Oct. 10/4 We cannot decide on the fundamental values and goals that will bind the present and future generations on the basis of vague ideas, irrelevant foreign slogans and rhetorics.
c. Eloquent, elegant, or ornate language, esp. speech or writing expressed in terms calculated to persuade. Freq. depreciative: language characterized by artificial, insincere, or ostentatious expression; inflated or empty verbiage. Also fig.
1559 D. Lindsay Dreme in Wks. (1931) I. 21 The portratour of that p[a]lace..is..By rethorike..inpronunciabyll.
1562 N. Winȝet Certain Tractates (1888) I. 25 As I persaue rethorik thairof verray small, swa I can espy na thing thairin abhorring fra the treuth.
1570 J. Dee in H. Billingsley tr. Euclid Elements Geom. Pref. sig. Aijv, Nor your faire pretense, by such rashe ragged Rhetorike, any whit, well graced.
1615 R. Brathwait Strappado 24 Heere is no substance, but a simple peece Of gaudy Rhetoricke.
1671 Milton Paradise Regain'd iv. 4 And the perswasive Rhetoric That sleek't his tongue.
1733 Swift Lett. (1766) II. 189 The one word from you, is of much more weight than my rhetoric.
1785 W. Cowper Task iv. 491 Modern senators..Whose oath is rhet'ric, and who swear for fame!
1825 Macaulay Milton in Edinb. Rev. Aug. 345 The sublime wisdom of the Areopagitica, and the nervous rhetoric of the Iconoclast.
1845 Amer. Whig. Rev. Feb. 188/1 You add the tenderest poetic sensibility..and sorrowful notions respecting ‘this life’, with the most eloquent rhetoric.
1880 A. C. Swinburne Study of Shakespeare 269 The limp loquacity of long-winded rhetoric, so natural to men and soldiers in an hour of emergency.
1903 Q. Rev. Apr. 441 There is no artificial rhetoric in his phrasing, there are no ornamental words daubed over his page.
1941 W. H. Auden in Southern Rev. 6 729 Around them boomed the rhetoric of time.
1960 Times 21 Oct. 8/1 All his rhetoric and special pleading tonight does not alter that fact.
1984 D. Cupitt Sea of Faith v. 144 The rhetoric is brilliant, but even some of Marx's colleagues disapproved of such fireworks.
1993 Jrnl. Interamerican Stud. & World Affairs 35 107 For all his rhetoric, Castro does not really care that much about the Cuban people.
†d. ironic (chiefly humorous). Blunt or crude speech. Obs.
1580 G. Harvey in Spenser & G. Harvey Three Proper & Wittie Lett. 14 Like a drunken man, or women (when their Alebench Rhetorick commes vpon them).
1595 W. S. Lamentable Trag. Locrine ii. iv. sig. F2v, I think you were broght vp in the vniuersitie of bridewell, you haue your rhetorick so ready at your toongs end.
1613 S. Purchas Pilgrimage iii. xiv. 316 Some of them vpbraiding both him and other Christians with the names of dogs, Ethnickes, vnbeleeuers, and the like zealous Rhetorick.
1742 H. Fielding Joseph Andrews I. i. xvii. 127 The Rhetorick of John the Hostler, with a new Straw Hat, and a Pint of Wine, made a second Conquest over her.
a1763 W. Shenstone Wks. (1764) I. 308 Fearless he of shouts Or taunts, the rhetoric of the wat'ry crew.
1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. iv. 450 He [sc. Jeffreys] acquired a boundless command of the rhetoric in which the vulgar express hatred and contempt.
3. Skill in or talent for using eloquent and persuasive language. Chiefly with possessive adjective. Now rare.
a1450 Partonope of Blois (Univ. Coll. Oxf.) (1912) 8870 (MED), These lordes are chosyn be myn assent: The fyrst ys the kyng of Affryke, For his grete wytte and his retoryke [v.r. reteryke].
c1475 tr. C. de Pisan Livre du Corps de Policie (Cambr.) (1977) 103 (MED), Euery man that herde him did blisse theimselfe for the grete mervayle that they sawe in his retentyfe witte and also of his fayir rethoryke.
1509 A. Barclay Brant's Shyp of Folys (Pynson) f. xxix, Though he be wyse, and of myght meruaylous Endued with retoryke and with eloquence.
1570 B. Googe tr. T. Kirchmeyer Spirituall Husbandry i. in tr. Popish Kingdome 68 On this bestow thy Rhetoricke, and all that thou canst say.
1637 Milton Comus 27 Enjoy your deere Wit, and gay Rhetorick That hath so well beene taught her dazling fence.
1680 H. More Apocalypsis Apocalypseos Pref. p. vii, The highest Encomium..that the Wit and Rhetorick of men or Angels can invent.
1711 J. Addison Spectator No. 171. ¶12 Joseph..endeavour'd, with all his Art and Rhetorick, to set out the Excess of Herod's Passion for her.
1753 T. Gray Long Story in Six Poems 21 But soon his rhetorick forsook him.
1831 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. 29 961/1, I used all my rhetoric on the occasion—but in vain.
1909 J. W. Mackail Springs of Helicon iii. 115 ‘What May-game hath misfortune made of you?’ the Amazon asks Artegall when she finds him in prison, touched by surprise to forget all her rhetoric.
4. In extended use.
a. The use of an expressive or persuasive gesture, look, or action; a gesture made, course of action taken, etc., in order to persuade. Also: the persuasiveness or expressiveness of communication of this kind. Now rare.
1569 J. Sanford tr. H. C. Agrippa Of Vanitie Artes & Sci. xxi, This daunsinge or Histrionical Rhetorike in the ende beganne to be lefte of all Oratours.
1587 R. Greene Euphues sig. K, For he considered with himselfe,..that liberality was the soundest rethoricke.
1597 N. Breton Wits Trenchmour sig. E1, Silence can best talke with woodden Rethoricke.
1598 Shakespeare Love's Labour's Lost iv. iii. 57 The heauenly Rethorique of thine eye.
1644 J. Bulwer (title) Chirologia..wherevnto is added Chironomia: or, The art of manuall rhetorique.
1647 A. Cowley Rich Rival in Mistress ii, Whilst thy sole Rhetorick shall be Joynture, and Jewels, and Our Friends agree.
1669 E. Stillingfleet 6 Serm. iii. 127 Every part of the Tragedy of his [sc. the Son of God's] life, every wound at his death,..were designed by him as the most prevailing Rhetorick, to perswade men to forsake their sins.
1716 J. Gay Trivia iii. 74 Mov'd by the Rhet'rick of a Silver Fee.
1769 E. Griffith Delicate Distress lxxii, in R. Griffith & E. Griffith Two Novels II. 175 As the last, and most prevailing rhetoric, I offered him my purse.
1880 R. M. Jephson Pink Wedding III. iii. 68 He could not withstand the heavenly rhetoric of those upturned eyes.
1993 E. McVarish tr. J. Lichtenstein Eloquence of Color 32 A silence that is infinitely more persuasive than any discourse and that has always found the body's silent rhetoric its best example.
b. The structural elements, compositional techniques, and modes of expression used to produce a desired effect on a viewer, audience, etc., in music, dance, and the visual arts.
1851 J. Ruskin Stones of Venice I. i. 11 His larger sacred subjects are merely themes for the exhibition of pictorial rhetoric,—composition and colour.
1863 Continental Monthly May 564/2 No heavier censure can, however, be passed upon an artist, than that he possesses only the technic or rhetoric of art.
1932 Musical Q. 18 227 His principal aim is to impress us agreeably or to amuse us with ingenious turns of musical rhetoric.
1964 J. Summerson Classical Lang. Archit. iv. 33 Well, there are three buildings which, I believe, demonstrate..the ‘rhetoric’ of the Baroque.
1997 K. Toepfer Empire of Ecstasy 182 A collection of postcard photos depicting Anna Pavlova inspired her more than the bankrupt rhetoric of ballet did.
c. The language or discourse characteristically associated with a particular subject, concept, or set of ideas.
1882 J. R. Seeley Nat. Relig. ii. ii. 138 We still recognize the feelings, we still hear the peculiar rhetoric, of religion.
1910 V. W. Brooks Soul 27 Rome gave the world rhetoric, both in literature and in life: in literature the rhetoric of Oratory and of Prosody, and in life the rhetoric of Conquest, of Patriotism, of Empire, and of Commerce.
1961 W. C. Booth (title) The rhetoric of fiction.
1976 Howard Jrnl. 15 i. 52 The rhetoric of treatment will have to be replaced by the reality of treatment.
1989 R. W. Dasenbrock in W. Lewis Art of Being Ruled 439 Lewis's primary object of attack is..the way a false rhetoric of individualism increasingly masks a ‘group think’ that is the very opposite of individualism.
2000 World Archael. 31 476 This verbal and material rhetoric of labour and dress began to impose distinct adult male and female statuses on the newborn.
Compounds
C1. General attrib., esp. with reference to the teaching of the art of rhetoric.
1581 P. Wiburn Checke or Reproofe M. Howlets Shreeching f. 112, I wot not well howe it will agree with the Rhetorike Schooles about you.
1629 H. Burton Truth's Triumph xvi. 301 Alipius being present at one of my Rhetoricke Lectures in Carthage, I tooke occasion, being offered, to delight my Auditory with a Simile taken from the Circensian games.
1656 Earl of Monmouth tr. T. Boccalini Ragguagli di Parnasso ii. lxxxviii. 375 To declame..publikely in the Rhetorick school.
1698 E. Bellamy tr. J. Huarte Tryal Wits xii. 222 He read out of a Paper his Rhetoric-Lectures to his Scholars.
1762 New & Gen. Biogr. Dict. VII. 42 [He] was soon after chosen rhetoric lecturer in his college.
1806 H. K. White Let. 30 July in Remains (1807) I. 235 The Rhetoric Lecturer sent me one of my Latin Essays to copy, for the purpose of inspection.
1868 J. G. Whittier in Atlantic Monthly Feb. 223, I ask no organ's soulless breath To drone the themes of life and death, No altar candle-lit by day, No ornate wordsman's rhetoric-play.
1917 F. Aydelotte Oxf. Stamp ix. 187 He would deal with no ideas in the rhetoric class except those proceeding from the rhetoric teacher and the text-book.
1989 Toronto Star (Nexis) 9 Sept. m15 Miller is a rhetoric lecturer at the University of California.
C2. With past participles in adjectives with sense ‘characterized by being rhetorical, esp. excessively or unhelpfully so’.
1884 Punch 23 Feb. 87 To unmask His rhetoric-shrouded weakness.
1978 Jrnl. Afr. Hist. 19 136 Its approach contrasts strikingly with that of the rhetoric-drenched writings of the Coupland–Williams era.
1994 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 3 Feb. 30/1 The film makes its point by showing how timebound and rhetoric-laden our expectations about sex are.
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