Rhetorical Criticism

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Rhetorical Criticism

• A Quick Introduction
• John A. Cagle

maybe not so quick
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Rhetorical Criticism Definitions

• ....the systematic process of illuminating and
  evaluating products of human activity.
• ....description, analysis, interpretation, and
  evaluation of persuasive uses of communication.
• A communication critic seeks to make an argument
  that interprets or evaluates the messages to
  which the individual or society is exposed.

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Donald C. Bryant Three things common to all
criticism

1. the description of the object to be judged,
2. an exposition of and argument for the critical
   standard to be employed, and
3. a judgment made in terms of that standard.

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Definitions from Dann Pierce

• The goal of popular critics is to express
  informed preference or taste.
• The goal of rhetorical critics is to advance
  knowledge about human communication that reaches
  audiences with public messages.
• Rhetorical critics are required to systematically
  explain and defend three things
• The necessity of their research, analysis, and
  criticism
• The means or method of their analysis
• The telling accuracy of their discoveries in
  analysis

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Pierces Acronyms

• JFS Justification for Study
• JFA Justification for Artifact
• RQ Research Questions
• Method

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Sonja Foss things suitable for rhetorical
analysis...

• speeches
• essays
• conversations
• poetry
• novels
• stories
• TV programs
• public demonstrations

• films and plays
• art
• architecture
• dress
• music
• dance
• advertisements
• furniture

et cetera
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e.g., Dean Benoit Rhetorical Criticism Ballot
Judging Criteria

• From the data gathered here, the following
  judging criteria emerge in competitive rhetorical
  criticism
• 1. adequate delivery skills (conversationality,
  enthusiasm, appropriate movement and gestures,
  direct eye contact, etc.)
• 2. memorized speech (no manuscript)
• 3. creative and substantive introduction and
  conclusion
• 4. clear preview
• 5. appropriate transitions
• 6. adequate documentation
• 7. focus of study appropriate for time limits of
  speech
• 8. judicious use of available time
• 9. inclusion of specific illustrations from the
  artifact(s) studied
• 10. analysis balancing description and criticism
• 11. justification of artifact(s) selected for
  study
• 12. justification of critical methodology
• 13. clear explanation of methodology
• 14. concise but complete explanation of the
  historical context in which the artifact occurred
  
• 15. clear judgment of the rhetorical effects of
  the artifact(s)
• 16. discussion of the implications of the
  criticism

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e.g., Terry Barrett's Criticizing Art
Understanding the Contemporary

• Description What do I see? ( feel, hear, smell,
  taste)?
• Subject Matter Does the artwork depict anything?
  If so, what?
• Medium What tools, materials, or processes did
  the art maker use?
• Form What elements did the maker choose and how
  did the maker organize the elements?  
• Interpretation What is the artwork about?
• Interpretive Statement Can I express what I
  think the artwork is about in one sentence?
• Evidence What evidence inside or outside the
  artwork supports my interpretation?  
• Judgment Is it a good artwork?
• Criteria What criteria do I think are most
  appropriate for judging the artwork?
• Evidence What evidence inside or outside the
  artwork relates to each criterion?
• Judgment Based on the criteria and evidence,
  what is my judgment about the quality of the
  artwork?

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Music
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About Art CriticismSally Jackson on a blog

• Judgment is formed on a basis of one's own
  background in the medium under consideration. I
  have no way of judging whether a piece of
  oriental brush lettering is brilliant or ugly. I
  know virtually nothing about it and have no basis
  upon which to form a judgment. On the other hand,
  I know a great deal about calligraphy and
  illumination. This is the result of many, many
  years of study and work and training in the
  field. I have, therefore, a valuable resource to
  draw upon and a basis upon which to form a
  judgement as to the skill or lack thereof
  exhibited in a calligraphy work. I am competent
  to make a judgment in this area. There are juried
  exhibits, and the jurors are those who have a
  background in the field they are judging.
• I suppose the thing that springs to mind here is
  the trite saying, "I don't know anything about
  art, but I know what I like." Everybody does.
  There is a generally agreed upon perception of
  what constitutes beauty, and this probably
  changes from one culture to another. Even the
  Impressionists, so beloved today, were reviled
  when the movement was new. Caravaggio, Beethoven,
  Rembrandt, Bach, the Pucelle Brothers, van der
  Goes, Michaelangelo, The Master of Mary of
  Burgundy, Mozart, and on and on - most of us
  would agree that what they created was beautiful.
  I can't say what the standard is for art in
  general comes from. I simply don't know. I know
  the basis for my standards of beauty in my own
  field, and I could tell you what they are. This
  is a narrow field, though, and you raised the
  question of art in general.

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Television Criticism James A. Brown

• Prerequisites for proper critical perspective
  outlined by Lawrence Laurent three decades ago
  remain apt today
• sensitivity and reasoned judgment,
• a renaissance knowledge,
• coupled with exposure to a broad range of art,
  culture, technology, business, law, economics,
  ethics, and social studies
• all fused with an incisive writing style causing
  commentary to leap off the page into the reader's
  consciousness, possibly influencing their TV
  behavior as viewers or as professional
  practitioners.

http//www.museum.tv/archives/etv/T/htmlT/televisi
oncr/televisioncr.htm
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Functions of Criticism

• Criticism helps to clarify and define the
  theoretical basis of public address.
• Criticism helps to set up a standard of
  excellence.
• Criticism helps to interpret the function of oral
  communication in society.
• Criticism indicates the limits of present
  knowledge in the field of public speaking.

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Variables of Criticism

• Source
• Message
• Audience and Environment
• Critic
• Foci S-M, M-E, M-C, S-M-E, S-M-C, etc.

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Judgmental Criteria

• Rhetorical effect.
• Rhetorical artistry.
• Ethicality or morality.
• Fittingness or propriety.
• Rhetorical competency.

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Objectivist Perspective

• Accurate interpretation
• Formal criticism
• Neoclassical criticism

common standards of accuracy, beauty,
or effectiveness are used to assess the
manifest features of messages
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Deconstructionist Perspective

• Semiotics
• Value analysis
• Narrative criticism
• Psychoanalytic criticism
• Ideological criticism

attempt to probe the implicit features
of messages and understand the ways in which
those features govern human experience
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What is a message?
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Major interpretations of message

• meaning is in the conventions of language
• in the authors conscious intent
• in the authors conscious and unconscious intent
• what the best critics see in the text
• what the authors contemporaries would have seen
  in the text
• what a receiver sees in the text
• what an ideal receiver would see
• relationship of text to society from which it
  comes
• contemporary society and text

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Kinds of Textual Data

• Themes
• Attributions
• Subject matter
• Probable cause
• Stylistic features--syntax, figures of speech
• Values, attitudes, beliefs
• Argumentative features
• Intentions
• Political relations

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Hugh Blair (1783)

• True criticism is the application of taste and
  good sense to the several fine arts.
• The object which it proposes is, to distinguish
  what is beautiful and what is faulty in every
  performance from particular instances to ascend
  to general principles and so to form rules or
  conclusions concerning the several kinds of
  beauty in works of genius.

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Blair on rules of criticism

• The rules of criticism are not formed by any
  induction a priori. . .
• Criticism is an art founded wholly on experience.
• Aristotles rules . . . were founded upon
  observing the superior pleasure which we receive
  from the relation of an action which is one and
  entire, beyond what we receive from the relation
  of scattered and unconnected facts.

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Blair on taste and genius

• Taste consists in the power of judging genius in
  the power of executing.
• Genius is that talent or aptitude which we
  receive from nature, for excelling in any one
  thing whatever.

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Blair on the sublime

• The true sense of sublime writing, undoubtedly,
  is such a description of objects, or exhibition
  of sentiments, which are in themselves of a
  sublime nature as shall give us strong
  impressions of them.
• The foundation of it must always be laid in the
  nature of the object described.

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• But it must be laid before us in such a light as
  is most proper to give us a clear and full
  impression of it it must be described with
  strengths, with conciseness, and simplicity.

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Herbert Wichelns (1925)

• Literary criticism is concerned with evaluating
  the wisdom, beauty, and truth contained in great
  works of fiction, while rhetorical criticism is
  devoted to assessing the persuasive effect of
  situated oratory.
• Rhetorical criticism focuses on discovering and
  appreciating how speakers adapt their ideas to
  particular audiences.

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Ernest J. Wrage (1947)

• Rhetorical criticism can make important
  contributions to social and intellectual history.
• Ideas are produced by historical contexts, are
  linked to change, and have social consequences.
• Ideas, values, and beliefs of a culture are
  expressed in speeches.

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Wayland Maxfield Parrish (1954)

• Critics should evaluate the quality of a speech.
• The effect of a speech is difficult to assess,
  but the quality can be determined separately from
  its actual impact on an audience.
• ...relying on the judgment of qualified critics,
  rather than trying to compute audience reactions.

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Preliminary Aspects of Criticism

• Determining the areas of investigation
• Establishing the authenticity of texts
• Reconstructing the social settings

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Neoclassical Analysis

• Finding issues
• Understanding the audience
• Discovering the structure
• Identifying arguments
• Values
• Ethos
• Style

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Organizing the Neoclassical Criticism

• Rhetorical situation
• Nature of the audience
• Structure of the message
• Forms of argument
• Values
• Ethos
• Style and delivery
• Assessment of effectiveness

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Standards of Judgment

• Integrity of ideas logical proof
• Emotion in speech pathetic proof
• Character of the speaker ethical proof
• Structure of oral discourse
• Style of public address
• Delivery
• Measures of effectiveness

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Bases for Judging Effectiveness

• Readability
• Artistic superiority
• Integrity and social utility
• Immediate surface response
• Orators wisdom
• Effect on subsequent events

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Insightful synthesis

• Thonssen and Baird wrote,Insightful synthesis
  integrates the many parts and makes the seemingly
  discrete components a whole piece.