HarvardX: AESTHINT15 Rhetoric: The Art of Persuasive Writing and Public Speaking

Textbooks

Classical Rhetoric for the Modern Student, 4th ed., ed. Edward P. J. Corbett and Robert J. Connors (Oxford University Press) = CRMS

Engell, James. The Committed Word: Literature and Public Values (Penn State University Press)

In Our Own Words: Extraordinary Speeches of the American Century, ed. Robert Torricelli and Andrew Carroll (Simon and Schuster) = IOOW

Letteri, Richard. A Handbook for Public Speaking (Pearson)

Lucas, Stephen E. The Art of Public Speaking, 11th ed., (McGraw-Hill) = APS

SparkCharts: English Composition and Rhetoric (laminated pamphlet on rhetorical terms and compositional techniques)

You may wish to read the speeches covered in each lecture before viewing the videos.

Part I: The Nature of Rhetoric / A Long Struggle

Nature and Purposes of Rhetoric; Original Five Canons; Three Kinds of Persuasive Discourse; Importance of Rhetoric Today (CRMS 15-26)

Isaac Backus, Speech to Massachusetts Constitutional Convention (from "Mr. President, I have said very little" to "any people upon earth.")

Frederick Douglass, Fifth of July Oration

Caleb Bingham, from The Columbian Orator

David Blight, Editor’s Introduction to The Columbian Orator, “The Peculiar Dialogue Between Caleb Bingham and Frederick Douglass”

James Engell, from The Committed Word: Literature and Public Values, ch. 1, “The Committed Word”

Henry Clay on Slavery and Abolition

Abraham Lincoln, “A House Divided”

Douglas Wilson, from Honor's Voice, The Transformation of Abraham Lincoln

W.E.B. DuBois on “The Battle for Humanity” (IOOW 17-20)

Thurgood Marshall, from Brown v. Board of Education (IOOW 198-99)

John Quincy Adams, from Lectures on Rhetoric and Oratory, Inaugural Oration; Lecture I, “General View of Rhetoric and Oratory”

Martin Luther King, Jr., “Letter from Birmingham Jail” (CRMS 301-14) with analysis of arrangements (CRMS 315-19), and analysis of style by Richard P. Fulkerson (CRMS 478-83)

King, Call to End Segregation--“I have a dream . . .” (IOOW 234-37)

Thomas B. Farrell, An Ethically and Aesthetically Significant Art from Norms of Rhetorical Culture, hereafter "Norms." Optional but encouraged.

Lyndon Johnson, Address to Congress, Voting Rights Act of 1965 (IOOW 259-65)

Part II: Thesis, Invention, Persuasion, Topics / Shaping the Republic

The Thesis; Three Modes of Persuasion: logos, pathos, ethos (CRMS 27-84; APS 325-346, 142-159)

“Looking for an Argument” (CRMS 130-37; APS 82-93)

George Campbell, from The Philosophy of Rhetoric, 1, i, I, “Eloquence”

Delivery of Speeches (APS 67-71, 239-252)

Patrick Henry, Speech in Virginia Convention of Delegates

Thomas Paine, from Common Sense

Bernard Bailyn, from The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution, ch. 1, “The Literature of Revolution”

Alan Heimert, from Religion and the American Mind

Declaration of Independence

Pauline Maier, from American Scripture: Making the Declaration of Independence

Aristotle, from Rhetoric

Rhetoric as ethical practice (APS 30-40; Norms 61-83) Optional

Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 1

Madison, Federalist No. 10 (CRMS 214-20) and analysis by Mark Ashin (220-30)

James Madison, Federalist No. 37

Henry, against the Constitution, Virginia Ratifying Convention

Madison, for the Constitution, Virginia Ratifying Convention

Part III Topics / Foreign Affairs

Topics (CRMS 84-120; also 209-14, Part V below)

Special Topics (CRMS 120-30)

Woodrow Wilson Requests Declaration of War (IOOW 37-39)

F.D. Roosevelt on the “four freedoms” (IOOW 120-23)

J.F. Kennedy, “Ich bin ein Berliner” (IOOW 232-33)

J.Q. Adams, from Lecture II, “Eloquence Considered”

Shen Tong on Tiananmen Square (IOOW 385-88)

Elizabeth Linder and Connie Mack, Congressional Hearing (Norms 304-08)

Rhetoric as a particular practice of civic virtue (Norms 93-100) Optional

Part IV Designing Arguments / Justice, Social Choice

Arrangement (Organization) and Parts (CRMS 256-92, APS 165-180, 185-203)

Rose Schneiderman on Triangle Shirtwaist Fire (IOOW 32-33)

Al Smith Assails William Randolph Hearst (IOOW 57-58)

John L. Lewis on “Brutality and Oppression” of Big Business (IOOW 112-14)

Susan B. Anthony on Women’s Rights before a Congressional Committee

Phyllis Schlafly Opposes Women’s Rights Movement (IOOW 329-35)

Hugh Blair, from Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres, Parts of a Discourse

Margaret Sanger Promotes Birth Control (IOOW 68-70)

Sarah Weddington, from Roe v. Wade (IOOW 302-04)

Mario Cuomo on abortion, an analysis (Norms 213-24)

J.Q. Adams, from Lecture XI, “Deliberative Oratory”

George Campbell, from 1, i, V, “Of Intuitive and Deductive Evidence”

Clarence Darrow on sentencing of Leopold and Loeb (IOOW 76-78)

Sarah Brady on Gun Control (IOOW 424-26)

Charlton Heston on Second Amendment Rights (IOOW 426-31)

J. Robert Oppenheimer on Morality and Science (IOOW 151-53)

Rachel Carson on “Exceeding Beauty of the Earth” (IOOW 202-05)

Carson, “The Obligation to Endure” from Silent Spring (CRMS 185-90) and topical analysis (CRMS 190-95)

Part V Style & Emphasis / Praise and Remembrance

Style (CRMS 337-69, 478-83; APS 221-227); review Delivery (APS 67-71, 239-252)

Jane Addams, Address to Union League Club on George Washington (IOOW 8-11)

Carl Sandburg, from Address to Congress on Abraham Lincoln (IOOW 212-15)

Martin Luther King, Jr., on Four Martyred Girls (IOOW 237-39)

J.Q. Adams, from Lecture XXVI, “Perspicuity”

George Campbell, 1, ii, VI, “Of Perspicuity”

The New Yorker Obituary for Katherine Sergeant White (CRMS 209-11) and analysis of the topics in the obituary (CRMS 211-14)

Thomas Sheridan, from Elocution

“Tragedy as Eulogy,” Edward Kennedy on John Kennedy (Norms 118-34) Optional

Jay Heinrichs, “How Harvard Destroyed Rhetoric” in Harvard Magazine

Part VI Who speaks? / Political Debate, Controversy

Benjamin Franklin, Speech at the Constitutional Convention

George Washington, from Farewell Address

J.Q. Adams, from Lecture XV, “Qualities of an Orator”

Joseph McCarthy, from a speech to honor Lincoln (IOOW 173-76)

Margaret Chase Smith, against hate and fear as political tactics (IOOW 176-79)

“Rhetoric in the Army-McCarthy Hearings” (Norms 39-47)

Amy Gutmann, “The Lure & Dangers of Extremist Rhetoric”

Dwight Eisenhower, from Farewell Address (IOOW 219-21)

Shirley Chisholm, on Government Spending (IOOW 279-82)

Barry Goldwater, accepting 1964 nomination (IOOW 249-52)

Barbara Jordan, 1973 Impeachment of Richard Nixon (IOOW 312-16)

Ronald Reagan, “Make America Great Again,” from speech accepting 1980 nomination (IOOW 341-45)

Mario Cuomo, from 1984 convention speech (IOOW 354-59)

Elie Wiesel to Reagan on planned visit to Bitburg Cemetery (IOOW 363-66)

The example of Bitburg, analysis (Norms 291-93)

Part VII Figures & Metaphor / The Poetic and Our Polity 

Figures of Speech; the Value of Imitation, (CRMS 377-448; APS 227-232)

Daniel Webster, from Eulogy on Adams and Jefferson, their Literary Character and Eloquence

William Faulkner, Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech (IOOW 179-80)

John Kennedy, tribute to Robert Frost (IOOW 242-44)

Isaac Bashevis Singer, Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech (IOOW 327-29)

Part VIII A Brief History / Inaugurating Hope

FDR, First Inaugural Address (IOOW 99-102) and analysis (Norms 83-93)

JFK, Inaugural Address (CRMS 459-61) and analysis (CRMS 461-72)

Lincoln, Second Inaugural Address

David Zarefsky, “Approaching Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address”

“A Survey of Rhetoric” (CRMS 489-543)

Part IX Study & Commitment / Remarks at a Dedication

Engell, from The Committed Word, ch. 9, “Lincoln's Language, and Ours,” and ch. 10, “Recommitment”

Lincoln, Gettysburg Address

William Barton, from Lincoln at Gettysburg