Students in Dr. Nicole Pfannenstiel’s summer 2025 writing seminar crafted blog posts exploring Rhetoric & Composition. Over the next several weeks, we will share their work in this space to bring visibility to their posts and offer a variety of perspectives on pertinent topics within Rhetoric & Composition. These posts are written by graduate students currently in the MA and M.Ed. English programs.
The Rhetor
By: Jacob Rice
One contemporary idea that informs any working definition of rhetoric is that of a rhetor. In times past, a rhetor was someone who spoke or wrote to persuade, teach, or move. Though the aims might be the same, the someone and medium in question are not. Richard Andrews in A Theory of Contemporary Rhetoric defines a contemporary rhetor as someone who “need not be a speaker or write of verbal language, but may be using the wider range of resources (image, moving image, gesture, choreographed moves, etc.) in seemingly monomodal or actually multimodal combination” (Andrews, 2014, p. 34). He even goes as far as to suggest a change in name from rhetor to composer, as this title adheres more to the multiple modes a person might use to communicate.
The aim of a composer, though, remains the same. A composer will use the medium or mediums at hand to create or compose something that communicates meaning. What is similar to ancient rhetoric here is the intent. Ancient rhetoricians’ intent was to communicate for meaning (though there is some nuance there). A composer now does not have to limit themselves to just text, but the interaction of texts. Take, for example, Andrews’ example of a piece of art and the catalogue. Though the artwork is perhaps the main “mode” by which the interaction between composer, audience, and text creates meaning, the catalogue adds another dimension, another frame of reference to create meaning. For the composer, this must come into their mind and intention when composing.
The composer now must know and understand the social and cultural constructs within which a composition is made. This is much different than times past. With the prominence that the internet has, the proliferation of composition is fast and easy to access for any audience. A composer may well have intentions for their work, thinking only of their own social context, but what about that of others? A composer can now decide how to use social and cultural norms, values, taboos, etc., to create. So, within their own contexts we can understand a rhetor as one who creates and organizes language to create meaning for a specific audience at a specific time. A composer, though similar, can be understood as an extended rhetor. A composer does create meaning within a specific context for a specific audience, but to extend what we know of as a rhetor, a composer can create meaning through a number of modes and their interactions with one another and the reader. This helps our understanding, especially in the twenty-first century, of what it means to create change. It is not as simple as language. It is a dance that can only happen with the evolving technologies and mediums afforded to society writ large.
Works Cited for Further Reading
Butler, J. (2018). Embodied Captions in Multimodal Pedagogies. Composition Forum, 39.
Eyman, D., & Ball, C. E. (2014). Composing for Digital Publication: Rhetoric, Design, Code. Composition Studies, 42(1), 114–117.
Beck, E. (2019). English 3374: Writing, Rhetoric, and Multimedia Authoring. Composition Studies, 47(2), 167–180.
Maja Kerneža, & Metka Kordigel Aberšek. (2024). The Role of Rhetoric in Teacher Virtual Exchanges: Navigating Digital Communication in Educational Contexts. Problems of Education in the 21st Century, 82(2), 186–201.
Andrews, R., & ProQuest (Firm). (2014). A theory of contemporary rhetoric [electronic resource] / edited by Richard Andrews. Routledge.