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.
A Definition of Modern Rhetoric
By: Sara Ritter
Reading ancient rhetorical theory can be disorienting because it’s so far removed from the way we live and communicate now. The traditional definition of rhetoric is “‘the art of using language so as to persuade or influence others; the body of rules to be observed by a speaker or writer in order that he may express himself with eloquence’” (Andrews, 2014, p. 16). This definition may have worked for ancient rhetoric, but changes in society and the way we communicate necessitate a modern definition that works for our current world.
Firstly, in our increasingly digital and visual world, “language” is too restrictive a term to use in this definition, as it implies only the written and spoken word; using “speaker” and “writer” has the same drawback (Andrews, 2014). A contemporary user of rhetoric might employ it as an artist in a visual art piece or as a director in the choices made when staging a play. These media would not be considered “language” necessarily, but rather “communication,” which can include many different modes rather than just words. Replacing the terms that
restrict rhetoric to language helps bring the definition into our times. Andrews (2014) also posits that “persuade or influence” (p. 16) and “with eloquence” (p. 16) are also restrictive and should be changed to include a wider range of possible purposes. A modern user of rhetoric might want to enthrall or enrage an audience rather than simply persuading them, and to this end might wish not to speak eloquently but rather rhapsodically or forcefully. Again, altering those terms helps make the definition more appropriate to our current era.
Secondly, the traditional definition of rhetoric references the “rules,” but it doesn’t specify anything about style or composition, other than to allude to there being an “art” involved; a fuller definition requires a mention of these concepts. According to Habinek (2004), style for the ancients was “the creation or crafting of a verbal artifact…[that] effects a transformation. It is through style that the rhetorician reclaims the authority of the magician” (p. 51). If style is where the magic happens, then we need to include that in our definition as well. Composition, according to Andrews, entails “the idea of putting things together into a unified, proportionate, and aesthetically pleasing form” (p. 44). Again, this is an important piece of the process of creating any communication, so we need to include it in our definition.
These considerations led me to develop what I think is a more accurate definition of contemporary rhetoric: “the art of communicating so as to elicit a desired reaction from others; composers follow conventions but also
employ their own unique style and methods of composition in order to express themselves in a manner appropriate to their purpose.” Trying to apply the ancient theories to something like an Instagram post or a TikTok video is difficult, simply because our modern technology and modes of communication are far beyond
what Plato and friends could have envisioned and accounted for. This expanded, modernized definition gives a fuller picture of all the considerations that go into using rhetoric in our modern era, and my hope is that it will help people see how the ancient theories grew and changed alongside our methods of communication.
Works Cited
Andrews, R. (2014). A Theory of Contemporary Rhetoric. Routledge.
https://research.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=eebf4a8a-bd00-35de-9df3-3acfd3458879
Gómez, S.P. (2024). The rhetoric of disability on Instagram: A post-qualitative photographic
analysis. Visual Review, 16(6), 15–29. https://doi.org/10.62161/revvisual.v16.5318
Habinek, T. (2004). Ancient Rhetoric and Oratory. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated.
Ancient rhetoric and oratory [electronic resource] / Thomas Habinek.
No Description
Iversen, S. (2021). Nimble navigation: Narrative, fictionality, and metanoic reflexivity in presidential rhetoric.
Narrative, 29(2), 258–274. https://doi.org/10.1353/nar.2021.0014
Rieder, D.M. (2021). Eversion, ecology, touch, and rain: A post-PC rhetoric. Interdisciplinary Description of
Complex Systems, 19(1), 1–12. https://doi.org/10.7906/indecs.19.1.1