This is not a particularly easy activity, but I want you to take a stab at doing some rhetorical analysis without any prior background information about the author, the time period, or the audience. I want you to go beyond the words to identify the writer's motive (agenda), and his target audience I will tell you one fact about this essay. When it was published, it was the most read piece of literature in the world..
After you submit your analysis, I will send you a link to, as Paul Harvey would say, "The rest of the story." Good luck - no wrong answers here, just your thoughts and opinions.
- Read the following essay . You might consider printing this off since some of the wording is a bit archaic (hint, hint).
- Use Flower and Ackerman's method for rhetorical analysis of the essay. For a review, read the online notes for Conducting a Rhetorical Analysis.
- Email to me your thoughts about the following questions:
- Intentions - Who is the author writing to? Think about the time period in history that is mentioned, etc. Who do you think the author is (e.g, profession, status, age, gender,...)?
- Conventions - What formatting, or wording, give you some clues about who and what this essay is about? Does the tone imply something about the author or readers?
- Context - What is the agenda of the writer? What are the author's fundamental beliefs?
- Your Opinion - What was your reaction to the essay? Again, no right or wrong here - tell me clearly how this essay made you feel, and what it made you think about.
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