Invention means "to find". This canon is where you find information and different materials for your speech. This part leans extremely on logos. This part needs facts and data to support what the person says. For writing project two we had to find various examples of rhetoric. We had to find rhetoric for BOTH sides of the argument. This plays into invention because Cicero says that it is important to spend time figuring out what you will say about both sides of the argument.
Arrangement is how you set up the presentation. This is important thing that people learned in elementary school when they began writing essays. Introduction, body paragraph, body paragraph, body paragraph, and then conclusion. Kids would get a bad grade on an essay if they arrange it in any other format as the arrangement matters. Cicero's arrangement is introduction, narrative, division, proof, refutation, and conclusion. This is a much more complicated version of arrangement compared to elementary school essays but both are arrangement nonetheless.
Style is how you do something to make it look or sound good. Cicero states that the main elements of style are proper language, clearness, vividness, decorum, and ornament.
Memory is what Cicero calls, "the treasure-house of the ideas supplied by invention". This is the most complicated canon for people in today's world to grasp. The idea behind this is that everyone creates an imaginary house and fills the empty spaces with ideas.
Delivery is where you actually present your speech. This is the part where you get up on stage and talk. It is important to think about your voice, your gestures, your eye contact, your breathing, and your expressions. This is an important part because this is where you convince your audience to believe what you are saying. All of the other cannons are preparations for the delivery.
These are Cicero's five canons of persuasion and why they are important.
I find it interesting that these five canons are very important yet it is the basic outline of every paper and speech. If I think of any speech I have heard, it follows this outline exactly, but the first time I heard about Cicero's five canons was in Thank You for Arguing. I also like that you mentioned how arrangement is a more complex version of the outline we were taught in grade school.
ReplyDeleteI feel like these five canons are important and necessary to understand in everyday life. When forming an argument, being able to provide facts, organize those facts, make the arugment your own (and memorable), and being able to deliver it are the main points that Cicero states. This format is also used in everyday rhetorical writing.
ReplyDeleteThese five canons are each so important to understand. I think that using these successfully is one thing by itself that has an affect on your audience; if you can find, organize, personalize and present well enough, your audience will be blown away and want more, remembering it well.
ReplyDelete