Rhetorical devices used in the essay, Why Read the Classics? are pretty scarce. I find that they are less numerable and more difficult to find than the rhetorical devices used in the essay, Good Readers and Good Writers by Vladimir Nabokov. With that being said, the examples I did find are not going to be as many as I found in the other essay. The first rhetorical device I found is half way through the essay on page six. On page six under definition nine it talks about how, "school has to teach you to know, whether you like it or not, a certain number of classics amongst which (or by using them as a benchmark) you will later recognize 'your' own classics. School is obliged to provide you with the tools to enable you to make your own choice; but the only choices which count are those which you take after or outside any schooling" (Calvino, page 6, paragraph 4). This is rhetorical because the responsibility of the school and the reason we read the classics in school are kind of obvious that they will help us later in life. Another rhetorical device is on page eight when he talks about how classics are not fit to our present time. This is rhetorical because it is obvious that most classics were written a long time ago. One last rhetorical device is on the last page where it says "The only reason that can be adduced in their favour is that reading the classics always better than not reading them" (Calvino, page 9, paragraph 4). This is rhetorical because we know learning something new never hurts.
Calvino, Italo. Why Read the Classics? London; Vintage, 2000. Print.
No comments:
Post a Comment