Blog #3

Wayne Booth’s article, “The Rhetorical Stance,” outlines a proposed and necessary balance for a writer to seek in order to maintain equilibrium in the realm of rhetorical writing. He explains that the best writing alternates between utter disregard for the audience and one that is overbearing – a dichotomy of “pedants” versus “advertisers.” Ideally, the half-way mark is what should be attained in order to secure a voice and maintain rhetorical stance and persuasion, therefore embodying the art of persuasion that has been otherwise overlooked or undiscovered due to lack of education in the area. He refers to the stance as containing “the available arguments about the subject itself, the interests and peculiarities of the audiences, and the voice, the implied character, of the speaker” (Booth 172). Additionally, within writing courses, it is necessary for students to regard the prompt or purpose of a composition as being led to see a question that is worth answering. Therefore, the audience is not necessarily the professor or worse, no one at all. Booth emphasizes that even perfect grammar, punctuation and sentence structure does not make up for a writing that has no purpose or audience. It is necessary to teach within rhetoric courses and writing courses the art of persuasion so that writers have an audience and purpose worthy of exposing. This article was the first to spark the most interest because of the style of writing that was conveyed, in addition to the point that was being addressed. I am interested in the incorporation of these ideas within different English courses, specifically courses related to the EWM major, because of the applicable nature of the content. This is particularly relevant to our course because we are utilizing techniques and writing strategies that should effectually convey and persuade with rhetorical style. The different ways of prompting and practicing in order to discover and maintain a specific rhetorical stance is therefore intriguing and something I hope to attain throughout the remainder of the course.