ENG 281 - Introduction to Rhetorical & Aesthetic Theory

All the Means of Persuasion
This course consists of a detailed examination of classical rhetoric (“the art of persuasion”) and the ways in which rhetorical theories have promulgated ideas about memory, imagination, and language in relation to the composition and reception of texts of all genres. One of the course’s goals is to arrive at sophisticated and historically informed definitions of concepts such as mimesis, verisimilitude, copia, and the sublime. Another is to become familiar with the theories and functions of literary tropes, particularly metaphor, metonymy, irony, and allegory. Theoretical texts will be read in conjunction with literary texts, enabling students to deploy and critique various theories in their own strategies of close reading. The literary texts include Sophocles’s Oedipus Rex, Shakespeare’s Sonnets, and James Joyce’s Dubliners.

Unit(s): 1
Group Distribution Requirement(s): Distribution Group I
Instructional Method: Conference
Grading Mode: Letter grading (A-F)
Group Distribution Learning Outcome(s):

Understand how arguments can be made, visions presented, or feelings or ideas conveyed through language or other modes of expression (symbols, movement, images, sounds, etc.).
Analyze and interpret texts, whether literary or philosophical, in English or a non-English language, or works of the visual or performing arts.
Evaluate arguments made in or about texts (whether literary or philosophical, in English or a non-English language, or works of the visual or performing arts).