Genres of Political Rhetoric

Event Details

Professor Cohen attempts to explain the contemporary increase in use of the term "rhetoric" through a discussion of rhetoric's relationship to literary genres. He addresses the connection of rhetoric to social and political values. The speaker explains rhetoric's relationship with Addison's efforts to elevate popular ballads to the domain of a higher literary genre, the process of this transformation, and the subsequent introduction of ballads into the writing of established genres. He also addresses the causal relationship of literary revision and socioeconomic conditions with the elevation and change of the ballad genre.