Reading Response November 8 RT Ch. 11, RT pgs. 981-1030

Chapter eleven in Ancient Rhetorics for Contemporary Students addressed the importance of memory, and how it was useful in preserving ancient and medieval pieces of rhetoric. It is stressed that although modern society is able to rely on technology for means of remembering and researching, memory is still important. Crowley suggests that "although the role of memory is not so apparent in written composition, writers do have to be able to remember information or to recall where it is located," and overall knowledge of things that have happened in society are crucial for being a successful writer (Crowley 375).

A lot of historical background is provided within this chapter, and how necessary memory was in order to preserve texts that would otherwise be lost. Two types of memory are also presented: artificial and natural. Though humans rely on natural memory to recall certain things, artificial memory is a learned process, in which the mind is "carefully trained to remember things" by practicing and training their thought process (Crowley 376). This is interesting, because society today has no real need to rely upon their memories, such as Crowley suggests. However, this chapter was interesting to learn the processes that ancient rhetors relied upon.

The segment on nineteenth century rhetoric in The Rhetorical Tradition was especially interesting, because it highlighted huge changes not only occurring within the scope of rhetoric, but within society, as well. Women were beginning to publicly use their knowledge of rhetoric, participating more in society. The Industrial Revolution was a time of economic shift, and more schools were being developed, in which women were oftentimes included. Women were also able to pursue a higher education, though not always accepted, because they were not following their socially traditional roles. Also, by the nineteenth century, composition was becoming more widely practiced and an accepted part of rhetoric. This is important, because it stressed the importance of learning efficient communicative skills in order to be a more influential being within society. During this time period as well, romanticism was increasing, which focus on language itself rather than argumentation, which helped pave the way for the development of poetry during this time period, as a more artistic scope of language and writing.

Richard Whatley was an important figure during this time period, because he attempted to reinstate the importance of the classical teachings. He felt that these ancient foundations were important to the world of linguistics, and he draws upon many ancient rhetoricians, such as Aristotle and Quintilian. He also focused on supporting the Church, since science so highly disregarded its significance within society. During a time that new changes were being brought upon society, Whatley attempted to preserve some of the ancient traditions, by incorporating the logical teachings to modern ideas and theories.