The site is described as follows:
"This online rhetoric, provided by Dr. Gideon Burton of Brigham Young University, is a guide to the terms of classical and renaissance rhetoric. Sometimes it is difficult to see the forest (the big picture) of rhetoric because of the trees (the hundreds of Greek and Latin terms naming figures of speech, etc.) within rhetoric.
This site is intended to help beginners, as well as experts, make sense of rhetoric, both on the small scale (definitions and examples of specific terms) and on the large scale (the purposes of rhetoric, the patterns into which it has fallen historically as it has been taught and practiced for 2000+ years).
A forest is the metaphor for this site. Like a forest, rhetoric provides tremendous resources for many purposes. However, one can easily become lost in a large, complex habitat (whether it be one of wood or of wit). The organization of this central page and the hyperlinks within individual pages should provide a map, a discernible trail, to lay hold of the utility and beauty of this language discipline."
The 'trees' of the site include outlined information about various subjects within rhetoric and the 'flowers' are more specific rhetorical terms and figures along with their descriptions and/or definitions. I particularly like the rhetorical timeline that is provided on this website as it lists major authors and texts and the year the work was completed.
Excellent site. I like the metaphor used throughout this site, in particular. Reminds me of a movie which points out that all trees on the planet work together in some way, that there is a harmony to everything on Earth, as it works together. Philosophy and its application is like that, of course.
ReplyDelete