Eloquence

O for the power to speak what I desire to say, and to desire what is fitting, neither offending the gods nor inciting human envy. -Gorgias ¹

Introduction

Recently, I had the pleasure of going to the Yale University Gallery of Art with a group of my friends. In the Modern Art Galleries on the 4 ^th floor there are vivid works by Picasso, Magritte, Leger, Kandinsky, Klee-notable as "masters" of the premises of modernism, yet they were considered rebels in their own era. There hangs, from the ceiling in this gallery, a snow shovel. A snow-shovel. Not a new snow-shovel, but one that bears scratches and nicks as forensic evidence that this item was actually used to shovel snow. My friends asked me, "What does this MEAN?" Here is a gallery in a prestigious art museum, with paintings and sculptures and…why a snow-shovel? The gallery information tag identifies the "artist" as Marcel Duchamp. There is a painting nearby, also by Marcel Duchamp. It is apparently the last painting he ever made, before doing 'snow-shovel art'. This painting has a long wire brush sticking out of it. Maybe this guy Duchamp was cleaning out his (evidently very famous) garage! My friends were stumped. "THIS is art?" they said. What is ART? How do you think I should I have answered their question? When is something art? Let's talk about what art is to you.

The ancient Greek orator, Gorgias, delivered the quote above in one of his well-known funeral orations for Athenians fallen in war. Oratory, to the ancient Greeks, was a manner of persuasive discourse in support of democratic ideals. Eloquent oration was considered to be among the supreme manifestations of art. Criticizing works of art becomes the motivation in this unit for bringing adolescent students into persuasive modes of dialogue as they construct and defend interpretations of art. In learning techniques of rhetorical oration students will understand how the artful arrangement of their words and the eloquent delivery of their ideas is capable of eliciting emotive responses in the listener. This process can prove to be democratizing for marginalized students.

The Yale National seminar "Eloquence: Classical rhetoric, from Demosthenes to the digital age: the theory and practice of persuasive public speaking and speech writing" enhanced my understandings of approaches through which students develop skillful methods of oration that facilitate their discussions and presentations of the topics of their investigations. In this unit, the topic of inquiry centers around the question, What is art? After considering a selection of found objects within a variety of artificial contexts, students will write their own working definition of art. Through methods of critical inquiry, students will test their definitions against a variety of aesthetic perspectives that challenge commonly accepted norms.

Contemporary art is the platform from which students will leap into investigations of visual texts for their rhetorical content. Students will first write a personal definition for art to be tried alongside investigations of present day art forms. Artworks may generate different interpretations. To interpret an artwork is to generate meaning, and this is most aptly pursued when the work is considered within the social, historical and cultural context within which it was made along with the physical structures with which it is presented. Analytical frameworks form the scaffold upon which students will build discussions of works of art for their rhetorical content. It is through these theoretical lenses that students will discover that a work can take on several different meanings. It is here that students will find intrigue in that their interpretations of works of art can develop intuitively, often against normative views. Through the application of various aesthetic theories students will determine a work's effectiveness, or lack thereof, according to their personal definition of art. Rhetorical techniques will be employed in the public oration of their interpretations with the intent to move their peer audience toward emotive response. A goal is that students proactively challenge their listeners to adopt an appreciation for the work not previously considered.

Adolescent students naturally enjoy the ethos inherent in persuasive operations. They are often keen at persuading others to consider provocative topics from their point of view. Classic rhetorical tradition is modeled after particular modes of persuasion, organization and style developed by Aristotle. Aristotle said that we persuade others by three means: by appeal to their reason (logos), by appeal to their emotions (pathos), by appeal of our personality or character (ethos) ². In protocols of persuasive oration, students will use one of these or all three depending on the nature, or subject, of their argument. When persuasive activities approach the condition of art they can be said to fall within the province of rhetoric. ³