Review my notes on some readings from rhetoric of the Renaissance. What is abundant style, and in what ways is it relevant today in education and/or the workplace? Provide an example.
After reading Erasmus, Abundant Style to me means having the ability to express oneself in different ways based on our word choice so that we can enrich what we are saying. The notes from Wikipedia that Dr. Rice provided said that it was to "embellish, amplify, and give variety to speech and writing." So Abundant Style is basically putting Copia into practice. Erasmus talked about having list of words, definitions, metaphors, similes etc. ready at hand to use to express a sentence in different ways, while maintaining the original meaning. He said that some words hold more power or may be better suited for a situation and that is why it is important to be able to express things in various ways. Thus, we must have an abundant supply of these things. We all want our words and expressions to have meaning. No one wants to hear a lot of repetition or rambling. Erasmus said we should rely on expression and subject matter to guide our embellishments.
This is still very relevant today. It relates to Kairos, saying the right thing at the right place at the right time. Dependent on how we express our thoughts, may be the deciding factor of gaining a client, selling a car, creating an international partner, or even getting a job. We are constantly picking and choosing how we want to phrase something based on the context of the situation. Very quickly our brain has to decide how to express something by running through the options of vocabulary, metaphors, synonyms etc. we have stored over the years. The more well-read a person is, the more they have stored away and have to choose from.
Example:
The girl got a hair cut.
The oldest girl of the family, still very much young at heart, went to the salon to try a new spring look, which ended up being a pixie-bob cut of some sorts matching her bubbly personality beautifully.
I believe you hit the nail on the head with kairos. After reading Erasmus, I also wondered if this particular piece would apply in basic composition classes, perhaps even into creative writing. After all, both are heavily dependent on reaching audiences.
ReplyDeleteI like how you captured the essence of copia here, especially notions I was having trouble formulating into cohesive thoughts. Particularly, it is significant that the more well-read a person is, the more they have stored to draw from -- this really captures why so many instructors of rhetorics wanted their students to be widely accomplished among a range of disciplines.
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