Paul Formisano Blair Assignment

Activity #1:

I will ask my male students to work with Blair’s Lecture XXVII on “Eloquence of Popular Assemblies,” pages 342-360. The speech they will work with is President Polk’s May 11, 1846 address to the United States’ Congress calling for the declaration of war with Mexico.

In his lecture Blair suggests that the “object” of eloquence one finds in popular assemblies “is, or ought always to be, persuasion” (344). He continues: “There must be some end proposed; some point, most commonly of public utility or good, in favour of which we seek to determine the hearers” (344). With this clear objective in mind for deliberative speech, Blair then provides a number of criteria a novice orator must employ to bring about the desired ends. He first warns against mimicry of the classicist orators like Demosthenes whose words are “fraught . . . with argument” (344). On page 344 through 347 he provides a number of other elements an orator must consider. Some of the most important include:
•Become “masters of the business on which they are to speak”
•“Be well provided with matter and argument” which will receive the greatest attention
•“Always give to their discourse an air of manliness and strength”
•Employ “ornament”
•“Be ourselves persuaded of whatever we recommend to others”

My assignment will ask the students to examine Polk’s speech in light of each of these criteria and decide whether his ends—convincing Congress that war is justified with Mexico—are achieved. In their consideration of Polk’s logos, they should also come to a conclusion as to whether Polk’s ethos represents the necessary “manliness and strength” for persuasive public discourse. This is where they can rely on their previous coursework in classical rhetoric (Aristotle and Quintillian in particular) to determine whether the president fits these qualities, and also whether he is a noble orator whose reasons are for the betterment of American society.

Activity #2:

These same students have just completed their analysis of Polk’s speech. It just so happens that these students have also read Thoreau’s “Resistance to Civil Government” ("Civil Disobedience") and a number of students feel that the Mexican War was an unjustified and imperialist attack on Mexico. Thus, this second assignment requires students to craft a speech for an audience of their own choosing, allowing them to make arguments regarding the war. As in the last task, they are to draw from Blair to shape their speeches.

It is important for them to remember that Blair argues that an orator operating within public discourse be convinced of the ideas that are being shared with others. Therefore, students will divide up based on their convictions regarding the Mexican-American War. Added to what they learned through the analysis, another important idea addresses arrangement. Blair states, “Nothing is of greater consequence than a proper and clear method” (347). This is important for two reasons, one being that it allows the memory to recall the main ideas to be presented. Memory’s role in the process of invention as coupled with method is paramount in the eloquence of popular assemblies. Blair urges orators not to have memorized their speeches word for word but be able to “be suited to the course which the debate takes” (346). Therefore, the speaker must have thoughts organized so that memory can recall them, especially in the event that the debate goes a different direction that expected. If “every thing [is] found in its proper order,” the orator can adapt to varying situations and still get his points across in a clear, organized manner. The second reason is that proper method helps the audience follow along, ensuring that the listeners “feel the full effect of every argument” (347). Able to follow the orator’s train of thought, they can focus on the argument itself rather than trying to follow a confusing train of thought.

Blair doesn’t stop his suggestions with arrangement. He includes five points concerning style and expression. These conditions come from pages 348-350.
1. The emotion should be appropriate to the situation
2. We should never falsify our emotions
3. The orator must always keep emotions in check, never to be carried away by them even if the subject suggests otherwise
4. Always be aware of the conventions and tastes of the audience so as to not exceed their limits in these areas
5. Always understand one’s audience or as Blair says, be aware of “decorums of time, place, and character”

With these principles in mind, the assignment will allow students to not only argue the position they support, but will challenge them to understand the audience’s needs so as to not offend nor come off as something that they are not.