Let's Catch Our Breath

When composing something there are a lot of things that go into your

ultimate creation. First of all there is the rhetorical situation which is the any thing in your surroundings that inspires you to create. There can be good things or bad things, minimal situations or a big situation. The rhetorical situation leads to composition. There are many layers to the composition process. The most important element in my opinion is style.

STYLE

When writing/creating/directing/composing or whatever it is you choose to do, one thing that will always be yours is your style. Everyone has their own unique way of writing. I know that it is an element but style seems to be just as big to creating as the rhetorical situation. In Rhetoric Introduction, style is said to "dress up previously formulated ideas in attractive verbal garb". Whenever we have a mini assignment due, everyone's comes out completely different all based on our style. I think that style in composing reflects and individual's outlook on life. It is the source of originality. In order to have arrangement, you need style.

ARRANGEMENT

Arrangement and Editing are very much related. According to Key Terms Rhetoric, "arrangement refers to the placement and ordering of the parts of discourse". Before we can move forward with arrangement, discourse needs to be explained. To me, discourse is the way the messages behind your writing are conveyed. It goes hand in hand with the concept of rhetoric. Discourse is the communication aspect of rhetoric. Arrangement takes the things you have made and makes it flow and make sense which is a lot similar to the process of editing.

Even though there are a lot more key terms, I think that the rhetorical situation, style, arrangement, and discourse are the most important because they apply to so many more things. Arrangement and Style are the entire foundations for a piece of writing.

KNOWLEDGE

To me, knowledge is the basis for writing. It is where the rhetoric comes

from. I say this because I thoroughly believe that we gain knowledge through experiences. Knowledge in my eyes is basically anything that we can bring to the table when creating. Since the beginning of rhetorical theory, the question of knowledge has never been put to rest. Originally it was always assumed that in order

to properly convey your messages with rhetoric, the proper language would be needed and the relationship between language and knowledge was never fully understood. When talking about arrangement and

discourse, it is obvious that in order to be successful in describing something or informing someone, knowledge is a good thing to have. When the Romans took rhetoric into their own hands and began to turn it into an art form, they required any user of rhetoric to be well educated in various fields of academics. I personally believe that with knowledge comes power, and so did the Romans. They used knowledge and rhetoric as not only a tool but also a weapon. To sum things up, knowledge is the experiences and educational background that lead to better composition. Through better composition comes a better output of rhetoric. In this class, I am already able to manipulate the presentation of my work in order to convey rhetoric. Had I not been educated I would not be able to move forward. Rhetoric is a powerful tool and in mastering it will come a lot of great things.

REFLECTION

In the composition process, reflection comes after your work is published. I think that it is truly the best way to take a breather and think about all of the different things that went into making your work. At the end of any piece I always mentally reflect and I think that writing down a reflection gives us a chance to grow and be able to learn from our mistakes and do things better the next time. I think of reflection as a meditation tool. Sometimes it is possible to become overly stressed but when it's all done and published, the reflecting aspect of composing is a way for us to take a deep breath and either pat ourselves on the back or move on.

After the past few weeks, my theory of composing has really transformed. Before I didn't even really think about the composition process and now I see that I can make things better if I just slow down and think things over. Sometimes life comes at you all at once and I tend to just throw things together. Lately I've learned to take my time and see how I can use the tools of rhetoric in my favor.

Pictures Cited:

"Perfect Portage Reflection." Alaska-In-Pictures. Web. 19 Jul 2011. .

Blogging Project Runway. Web. 19 Jul 2011. .

The Franklin Institute . Web. 19 Jul 2011. .