At least 900+ words/ 3+ pages
Write a rhetorical analysis of an example of arts writing. You choose the example. You are not writing about the art, per se, but you are analyzing the writing approach from someone else who is writing about art.
You can write about whatever you want, within the following basic parameters:
The example of arts writing you analyze is actually related to an art or art form or art situation in one way or another.
The writing is long enough to be worth your effort and short enough that you are seriously engaging with the entire text.
RHETORICAL ANALYSIS:
Rhetorical analysis tries to understand — analyzes! — how something creates meaning. A rhetorical analysis will focus on styles, strategies, and structures to understand the impact or effect of the text. It takes the text ‘apart’ to show how it was put together.
Furthermore, a rhetorical analysis is less focused on what something says than on how it says it, what assumptions are involved in the way it makes meaning, and the effect of these rhetorical moves – more than the meaning itself.
Lastly, a rhetorical analysis is not focused on making a final judgement of if, for example, it is a good essay. Instead, it is focused on explaining how it works and how it does what it does.
Things to consider in your rhetorical analysis:
Genre
Audience
Writing Situation and goals
Media and Modality
Approaches to Persuasion and Effects
Ethics of the argument, style, content, framing, etc.
Other Elements of Style
Exigence and Goals/Impact
Tips:
This is really a writing exercise designed to cultivate reading for style in the context of yourself being an arts writer.
Read many things and put work into finding a compelling example of arts writing. If the example you choose is uninspiring, your writing task will become quite a bit harder.
A compelling example will be defined less by the content it considers and more through its own approach and style.
The Big Idea:
This is an arts writing class. As the term goes on I want you to develop agility as an arts writer. To do that you need to practice the work of carefully reading the styles, genres and approaches to arts writing you find compelling across different writing situations. This is a way to focus on that practice.
