NNRH, Kolding, November 2-5, 2008

Rosted, Blair and the Rhetorical Tradition

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Hugh Blair (1718-1800): 1741: License as Presbyterian preacher1759: Begins to lecture on rhetoric and belles lettres at the University of Edinburgh1762-83: Regius Professor of Rhetoric and Belles Lettres at the University of Edinburgh1763: A Critical Dissertation on the Poems of Ossian, the Son of Fingal 1777-1801: Sermons (5 vols)1783: Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres

Hugh Blair, Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres (1783)

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I: IntroductionII: TasteIII: Criticism – Genius – Pleasures of Taste –

Sublimity in ObjectsIV: The Sublime in WritingV: Beauty, and other Pleasures of TasteVI: Rise and Progress of LanguageVII: Rise and Progress of Language, and of

WritingVIII: Structure of LanguageIX: Structure of Language – English TongueX: Style – Perspicuity and PrecisionXI: Structure of SentencesXII: Structure of SentencesXIII: Structure of Sentences – HarmonyXIV: Origin and Nature of Figurative LanguageXV: MetaphorXVI: Hyperbole – Personification – ApostropheXVII: Comparison, Antithesis, Interrogation,

Exclamation, Other Figures of SpeechXVIII: Figurative Language – General

Characters of StyleXIX: General Characters of Style – Simple,

Affected, Vehement – Directions for Forming a Proper Style

XX-XXIII: Critical Examination of the Style of Mr. Adison

XXIV: Critical Examination of the Style in a Passage of Dean Swift’s Writings

XXV-XXX: EloquenceXXXI: Conduct of a Discourse in All Its PartsXXXII: Conduct of a DiscourseXXXIII: Pronunciation, or DeliveryXXXIV: Means of Improving in EloquenceXXXV: Comparative Merit of the Antients and

the ModernsXXXVI: Historical WritingXXXVII: Philosophical WritingXXXVIII: Nature of Poetry – Its Origin and

ProgressXXXIX: Pastoral Poetry – Lyric PoetryXL: Didactic Poetry – Descriptive PoetryXLI: The Poetry of the HebrewsXLII: Epic PoetryXLIII: Homer’s Iliad and OdesseyXLIV: Lucan’s Pharsalia – Tasso’s JerusalemXLV: Dramatic Poetry – TragedyXLVI: Tragedy – Greek – French – English

TragedyXLVII: Comedy – Greek and Roman – French –

English Comedy

Hugh Blair, Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres (1783): Aesthetics (4)

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I: IntroductionII: TasteIII: Criticism – Genius – Pleasures of Taste –

Sublimity in ObjectsIV: The Sublime in WritingV: Beauty, and other Pleasures of TasteVI: Rise and Progress of LanguageVII: Rise and Progress of Language, and of

WritingVIII: Structure of LanguageIX: Structure of Language – English TongueX: Style – Perspicuity and PrecisionXI: Structure of SentencesXII: Structure of SentencesXIII: Structure of Sentences – HarmonyXIV: Origin and Nature of Figurative LanguageXV: MetaphorXVI: Hyperbole – Personification – ApostropheXVII: Comparison, Antithesis, Interrogation,

Exclamation, Other Figures of SpeechXVIII: Figurative Language – General

Characters of StyleXIX: General Characters of Style – Simple,

Affected, Vehement – Directions for Forming a Proper Style

XX-XXIII: Critical Examination of the Style of Mr. Adison

XXIV: Critical Examination of the Style in a Passage of Dean Swift’s Writings

XXV-XXX: EloquenceXXXI: Conduct of a Discourse in All Its PartsXXXII: Conduct of a DiscourseXXXIII: Pronunciation, or DeliveryXXXIV: Means of Improving in EloquenceXXXV: Comparative Merit of the Antients and

the ModernsXXXVI: Historical WritingXXXVII: Philosophical WritingXXXVIII: Nature of Poetry – Its Origin and

ProgressXXXIX: Pastoral Poetry – Lyric PoetryXL: Didactic Poetry – Descriptive PoetryXLI: The Poetry of the HebrewsXLII: Epic PoetryXLIII: Homer’s Iliad and OdesseyXLIV: Lucan’s Pharsalia – Tasso’s JerusalemXLV: Dramatic Poetry – TragedyXLVI: Tragedy – Greek – French – English

TragedyXLVII: Comedy – Greek and Roman – French –

English Comedy

Hugh Blair, Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres (1783): Philosophy of language (4)

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I: IntroductionII: TasteIII: Criticism – Genius – Pleasures of Taste –

Sublimity in ObjectsIV: The Sublime in WritingV: Beauty, and other Pleasures of TasteVI: Rise and Progress of LanguageVII: Rise and Progress of Language, and of

WritingVIII: Structure of LanguageIX: Structure of Language – English TongueX: Style – Perspicuity and PrecisionXI: Structure of SentencesXII: Structure of SentencesXIII: Structure of Sentences – HarmonyXIV: Origin and Nature of Figurative LanguageXV: MetaphorXVI: Hyperbole – Personification – ApostropheXVII: Comparison, Antithesis, Interrogation,

Exclamation, Other Figures of SpeechXVIII: Figurative Language – General

Characters of StyleXIX: General Characters of Style – Simple,

Affected, Vehement – Directions for Forming a Proper Style

XX-XXIII: Critical Examination of the Style of Mr. Adison

XXIV: Critical Examination of the Style in a Passage of Dean Swift’s Writings

XXV-XXX: EloquenceXXXI: Conduct of a Discourse in All Its PartsXXXII: Conduct of a DiscourseXXXIII: Pronunciation, or DeliveryXXXIV: Means of Improving in EloquenceXXXV: Comparative Merit of the Antients and

the ModernsXXXVI: Historical WritingXXXVII: Philosophical WritingXXXVIII: Nature of Poetry – Its Origin and

ProgressXXXIX: Pastoral Poetry – Lyric PoetryXL: Didactic Poetry – Descriptive PoetryXLI: The Poetry of the HebrewsXLII: Epic PoetryXLIII: Homer’s Iliad and OdesseyXLIV: Lucan’s Pharsalia – Tasso’s JerusalemXLV: Dramatic Poetry – TragedyXLVI: Tragedy – Greek – French – English

TragedyXLVII: Comedy – Greek and Roman – French –

English Comedy

Hugh Blair, Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres (1783): Style (15)

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I: IntroductionII: TasteIII: Criticism – Genius – Pleasures of Taste –

Sublimity in ObjectsIV: The Sublime in WritingV: Beauty, and other Pleasures of TasteVI: Rise and Progress of LanguageVII: Rise and Progress of Language, and of

WritingVIII: Structure of LanguageIX: Structure of Language – English TongueX: Style – Perspicuity and PrecisionXI: Structure of SentencesXII: Structure of SentencesXIII: Structure of Sentences – HarmonyXIV: Origin and Nature of Figurative LanguageXV: MetaphorXVI: Hyperbole – Personification – ApostropheXVII: Comparison, Antithesis, Interrogation,

Exclamation, Other Figures of SpeechXVIII: Figurative Language – General

Characters of StyleXIX: General Characters of Style – Simple,

Affected, Vehement – Directions for Forming a Proper Style

XX-XXIII: Critical Examination of the Style of Mr. Adison

XXIV: Critical Examination of the Style in a Passage of Dean Swift’s Writings

XXV-XXX: EloquenceXXXI: Conduct of a Discourse in All Its PartsXXXII: Conduct of a DiscourseXXXIII: Pronunciation, or DeliveryXXXIV: Means of Improving in EloquenceXXXV: Comparative Merit of the Antients and

the ModernsXXXVI: Historical WritingXXXVII: Philosophical WritingXXXVIII: Nature of Poetry – Its Origin and

ProgressXXXIX: Pastoral Poetry – Lyric PoetryXL: Didactic Poetry – Descriptive PoetryXLI: The Poetry of the HebrewsXLII: Epic PoetryXLIII: Homer’s Iliad and OdesseyXLIV: Lucan’s Pharsalia – Tasso’s JerusalemXLV: Dramatic Poetry – TragedyXLVI: Tragedy – Greek – French – English

TragedyXLVII: Comedy – Greek and Roman – French –

English Comedy

Hugh Blair, Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres (1783): Classical rhetoric (10)

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I: IntroductionII: TasteIII: Criticism – Genius – Pleasures of Taste –

Sublimity in ObjectsIV: The Sublime in WritingV: Beauty, and other Pleasures of TasteVI: Rise and Progress of LanguageVII: Rise and Progress of Language, and of

WritingVIII: Structure of LanguageIX: Structure of Language – English TongueX: Style – Perspicuity and PrecisionXI: Structure of SentencesXII: Structure of SentencesXIII: Structure of Sentences – HarmonyXIV: Origin and Nature of Figurative LanguageXV: MetaphorXVI: Hyperbole – Personification – ApostropheXVII: Comparison, Antithesis, Interrogation,

Exclamation, Other Figures of SpeechXVIII: Figurative Language – General

Characters of StyleXIX: General Characters of Style – Simple,

Affected, Vehement – Directions for Forming a Proper Style

XX-XXIII: Critical Examination of the Style of Mr. Adison

XXIV: Critical Examination of the Style in a Passage of Dean Swift’s Writings

XXV-XXX: EloquenceXXXI: Conduct of a Discourse in All Its PartsXXXII: Conduct of a DiscourseXXXIII: Pronunciation, or DeliveryXXXIV: Means of Improving in EloquenceXXXV: Comparative Merit of the Antients and

the ModernsXXXVI: Historical WritingXXXVII: Philosophical WritingXXXVIII: Nature of Poetry – Its Origin and

ProgressXXXIX: Pastoral Poetry – Lyric PoetryXL: Didactic Poetry – Descriptive PoetryXLI: The Poetry of the HebrewsXLII: Epic PoetryXLIII: Homer’s Iliad and OdesseyXLIV: Lucan’s Pharsalia – Tasso’s JerusalemXLV: Dramatic Poetry – TragedyXLVI: Tragedy – Greek – French – English

TragedyXLVII: Comedy – Greek and Roman – French –

English Comedy

Hugh Blair, Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres (1783): Literary history and theory (13)

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I: IntroductionII: TasteIII: Criticism – Genius – Pleasures of Taste –

Sublimity in ObjectsIV: The Sublime in WritingV: Beauty, and other Pleasures of TasteVI: Rise and Progress of LanguageVII: Rise and Progress of Language, and of

WritingVIII: Structure of LanguageIX: Structure of Language – English TongueX: Style – Perspicuity and PrecisionXI: Structure of SentencesXII: Structure of SentencesXIII: Structure of Sentences – HarmonyXIV: Origin and Nature of Figurative LanguageXV: MetaphorXVI: Hyperbole – Personification – ApostropheXVII: Comparison, Antithesis, Interrogation,

Exclamation, Other Figures of SpeechXVIII: Figurative Language – General

Characters of StyleXIX: General Characters of Style – Simple,

Affected, Vehement – Directions for Forming a Proper Style

XX-XXIII: Critical Examination of the Style of Mr. Adison

XXIV: Critical Examination of the Style in a Passage of Dean Swift’s Writings

XXV-XXX: EloquenceXXXI: Conduct of a Discourse in All Its PartsXXXII: Conduct of a DiscourseXXXIII: Pronunciation, or DeliveryXXXIV: Means of Improving in EloquenceXXXV: Comparative Merit of the Antients and

the ModernsXXXVI: Historical WritingXXXVII: Philosophical WritingXXXVIII: Nature of Poetry – Its Origin and

ProgressXXXIX: Pastoral Poetry – Lyric PoetryXL: Didactic Poetry – Descriptive PoetryXLI: The Poetry of the HebrewsXLII: Epic PoetryXLIII: Homer’s Iliad and OdesseyXLIV: Lucan’s Pharsalia – Tasso’s JerusalemXLV: Dramatic Poetry – TragedyXLVI: Tragedy – Greek – French – English

TragedyXLVII: Comedy – Greek and Roman – French –

English Comedy

Jakob Rosted, Forsøg til en Rhetorik (1810)

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Første Capitel, Om Stilen og dens Egenskaber fornemmelig med Hensyn til Tydelighed. (Blair, lecture X)

Andet Capitel, Om det figurlige Sprog. (Blair, lecture XIV) Tredie Capitel, Om Stilens almindelige Charakterer, med nogle

Anviisninger til en god Skrivemaades Dannelse. (Blair, lectures XVIII-XIX)

Fjerde Capitel, Om Veltalenhed eller offentlige Foredrag, sammes forskellige Arter og Beskaffenhed, og den paa enhver passende Behandling. (Blair, lecture XXVI)

Femte Capitel, Om en Tales Indretning i Henseende til de Dele, hvoraf den bestaaer. (Blair, lectures XXXI-XXXII)

Sjette Capitel, Om det mundtlige Foredrag og den saa kaldede udvortes Veltalenhed. (Blair, lecture XXXIII)

Syvende Capitel, Om de øvrige Arter af prosaiske Arbejder, som foruden offentlige Taler kunne falde under Kritikens Bedømmelse. (Blair, lectures XXXV-XXXVII)

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Blair, Lecture XIX, direction #3: It is obvious that we ought to render ourselves well

acquainted with the style of the best authors. I know no exercise that will be found more useful for acquiring a proper style, than to translate some passage from an eminent English author, into our own words.

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Blair, Lecture XIX, direction #4: I must caution, at the same time, against a servile imitation

of any author whatever. This is always dangerous. It hampers genius; it is likely to produce a stiff manner; and those who are given to close imitation, generally imitate an author’s faults as well as his beauties. No man will ever become a good writer, or speaker, who has not some degree of confidence to follow his own genius. We ought to beware, in particular, of adopting any author’s noted phrases, or transcribing passages from him. Such a habit will prove fatal to all genuine composition. Infinitely better it is to have something that is our own, though of moderate beauty, than to affect to shine in borrowed ornaments, which will, at last, betray the utter poverty of our genius.

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Blair, Lecture XIX, direction #4: I must caution, at the same time, against a servile imitation

of any author whatever. This is always dangerous. It hampers genius; it is likely to produce a stiff manner; and those who are given to close imitation, generally imitate an author’s faults as well as his beauties. No man will ever become a good writer, or speaker, who has not some degree of confidence to follow his own genius. We ought to beware, in particular, of adopting any author’s noted phrases, or transcribing passages from him. Such a habit will prove fatal to all genuine composition. Infinitely better it is to have something that is our own, though of moderate beauty, than to affect to shine in borrowed ornaments, which will, at last, betray the utter poverty of our genius. On these heads of composing, correcting, reading, and imitating, I advise every student of oratory to consult what Quintilian has delivered in the Xth book of his Institutions, where he will find a variety of excellent observations and directions, that well deserve attention.