Assignment: Rhetorically Amplifying Thanks

In our course on rhetoric and civilization, my students and I explored the medieval art of poetry and found in Geoffrey of Vinsauf's treatise (from about the year 1200) a familiar concept of amplification. This was varied a bit by the medieval setting and the focus on poetry, but is remarkably similar to methods outlined by Quintilian for the ancient Romans (as well as by others before and following him).

Medieval Christianity reconfigured classical rhetorical practices for its own purposes, as we have seen in the arts of letter writing and preaching. The use of amplification can simply become a mode of invention, as in classical times, but the topics about which Christians wrote and spoke were aligned with Christian belief. High among these is the concept of grace: Christians have traditionally "counted their blessings" in order to appreciate God's role in their lives.

At the occasion of Thanksgiving, I wish my students to practice this Christian content (the topic of thanks) while understanding medieval rhetoric through an exercise in amplification. In short, their assignment is to take a familiar and even hackneyed topic (giving thanks) and use the approaches taught in Geoffrey of Vinsauf's Poetria Nova to make this concept fresh and interesting:


Method:

1. Browse Geoffrey of Vinsauf's Poetria Nova to get a source of ways to amplify content (see section III  on amplification [pp. 23-40] and section IV on ornaments of style [pp. 42-72])
2. In a post of about 200-300 words, use some of the methods described or modeled by Geoffrey of Vinsauf and amplify on the theme of counting one's blessings. (For help on understanding the terms he uses, look these up on Silva Rhetoricae. For example, he mentions "subjectio," which is defined here)
3. Along the way, indicate the methods you are employing (see how these are indicated in the margins of Geoffrey's example on pp. 56-60). You can use Greek, English, or Latin terms, in brackets, following these. See the example, below.
4. Create a unified piece of prose (avoid merely listing). Follow Geoffrey's model exercises and unify your amplification into a connected piece of prose. If you wish, you can indicate a genre for your amplification: a prayer, a speech, etc.

Tips:

• Use the various proposed methods to take an approach that sets you apart from trite and traditional approaches to this topic, and which can also differentiate your example of copia from your peers or from the exact things we tried together in class.
• If Geoffrey's methods mystify you, then draw upon other more familiar figures of speech or topics of invention as outlined in Silva Rhetoricae. Just be sure that you label what you do.

Example Post:

Post Title: Rich with Poor Eyesight

My ocular orbs [periphrasis] lack perfection. Without correction, there is little distinction between sky, earth, people, animals, or objects [asyndeton]. "If thine eye offend thee," said Jesus, "pluck it out." [sententia]. If both eyes offend, should I pluck them both out? I think not. [anthypophora] For my poor eyes are rich in sight [antithesis]. Each day that I put on my glasses, I rediscover the faculty of sight, unlike those whose perfect eyesight allows them to take sight for granted [comparison]. If I did not have to put my arms out before me for guidance so often, I would be over confident in guiding myself [antecedent / consequence]. It is no small blessing to have a lack of sight [litotes]. My blindness [hyberbole] makes me pause, pausing makes me think, and thinking makes me "see" how many faculties I truly do have. [anadiplosis] If offered the miracle of sight requiring no correction, would I be correct [polyptoton]? I hesitate to say if I would be better off [dubitatio]. No, I would not be better off [correctio]. The blessing of this limit seems to have no limit [epistrophe, paradox].