Burke's use of classical rhetoric.

BACKGROUND almost beggar the English language in search of panegyric or disparagement, they merely describe his oratory.They do not analyze it; they James Prior, Memoir of the Life and Character of the Right Hon.Edmund Burke with Specimens of His Poetry and Letters and an Estimate of His Genius and Talents, Compared with Those of His Great Contemporaries (5th ed., 2 vols.;New York: Burt Franklin, 1968), II, 414.do not show how or by what means Burke produces the effects they 2 either extol or deprecate.The purpose of this study is to investigate Burke's use of classical rhetoric.The dissertation attempts to show how his classical rhetoric operates and to illustrate the thesis that his rhetoric is integral to his subject matter.The study focuses primarily upon "Speech on American Taxation" and to a lesser extent upon "Speech on Conciliation with America" and "Letter to the Sheriffs of Bristol."These works were selected because they deal with one theme, the English-American dispute; because they offer a survey of Burke's structure, devices, strategy, and technique; and because these pieces are more familiar to most Americans.To accomplish the purpose of this study, the following procedure is essential: (1) to examine Burke's preparation for parliamentary 2 See the following for excellent discussions of rhetorical analysis and rhetorical criticism: Herbert August Wichelns, "The Literary Criticism of Oratory," in The Rhetorical Idiom: Essays in Rhetoric, Oratory, Language, and Drama, Presented to Herbert August Wichelns, edited, with a Foreword by Donald Cross Bryant (New York: Russell & Russell, 1966), pp.5-42; H. H. Hudson, "The Field of Rhetoric," Quarterly Journal of Speech, IX (November, 1923), 177; Loren D. Reid, "The Perils of Rhetorical Criticism," Quarterly Journal of Speech, XXX (December, 1944), 416-422; William Norwood Brigance, "\\fhat Is a Successful Speech?" Quarterly Journal of Speech, XI (November, 1925), 372-377; Donald C. Bryant, "Rhetoric: Its Functions and Its Scope," Quarterly Journal of Speech, XXXIX (December, 1953), 422; Kenneth Burke, A Grammar of Motives and a Rhetoric of Motives (Cleveland: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1950); L. H. Mouat, "An Approach to Rhetorical Criticism," in The Rhetorical Idiom: Essays in Rhetoric, Oratory, Language, and Drama, Presented to Herbert August Wichelns, edited, with a Foreword by Donald Cross Bryant (New York: Russell & Russell, 1966), pp.161-177; Marie Hochmuth Nichols, Rhetoric and Criticism (Baton Rouge, La.: Louisiana State University Press, 1963).oratory, (2) to compare his own pronouncements on rhetoric with those of the ancients, (3) to examine his audience, (4) to review the historical background which occasioned the works, ( 5) to analyze critically selected works for specific employment of classical rhetoric and to show how it operates, and (6) to evaluate the effectiveness of his application of classical knowledge. Burke's Preparation for Parliamentary OratoryWhen in 1766 Edmund Burke sat for the borough of Wendover in the House of Commons, he came thoroughly prepared to assume his role as a leading parliamentary orator.Naturally gifted, he had received 3 a good education in the Augustan tradition.A sickly, bookish sixyear-old child, he first attended school in the fortalice of Monamimy Castle, the estate of his mother's people at Ballyduff.Here his master, a certain O'Halloran, nurtured his devotion to classical and 4 medieval literature.In 1741 Burke became a boarder at Ballitore School, kept by Quaker Abraham Shackleton, a classical scholar of considerable eminence.Shackleton encouraged the boy's predilection for the classics.