Questions on Rhetoric and Style

1. What does Emerson mean when he says, “Nature loves analogies, but not repetitions” (para. 1)?

   Chapter 5 - from Education - Questions on Rhetoric and Style: What does Emerson mean when he says, “Nature loves analogies, but not repetitions” (para. 1)?
2. Why is the relationship between “Genius and Drill,” as Emerson explains it, paradoxical (para. 3)?

   Chapter 5 - from Education - Questions on Rhetoric and Style: Why is the relationship between “Genius and Drill,” as Emerson explains it, paradoxical (para. 3)?
3. Paragraph 4 is taken up almost entirely by an extended example. What is Emerson’s purpose in developing this long explanation?

   Chapter 5 - from Education - Questions on Rhetoric and Style: Paragraph 4 is taken up almost entirely by an extended example. What is Emerson’s purpose in developing this long explanation?
4. Identify at least three examples of figurative language that Emerson uses to advance his argument, and explain their effect. In responding, consider the following line from paragraph 11: “Alas for the cripple Practice when it seeks to come up with the bird Theory, which flies before it.”

   Chapter 5 - from Education - Questions on Rhetoric and Style: Identify at least three examples of figurative language that Emerson uses to advance his argument, and explain their effect. In responding, consider the following line from paragraph 11: “Alas for the cripple Practice when it seeks to come up with the bird Theory, which flies before it.”
5. Identify examples of the following rhetorical strategies in paragraph 13, and explain their effect: rhetorical questions, sentence variety and pacing, analogy, allusion, and imperative sentences.

   Chapter 5 - from Education - Questions on Rhetoric and Style: Identify examples of the following rhetorical strategies in paragraph 13, and explain their effect: rhetorical questions, sentence variety and pacing, analogy, allusion, and imperative sentences.
6. Examine Emerson’s appeals to pathos through highly emotional and evocative diction.

   Chapter 5 - from Education - Questions on Rhetoric and Style: Examine Emerson’s appeals to pathos through highly emotional and evocative diction.
7. Rephrase the following sentence in contemporary language: “And yet the familiar observation of the universal compensations might suggest the fear that so summary a stop of a bad humor was more jeopardous than its continuance” (para. 12).

   Chapter 5 - from Education - Questions on Rhetoric and Style: Rephrase the following sentence in contemporary language: “And yet the familiar observation of the universal compensations might suggest the fear that so summary a stop of a bad humor was more jeopardous than its continuance” (para. 12).
8. Explain why you do or do not interpret the opening line of paragraph 14 as ironic: “I confess myself utterly at a loss in suggesting particular reforms in our ways of teaching.”

   Chapter 5 - from Education - Questions on Rhetoric and Style: Explain why you do or do not interpret the opening line of paragraph 14 as ironic: “I confess myself utterly at a loss in suggesting particular reforms in our ways of teaching.”
9. Why does Emerson believe that the “will, the male power” (para. 14) will be of less benefit to the child than “[s]ympathy, the female force”?

   Chapter 5 - from Education - Questions on Rhetoric and Style: Why does Emerson believe that the “will, the male power” (para. 14) will be of less benefit to the child than “[s]ympathy, the female force”?
10. What is Emerson’s purpose in shifting among the pronouns I, we, and you?

    Chapter 5 - from Education - Questions on Rhetoric and Style: What is Emerson’s purpose in shifting among the pronouns I, we, and you?
11. How would you describe Emerson’s tone in this essay?

    Chapter 5 - from Education - Questions on Rhetoric and Style: How would you describe Emerson’s tone in this essay?