Five Cannons Of Rhetoric

The Five Cannons of Rhetoric are an ancient guide the Romans developed. This guide was used for speeches and writing. These Five Cannons are invention, arrangement, style, memory, and delivery. Although these Five Cannons were developed many years ago, they still hold to be just as viable today. Initially, invention is the first and most crucial of the Five Cannons. Invention is the step in which the writer brainstorms and develops a topic. Without this step, there would be no speech, which makes it the backbone of every paper. During this step, the writer will consider the audience the speaker is speaking to, so that the speech is effective. If the speaker does not capture the attention of the audience, the speech losing all purpose.

This step focuses on the organization of the speech. A speaker would be unwise to start a speech stating all the weaknesses of the argument. The ending of a speech is usually the most memorable because it is the last point the audience hears. Saving the weakest point for the end would not cut it, and would overall make the argument weaker. For these reasons, and many others, the arrangement step is very important. Furthermore, the third step is style. The style of a speech is basically the skill behind the speech. Making sure that the speaker speaks with clarity and uses correct grammar throughout the speech is what this step involves. If the speaker is not clear, the audience may misinterpret the message. And incorrect grammar throughout a speech would make the argument significantly weaker. Moreover, memory is the next step. If a speaker cannot remember the speech, there is no argument that can be made. Memory is crucial in speaking. The goal is not to sound like a robot reciting words off a paper, but to have the ability to communicate each important point the speaker is wanting to relay. Another important part of memory, is having perfect memory of factual information and possible quotes that can be accessed during the