Original Oration
Assignment requirements:
Time: 7 minutes
Purpose: This is where you soar. Pick a topic about which you’d like to motivate your audience. Utilize every tool you’ve learned in your study of rhetoric thus far, and write an oratorical speech that demonstrates “secure mastery.”
Paperwork: none
Explanation:
Imitatio is an ancient exercise designed to help orators cultivate excellence of style by studying and emulating past masters. By first memorizing, then studying, imitating and bringing to bear on a contemporary situation, a great speech from days of yore, you will develop your rhetorical sensibilities in a time tested fashion. By the time you get around to your original composition, you will amaze and astound your friends and family with the abiliy you’ve developed to work with words. What is more, you will think more deeply, and be better equipped to achieve human excellence. That’s what a liberal arts education is all about! The top orators from class will be invited to present their work publicly and will secure a spot in the RhetoricRing.com Student Oratory Hall of Fame! (Do you know how good that looks on a resumé?;)
Questions? Post them in the discussion forum
This speech is weighted double because you are expected to labor over it, reflect on it and, especially, reflect in it your ability to apply what you’ve learned this term.
Don’t forget to have fun!