Blog Assignment 1

I did not have a good idea of what rhetoric was before the reading. What I thought it was was some sort of use of speaking or writing that was there to try to persuade the listener/reader. After reading Herrick's introduction I have a somewhat better understanding of what rhetoric is. It seems that the same basic definition of what I believed rhetoric was is an important part of rhetoric as a whole, but from the readings there is much more to it than simple persuasion through speech and writings. Herrick describes it as "intentional practice of effective symbolic expression", and explains that what rhetoric is used for is just as important as how it is being used and goes on to state several characteristics of how it is commonly used. From my understanding from the reading I would extend the definition of rhetoric to say that it is also used to convey ideas or messages, not jus tpersuasion, through a number of means beyond speaking and writing with an added importance of how it is being used in different situations.