Question 1

For what ability was Joanna Vaz famous?

Accepted Answer

Joanna Vaz was a Portuguese woman with a reputation for eloquence. She gained this reputation at a time when women were generally prohibited from speaking in public. While no written record of her speeches survived, she gained status through her oratorical ability, and was appointed tutor to the daughter of the King and Queen of Portugal.

Question 2

What does it mean to say that Christine de Pizan was a polemical writer?

Accepted Answer

Christine de Pizan can be understood as a polemical writer because she was a fierce advocate who was actively involved in controversies of the day. As a powerful writer and active rhetorician, she wrote several outspoken defenses of women in a time when many popular books portrayed women as immoral and incompetent. Christine used her immense rhetorical ability to encourage women to find meaning in their lives and pursue worthy acts.

Question 3

What was the status of rhetorical studies in Renaissance education?

Accepted Answer

Rhetoric was an aid to contemplation and moral refinement, as well as a path to political power.Rhetorical skill was the sign of an educated person, surpassing the prestige of philosophers, as rhetoric was able to combine both eloquence and wisdom. Over 2,500 books on rhetoric were published during this period. Students had large numbers of rhetorical strategies and terms.

Question 4

Identify some of the defining characteristics of Humanism.

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Question 5

What famous book by Castiglione retrieved, for Renaissance European readers, Cicero's notion of the perfectus orator?

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Question 6

What is Richard Lanham's explanation of the development of rhetorical figures of speech?

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Question 7

What was Valla's opinion regarding the relationship between rhetoric and philosophy?

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Question 8

What is the significance of the concept of the vita activa to Renaissance rhetoric? To which concept was it opposed?

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Question 9

Who was Averroes? What role did he play in the history of Renaissance rhetoric?

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Question 10

What was the response of many Humanists to the earlier Scholastic approach to education?

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Question 11

What impact did the fall of Constantinople have on Italian Humanism?

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Question 12

In what way are Agricola and Ramus significant to the history of rhetoric?

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Question 13

How were style and science related in the late Renaissance?

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Question 14

What innovation did Madame de Scudery bring to rhetoric?

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Question 15

Humanists imagined a return to classical studies as providing a basis for broad social change. Is it still possible to imagine educational reform leading to social reform? Explain.

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Question 16

Respond to the idea advocated by the Humanists that speech is the means by which human beings create civilization. Is this account too simple? Are there factors other than speech that could be said to be the basis for civilization?

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Question 17

In what ways does the commercial life of modern democratic societies still depend on rhetorical skills? What studies would a new rhetoric, supportive of commercial and political life include?

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Question 18

What argument could be made against Ramus' reduction of rhetoric to a concern for style and ornament in language? What argument could be made in favor of this reduction?

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Question 19

What contemporary examples reflect that there is a connection between style and political or ideological commitments?

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Question 20

Important to the revival of rhetoric during this period was the rise of an educated class of ___________________, which were rhetorically trained secretaries that were responsible for negotiating, recording, and communicating much of a city's civic functions.

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Quiz 7: Rhetoric in the Renaissance