Ancient Style – Draft 1

Most people today are familiar with the name Aristotle and the fact that he was an ancient philosopher. But what most people don’t realize is that he was among the first of many teachers to recognize that extraordinary uses of language could be studied systematically. (p. 231) According to Crowley and Hawhee, in Ancient Rhetoric for Modern Students, Aristotle was among the first teachers of rhetoric to recognize that rules could be drawn up and applied when using language to represent thoughts clearly and create change in emotional status. Many of us turn to another book that was written over 2000 years ago for measuring stick against quality of life, The Bible. Is it possible to use the rules of rhetoric written over 2000 years ago to judge the quality and effectiveness of contemporary rhetoric?

According to ancient rhetoricians there were four qualities that separate effective style from a less effective one. These four categories are correctness, clearness, appropriateness and ornament. In choosing the Cover Girl Lipstain advertisement, I set forth to analyze and apply the same standards created over two thousand years ago to determine effectiveness in contemporary rhetoric. This was not an easy task. The first three categories of effective style were pretty straightforward and easy to understand. However, the fourth category, ornament, was confusing and difficult to understand. I felt like a dog running around in circles chasing its tail. I found the actual history of the terms to be interesting learning. Also, I was surprised at how many of the technical terms that were identified and written about over 2000 years ago are still employed as criteria to determine effective writing style today.

The first two categories used to determine style are correctness and clarity. In the book, Crowley and Hawhee write that correctness means that writers “should use words that are current and should adhere to the grammatical rules of whatever language they used.” (p.231) Clarity is ability to let the meaning or the intent of the message shine through loud and clear. Historically, scholars were concerned about the grammatical correctness in rhetoric than they are today. Presently, writers, along with grammatical correctness, also need to use words and vocabulary that are currently being used by society and their target audience. Words should be free from being viewed as too hip, trendy or faddish. The Cover Girl commercial achieves this through clear and concise wording that has appeal across a broad spectrum of cultures. In hearing and seeing the ad, the viewer is under the impression that this lipstain is magic in that the color will never leave your lips. The term “marker” and “pen” implies that this is a product that will provide precision application and permanent coverage. In the book, Quinlian advised against “neologism” (p. 232) the practice of coining new words, for fear that the public will not understand them. The commercial makes use of the new word, “lipmagic.” Cover Girl overcame this objection by creating a word whose definition shone through loud and clear. This new lip color has staying power (without being sticky) that has never been achieved before; therefore, it has to be something like “magic.”

The third element of style is Appropriateness. According to Crawley and Hawhee, “Appropriateness probably derives from the Greek rhetorical notion to prepon; – meaning to say or do whatever is fitting in a given situation.” (p. 232) Body language, facial expressions, posture and gait need to be taken into account as to what kind of message is being displayed, despite what words are being said. Another aspect of Appropriateness that must be considered is the general attitudes and community standards of behavior of the audience.

This commercial features a beautiful actress with gorgeously stunning and colorful lips. It would be very easy to cross the very thin line between what is tasteful and what could be viewed as suggestive. Cover Girl does a great job in keeping the commercial appropriate for its audience of women. The ad stars Drew Barrymore. She is like the girl next door – all grown up. There are many close-ups of Drew and her lips, but she keeps it fun and flirty, even winking at the camera. In full screen she is shown dancing and moving with the air flowing about her. She holds a billowy scarf above her head. This physical image helps supply meaning to the “light as air” reference and also a play to the Cover Girls slogan of “easy, breezy, beautiful Cover Girl. Overall, I find the commercial to be presented in the Middle style of appropriateness. It doesn’t use plain and ordinary words, but I don’t find the words or structure to be sophisticated enough to be classified as Grand. The words easy, breezy, beautiful, help to keep this message appealing to all
The last and most complex category of style is Ornament. Crawley and Hawhee refer to this as “the most important of excellences of style.”(p. 235) Ornament means that the language has the characteristics of being unusual or extraordinary. Three subcategories of ornament are: figures of thought, figures of language and tropes. Ornament can also enhance in persuasion and aid in clarity. While figures are somewhat varied in sentence structure, tropes contain the characterization of substituting of one word or phrase for another. These terms, created so long ago, are present and applicable in modern media.

This commercial is made up of two different types of sentence structure, Paratactic and Periodic. Paratactic is described as having words in the usual order, the point of the sentence being first. A few of these sentences are: Read my lips. This is not a lipstick.; and It’s lip magic in a marker. Periodic sentence structure is defined as not having the meaning come at the beginning, but may be distributed among several parts of the sentence. An example of a Periodic Sentence is: Colorful, original, but never one to get in a sticky situation, that’s Outlast Lipstain from Cover Girl. This helps to keep the ad well balanced.

The ad also employs many instances of figures of repetition, (calling attention to words or ideas that are important.) The word for “something that colors the lips” is used nine different times; lipstick, lipwear, lipstain, lipmagic, lips, While it doesn’t have a specific name according to the definitions listed on page 243, I think it is important to mention that the uses of these same but differentiated words keeps the attention and focus on the lips.

This ad also displays the use of Anticipation in that it presents the answer to an argument before it is even anticipated. It’s never sticky because it is a stain and it won’t leave your lips because it’s from Outlast. This sentence also employs the use of Hendiadys as cited in the book, “the use of two words connected by a conjunction, instead of subordinating one to the other, to express a single complex idea. Also, though ancient rhetors did not recognize this type of sentence structure, it can be classified as a compound sentence. Each section of this period has meaning by itself and could stand alone. (p. 237) This sentence also contains the use of an anaphora, the repetition of a word at the beginning of separate phrases, clauses or lines; it’s and because.

The element of personification – “the attribution of personality to an impersonal thing” (eweb article) is evident in the first sentence, “but never one to get into a sticky situation” ; it is also a pun, because, lipstick can be sticky, and a sticky situation is one that is hard to get out of and something that one wouldn’t normally put themselves into in the first place.

“Light as air lipwear that does what a lipstick can’t,” contains the simile, light as air. Crowley and Hawhee state that a simile is an explicit comparison between two things using like or as. The stain is being compared to the weight of air. This sentence also uses the device of metonomy (p. 257) names something with a word or phrase closely associated with it. Lipwear can signify lipstick. It also uses alliteration, the beginning ‘L’ sound in light and lipstick. It also contains the element of assonance, (the repetition of the same sounding words close to each other (eweb); air/wear.

The sentence “The precision pen glides over lips with a flush of sheer color.” Paints a more vivid picture of the user having perfectly applied lipstick that can’t be achieved with a stick. This sentence is a form of a periphrasis. (p.257) Quintillian defines uses of this figure as “”whatever might have been expressed with great brevity, but is expanded for purpose of ornament.”” This also seems to be more of a grand style of a sentence, using the more formal words glide, precision pen, and flush where a more common word would do. Precision pen is another example of alliteration with the hard P sound.

The final analysis of this commercial is of the sentence, “Read my lips.” This is a bold paradox that seems to stand out exponentially from the ad. When someone says “read my lips,” they don’t really mean that they are going to just mouth the words, but it is to meant that what is about to be said will be very important. This statement can be taken that way, but also in the opposite of that, the viewer really can “read” her lips and see that the application, coverage and color of the stain is flawless. I think that this is the Most powerful sentence in the whole commercial.

With the exception of figures and tropes, being so confusing, I think that using 2,000 year old definitions of effective ancient style to analyze contemporary media is not only possible but can be deemed appropriate and relevant. The Cover Girl commercial contained many of the elements that were deemed effective my ancient rhetorics. So, just as we can refer to the bible for guidance and direction for appropriate living, the same can be said about the elements of style as written by ancient rhetoricians.