A Rhetorical Analysis Of Ascham

Ascham Analysis The observations of the sixteenth century scholar Roger Ascham examine the strangeness of winds that Ascham was able to observe through a snowfall. The purpose behind Toxophilus, the book in which this appears in is archery, which was a very important subject back in the ages of hunting for food. Ascham likely wrote about this experience in the snow to examine the intricacies of wind and how it can affect arrow accuracy, because arrow accuracy could’ve meant the difference between having a meal or not. Focus in the story remains mostly on the patterns of the snow as it moves in the wind. Rhetorically, the story is affected by the usage of syntax, diction, and the writer’s tone. One of the more prominent features within the passage is the differing usages of syntax to convey emotion throughout the text. While Ascham was there to experience the wildly differing and complex gusts of wind and snowfall, he still had to explain that to his readers. In explaining the differing amounts of snowfall, he had to use strategies such as polysyndeton, periodic and loose sentences to create a pattern in the passage that in itself ebbs and flows. Even in the opening sentence, there is that …show more content…
Also in the realm of diction and syntax, Ascham uses polysyndeton and various descriptive words to describe the varying levels of snow on the wind. The example of polysyndeton found in the passage is“For the one would stand still when the other flew apace, and so continue sometime swiftlier, sometime slowlier, sometime broader, sometime narrower, as far as I could see” (Ascham 21-23). Overall, the usage and effect of syntax in the passage is one of a fluttering tone and logical circumstance. It does make the text slightly more difficult to understand, but that also seems to be the chasm of difference between sixteenth and twenty-first century