The Five CanonsThe classical production process for a persuasive speech.Communications & MediaIn the order the tradition uses them.1InventionFinding the available arguments. What could be said at all?2ArrangementOrdering them: opening, statement, proof, refutation, close.3StyleThe words themselves, and how plain or heightened they shouldbe.4MemoryHolding the structure so you speak to people rather than to paper.5DeliveryVoice, pace and body. The same words fail or land on this.Most modern speech-writing stops after style, which is why so manywell-written speeches are badly given.The Five Canonslearnposters.com
The Five Canons — printable humanities wall chart from LearnPosters. Free vector PDF, US Letter and A4.

The Five Canons, step by step

In the order the tradition uses them.

  1. InventionFinding the available arguments. What could be said at all?
  2. ArrangementOrdering them: opening, statement, proof, refutation, close.
  3. StyleThe words themselves, and how plain or heightened they should be.
  4. MemoryHolding the structure so you speak to people rather than to paper.
  5. DeliveryVoice, pace and body. The same words fail or land on this.

Most modern speech-writing stops after style, which is why so many well-written speeches are badly given.

Questions about the The Five Canons poster

What’s on the The Five Canons poster?
5 numbered steps. In the order the tradition uses them. Invention — Finding the available arguments. What could be said at all?; Arrangement — Ordering them: opening, statement, proof, refutation, close.; Style — The words themselves, and how plain or heightened they should be.; Memory — Holding the structure so you speak to people rather than to paper.; Delivery — Voice, pace and body. The same words fail or land on this.. Most modern speech-writing stops after style, which is why so many well-written speeches are badly given.
Who is the The Five Canons poster for?
The Five Canons belongs to the Communications & Media section rather than to a school year, because humanities is not something one grade owns. Anyone learning rhetoric & argument can pin it up — a beginner, a student mid-course, or someone revising years later.
When should you use the The Five Canons poster?
As a checklist when a speech is finished but not yet working. A wall chart earns its place by being glanceable from where the work is happening, so The Five Canons belongs on the wall where that humanities work actually happens, within glancing distance, rather than filed away.
What other posters go with The Five Canons?
Delivery, Structuring a Speech and Kinds of Claim sit alongside The Five Canons in the Communications & Media section. Printed together they make a wall rather than a single sheet, which is how a reference set actually gets used.DeliveryStructuring a SpeechKinds of Claim
Is the The Five Canons poster free to download and print?
Yes. The Five Canons downloads as a free PDF with no account, no email and no watermark, like everything else in the Communications & Media section. Print as many copies as you like for a home, a classroom, a library or a tutoring group; reselling the file is the only thing the licence rules out.Read the licence
What size does the The Five Canons poster print at?
The Five Canons is a vector PDF laid out for US Letter, and prints on A4 with Fit to page — the same file, no separate download. Because every mark on it is drawn rather than photographed, it stays sharp enlarged to A3, A2 or A1 at a copy shop. Colour carries emphasis only, so a greyscale print of The Five Canons loses nothing.Printing guide

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