pas·tiche/paˈstēSH/
Noun:An artistic work in a
style that imitates that
of another work,
artist, or period.
Verb: Imitate the style of
(an artist or work).
Pastiche
Assignment—
“Letter from a Birmingham Jail”
Your typed, MLA pastiche will be due…._____________________________. You have embraced ethos. You have come to love logos. You pity pathos. Now that you have learned to appreciate, nay, to savor, MLK’s rhetorical genius in the pages of his “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” you are going to finally get in touch with your own inner rhetorical genius—though perhaps with a little more levity than Dr. King enjoyed. You’ll be writing a pastiche of the “Letter,” essentially a stylistic and rhetorical imitation. What will I imitate, you ask? Consider the following: •
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Syntax (anaphora, chiasmus, parallelism, antithesis, hypophora, asyndeton) Diction Appeals to logos, ethos, and pathos The deft handling of counterarguments (procatalepsis) Rhetorical questions The use of simile, metaphor, allusion, analogy, imagery What Will I Write About? All students will generate a topic, writing it down on a slip of paper. Then each student will randomly pick a slip and write advocating whatever position is indicated. Each slip must contain the following information: A specific speaker, a specific purpose, and a specific audience. How long does my pastiche need to be? At least 1 MLA page, no more than 3. Is that all I have to do? Nope. After you’ve written your pastiche, discuss the five rhetorical devices or stylistic techniques that best evidence your attempts to imitate MLK (2-­‐3 paragraphs).