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The paper, which centers on the study of application of personification to university English writing, is pided into five chapters. Chapter one is the introduction. It consists of three sections: a brief analysis of university English writing, the purpose and the structure of the paper. Chapter two will present what is rhetoric by the explanation of origins of modern rhetoric, contents of modern rhetoric and the three fundamental elements in writing. In Chapter Three, the author will talk about English rhetoric and English writing, especially some detailed information of personification. Next chapter, the paper gives a brief analysis of university English writing as well as useful suggestions to cultivate students’ personified thoughts in English writing. Chapter Five, it is a conclusion and encourages students to apply personification to their English writings frequently.
II. Personification
2.1 A Brief Description of Modern Rhetoric
Rhetoric originated in speaking. Aristotle, in the 4th century BC, first defined rhetoric as the art of persuasion, equivalent to argumentation as people understand today. In Athens, the center of western civilization, great orators, by exercising their rhetoric, gained following and support, and eventually, political power. John Locke, English philosopher of the late 17th century, described rhetoric as “the science of oratory”, or “the art of speaking with propriety, elegance, and force”. All this explains why the word “rhetoric” means “speaking” in such European languages as Greek, Latin, French, and Spanish.
With the development of the modern printing industry in the 19th century, rhetoric came to be understood as the ability to write or speak well in ornate and showy language. Today there are still people who equate rhetoric with the adoption of stylistic devices or the use of figures of speech in speech or writing.iting