The assignment from Dr. Logan:
Please write a brief (500-750 words) essay that performs a rhetorical analysis of the front materials and first chapter of the novel you have selected for your research project. You will then use this rhetorical analysis to consider the novel as a whole.
See Trish Roberts-Miller’s “Understanding Misunderstandings: How to do a rhetorical analysis” for more information about rhetorical analysis.
[Submitted: 17 September 2010]
In approaching Milcah Martha Moore’s Book, certain facts have to be taken into consideration. Milcah Martha Moore was the only transcriber of the text, yet she did not contribute any prose or poetry pieces to the work. Moore functioned as the editor and compiler, and the entries include both original creations and transcriptions of popular prose and/or poetry by various authors. How does one then speak about the intentions of the implied author when there are sixteen distinct authors plus thirteen unidentified authors? Do I choose to focus on the implied editor/compiler because, as Catherine L. Blecki states, “…organizing transcriptions in a commonplace book reveals a transcriber’s habits of mind and emotion” (MMMB 62)? Or look at themes or the purpose of the text from the viewpoint of the implied audience, whom I already know to be “…a relatively small audience of family and friends who were affectionate, literature, and tolerant of many points of view” (MMMB 60)? The answer, I believe, lies within the text itself; this rhetorical analysis will focus on the themes presented on the title page and within the first informal section of the commonplace book, as defined by Blecki and Kari A. Wulf (entries 1-29).
MMMB is not a published text; rather, it is a handwritten manuscript originally bound in calfskin and transcribed during the middle years of the American Revolution. Mimicking a published book, there is a title page that precedes the 126 entries; this title page provides a brief glimpse into what a reader will encounter within the book. The actual title of the text, Martha Moore’s Book, is centered vertically and horizontally on the page, and is accompanied by a horizontal flourish. It is also the largest script on the title page. The title is written in cursive, whereas the rest of the text is a mixture of print and cursive. Below the title is information concerning the author of this work: “Milcah Martha Hill / born Madeira / Married / Charles Moore.” Moore identifies herself as the editor of the book, without the apologies often present in women’s published works in early American literature.
The commonplace book served multiple functions for the contemporary reader – it was meant to invoke discussion, record relationships between the audience and authors, and even perhaps, induce them to scribble their notes in the margin, or title page, of the book. Relationships, whether through marriage or religious affinity (Quakers), are a focus and theme of the text. From the title page: “Fidelia’s sisTer was Sarah griffitts .d July 19, 176 [cut off]” and “Married / Charles Moore,” “{her MoT [cut off] / Deborah d? / -dT Richard [cut off] / Sept. 29. 1 [cut off].” It appears that all the handwriting on the title page is Moore’s; if so, the scribbles on the title page could indicate additions Moore wished to incorporate to the text, or poetry and/or verse she wanted to read. For example, “HSP – Has Poem To Exiles in Virginia by H. Grif [cut off]” is located near the top of the page, above the title of the book. Thus another theme presents itself – the preservation of creative works by friends and family (Griffitts was Moore’s cousin).
The modern edition includes a table of contents, but it is not clear whether or not this was present in the original commonplace book. The first informal section is comprised of twenty-nine entries, all composed by Susannah Wright except two entries from Hannah Griffitts, one “by a female,” one by “Samuel Clarke Jr.” and closing out the section, an entry by “Eugenio.” Except the entry by Samuel Clarke Jr., all others are poetry, a “medium that brought women together in mutual support for writing” (MMMB 79).
The initial, and obvious, theme is the poetry of Wright. A simple and swift perusal of the entry titles yields other obvious themes, those of friendship (“An Essay on Friendship,” “To a Friend.—On some Misunderstanding,” and “On Friendship”) and death (“On the Death of an Infant,” “On the Death of a little Girl,” “On Death,” “On the Death of two infant Nephews,” “To the Memory of Charles Norris,” and “Verses to the Memory of Rebecca Chapman”). Taking a closer look at the entries reveals more complex allusions to struggles in faith, women’s relationship with God, the right of women to speak, the inevitability of Death, apocalyptic predictions, the unknowable future, womanly interpretations of the Bible, and issues of faith.
Though so many different themes appear throughout the first section, one does not feel overwhelmed and confused. Despite five distinct authors, Wright’s contributions dominate and anchor the section. Most of the themes appear to be instances within Wright’s life that prompted or compelled her to commit the memory or happenstance to writing. These experiences, such as death of a loved one or interpretation of Biblical passages, would serve as a shared experience for the implied audience – Moore’s (and Wright’s) friends and family. I expect to find, in the rest of MMMB, an expansion upon the already mentioned themes through the medium of shared experiences, expressed through poetry and prose.
Works Cited:
Blecki, Catherine L., and Karin A. Wulf, eds. Milcah Martha Moore's Book: a Commonplace
Book from Revolutionary America. University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State UP, 1997. Print.
