Rhetorical Regarding Engineering

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FranktheFrank
Posts: 1983
Joined: 02 Mar 2016, 18:07
Location: Between the mountains and the sea

Rhetorical Regarding Engineering

#1 Post by FranktheFrank » 28 Jun 2022, 22:20

Amplification
The fitting shop contained a number of machine tools many of which belonged to another era
in other words old, outdated, clapped-out, ancient. There was one, the Craven lathe built
in 1861, the time of the American Civil War and we were a hundred years further on from
that first industrial war, a planing machine, with cast iron bed and driven by flat leather
belts.

Anacoluthon
And I have to tell you that the way the management . . . but then it would not reflect
properly when all we could see was from our limited point of view. There were wages
to be paid, and rates too which the council piled up year on year. There was the holiday
pay and the apprentices’ education and so it may be best if I leave that alone for now.

Anadiplosis
That discipline leads to technical knowledge and craft proficiency. Technical knowledge came
by constant use of the components used, from college classes and self-study. Craft proficiency
came from countless hours of practical application in workshops and machinery spaces.
Technical knowledge went hand in hand with practical experience together with college
classes they served each other and through constant daily use throughout the five year
training period perfected the skilled apprentice in the basics of his craft.

Antanagoge
It was a dark place, a place of congealed oil much like blood that blackened the concrete
floor, it was a cold place where we were obliged at times to huddle around the pot-belly
stoves to keep the cold from our bones, it was a place of ribaldry with reference of body
parts of men and women, but also a place of discipline where the work must be completed
and true. But don’t think that we were unhappy there for it was in that place we gained
the skills to endure in a closet world of machines, gearing, clutches, shafts and a myriad
other engineering devices, machines, tools, jigs, fixtures, apparatus and designs.

Apophasis
And these, often small, workshops dotted around industrial nations important to the wellbeing
of a nation. They repair and renovate, they give extra life to otherwise scrapable heavy machines,
extend life for another forty years which saves on using natural resources, iron ore, coal, gas
and all the other things involved in complex engineered machinery. But don’t get me wrong,
I’m not saying that engineering workshops know everything about engineering that there is no need
for degrees and postgraduate degrees into this fascinating discipline. No, I’m not saying that,
what I am saying is that the higher learning and the practical application go together and complete
the whole. One cannot truly exist without the other.

Assonance and Alliteration
Despite the long hours, the necessary attention to detail where one half of a thousandth of an inch
could mean the scrapping of that part and then to start all over again and again until that part
if completely right and true, there was enjoyment in such work. I loved the sound of reciprocating
machines, the slotter, shaper and the saw. The whoop and the wallop as the slotter completed its cut,
the scraping, scything cut of the shaping machine and the scooping, savaging slice of the mechanical-saw
meant something to me, music even, and by those sounds I could tell if the blade was sharp or not,
and if the cut was heavy enough or not, and if it were not the others: the foreman, the skilled men,
and my apprentice workmates they too would also know.

Asterismos
Listen, this isn’t about some great Alexander that waged global war, or a Newton that invented
the calculus or even about a Van Goch who painted a wheatfield with crows in no other way any
other painter would. This is about the plain, the ordinary, the lowly working environment
of an engineering repair workshop. Lowly men, and in wartime women too, who achieved
great things in an ordinary way.

Dysphemism and Euphemism
To be sure workmen could be impolite, infringe of one’s personal habits, appearance, parentage
or lack thereof. But they could also be kindly, teachers, imparters of secret knowledge, ambulance
attendants in accidents, first-aid medics when you needed them, and boy, did we need them.

Eutrepismus
If one was to ask, what is learned in an apprenticeship? I would answer unreservedly: discipline,
discipline and yet even more discipline. For without that trait a boy will never become a man,
he will not grow, and will not love to learn and grow. And from discipline comes application,
attending to the details of the task, To give it one’s sole attention hour after long hour,
to work overtime on that task and to finally overcome all obstacles and complete.
And from these two, discipline and application comes satisfaction and also character
forming because when a completed article steps forth into the world armed
with the micrometer and tool kit of knowledge who can stand in his way, what obstacle
can defeat him, he knowing what is achievable and testing know horizons.

Epilogue
And so, to tidy up, to make know the things I‘ve left out, to sum up and end the discourse.
It wasn’t the beginning, that started in school and home. It wasn’t the middle, that was to come,
it wasn’t the end of learning, it was the beginning to learn the basics. It was to continue learning
and when retirement came to reflect on all that had passed. Its was the hardest of times because
everything was new and I had no experience, had not hardened my body for the work, and not used
to its demands. Looking back, it was the most productive of times and once my body was hardened
and inured to the bleak surroundings and had sufficient knowledge and skill. I was armed with such
confidence that others wished to emulate, who were in awe, who called on me to perform and make
from the red ore magical artefacts to reflect the rubies buried in the earth for ages past by the creator
in who’s image we are made who’s craft we happy few, we engineers, aspire to.

BobBradshaw
Posts: 2683
Joined: 03 Jun 2016, 21:03

Re: Rhetorical Regarding Engineering

#2 Post by BobBradshaw » 29 Jun 2022, 00:17

To me the heart of this should be:

Asterismos
Listen, this isn’t about some great Alexander that waged global war, or a Newton that invented
the calculus or even about a Van Goch who painted a wheatfield with crows in no other way any
other painter would. This is about the plain, the ordinary, the lowly working environment
of an engineering repair workshop. Lowly and yet who achieved great things in an ordinary way.

Suggestion… shorten & shape this piece to serve this theme.

capricorn
Posts: 382
Joined: 21 Sep 2017, 23:23

Re: Rhetorical Regarding Engineering

#3 Post by capricorn » 29 Jun 2022, 03:06

Wow! Frank.

This is amazing and must have taken ages to write. I suppose it is more like prose. I agree with Bob about trimming back it will make it more accessible to the reader.

Eira

FranktheFrank
Posts: 1983
Joined: 02 Mar 2016, 18:07
Location: Between the mountains and the sea

Re: Rhetorical Regarding Engineering

#4 Post by FranktheFrank » 29 Jun 2022, 11:23

Thanks Eira
Took me twenty minutes using a poetry dictionary.
Prose poems are my thing, I guess, I just like them.
Bob always says cut back, I just don't know how to do it.
Make some suggestions?

I hope it's picked for the next month IBPC. It is available.
All my work is available unless I say otherwise.

best wishes
Ieuan (spelled with an i) :)

BobBradshaw
Posts: 2683
Joined: 03 Jun 2016, 21:03

Re: Rhetorical Regarding Engineering

#5 Post by BobBradshaw » 29 Jun 2022, 19:35

Ieuan, I don't pretend to know how to define poetry. Still, imho it isn't until the Asterismos section that it begins to feel more like poetry. It's where I feel some emotion coming through. So if I were trimming, i would start the piece at this section. You make a lot of good points in the remaining sections, but to have more impact and make this piece more entertaining, I would work in some imagery, either one extended metaphor or an image for each major thought. Since the narrator's voice feels like fatherly advice, why not make the narrator the father speaking to his son or daughter? That would resonate more with the reader.

FranktheFrank
Posts: 1983
Joined: 02 Mar 2016, 18:07
Location: Between the mountains and the sea

Re: Rhetorical Regarding Engineering

#6 Post by FranktheFrank » 29 Jun 2022, 21:09

Thanks Bob, each stanza gives an example of the word in question, for instant anadiplosis:

'Anadiplosis is a rhetorical and literary device wherein a word or phrase at or near the end of a clause is repeated at or near the beginning of the next clause. The word anadiplosis is of Greek origin, and means ‛doubling’ or ‛repetition.’ The device is commonly used for emphasis through the repetition of a key word or phrase, or to link a common theme through several separate clauses—often more than two. It’s also useful as a rhythmic device, breaking up what would otherwise be straightforward clauses and giving them an extra pause. This often results in a sentence that is more interesting to read or hear.' https://www.thoughtco.com/anadiplosis-r ... on-1689088

capricorn
Posts: 382
Joined: 21 Sep 2017, 23:23

Re: Rhetorical Regarding Engineering

#7 Post by capricorn » 30 Jun 2022, 23:22

Bob makes some good suggestions, Frank. This is a mammoth piece - I feel you should concentrate on one section at a time. It's amazing you wrote it in 20 mins.

Eira

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