RHETORIC AND MASONRY

by James Lincoln Warren, P.M., P.H.P.

On life's vast ocean diversely we sail,

Reason the card, but passion is the gale.1
Alexander Pope wrote those words in his poem, Essay on Man, published in 1734. The
poem was intended, in his own words, as a rational argument to vindicate the ways of God to
man. 2
Pope was a practicing Roman Catholic in a Protestant nation where the rights of Catholics
were severely proscribed, but it isn't an accident that Essay on Man took as its aim the exact same
didactic purpose that the strict Calvinist John Milton claimed for his great masterpiece, Paradise Lost,
sixty years earlier: to justify the ways of God to men.3 In doing so, Pope was not only making an
allusion to the greatest epic poem in the English language, thereby implying a like profundity to his
own work; he was invoking Miltons central argument, which is that faith and salvation, and in fact
the existence of the Cosmos, are meaningless without free will. It is important to realize that free
will, while its existence may be the gift of God, is exercised by man without divine interventionit
is an activity of independent human intelligence. We are all endowed with the capacity to make up
our own minds.
Using this idea as his starting point, Pope was attempting, in the spirit of the Enlightenment
philosophical and aesthetic principles of his time, to find common ground with the diverse
theological doctrines then prevailing. Its sincerely spiritual purpose notwithstanding, Essay on Man
accordingly adopts a vigorous humanistic tone: Know, then, thyself, presume not God to
scan;/The proper study of mankind is man.4
Essay on Man is an exercise in verbal persuasion. Persuasion as a concept assumes the
1

Pope, Alexander. Essay on Man, Epistle II, ll.107-108. (1734)

Pope, Alexander. Essay on Man, Argument, l. 16. (1734)

Milton, John. Paradise Lost, Book I, l. 26. (1674)

Pope, Alexander. Essay on Man, Epistle II, ll.1-2. (1734)

existence of free will by its very natureif there were no liberty of choice in what we as human
beings believe, it would hardly be necessary to convince others of the rightness of our ideas.
The Oxford English Dictionary defines rhetoric as, The art of using language so as to
persuade or influence others; the body of rules to be observed by a speaker or writer in order that he
may express himself with eloquence.
Rhetoric, of course, is one of the Seven Liberal Arts and Sciences, more specifically one of
the three disciplines included in the Trivium, the three roads of the so-called Classical Education.
In the Middle Ages, its study was considered fundamental to the attainment of a well ordered mind.
These days its formal study is relatively rare, although it will be touched upon in any university
English Composition class. Of all the liberal arts, it is now the least understood, and the most
debasedit is not uncommon, for example, that a politicians ideological critics will refer to one of
his public speeches as being mere rhetoric, devoid of meaning and purpose, intended only to
inflame the passions. And yet, rhetoric is an essential part of the way we communicate every day.
Every one of us uses rhetorical techniques in our daily speech without even realizing it, the same
way that we sing along with a favorite song being played on the radio without a consciousness of the
diatonic structure of the melody or the progression of the accompanying chords.
And although he didnt intend it as such, the quote I opened with may be taken as a
definition of rhetoric itself, one that is expressed rhetorically: On life's vast ocean diversely we
sail,/Reason the card, but passion is the gale.
Pope is using one of the most basic of rhetorical devices, the metaphor. He compares our
journey through life to an ocean voyage. Reason is the card, that is, we guide ourselves along our
journey by making use of rational thought in the same way that a navigator on a vessel guides the
ship by using a maritime compass. The use of the word card to mean compass is another
rhetorical device, one called synecdoche, which means referring to a whole by one of its components,
in the same way that you might refer to your car as your wheels, since the card in a maritime
compass is that part of the compass that actually shows which direction the ship is headed in.
(Terrestrial compasses usually use a needle instead.) Thus, reason shows us which direction in life
we should travelbut it isnt the force that pushes us forward. Passion is the galethat is, passion
is the wind that fills the sails that surge our ship forward; in other words, it is our feelings and not
our thoughts that compose the motivating force behind our actions.
It is another of the three branches of the Trivium, logic, that provides the card, what we
Masons refer to as the dictates of reason, but it is rhetoric that provides the gale, that influence

which builds the emotions that provide the passion that propels us forwardit is not a coincidence
that when under the influence of powerful feelings, we describe ourselves as being moved. It is
rhetorics job to fuel that passion.
Rhetoric accomplishes this in two principal ways. First, it makes extensive use of figures of
speech, like metaphors and similes, that not only engage our rationality, but more importantly
engage our imaginations. Secondly, it uses the tone of languageelevated, humorous, idiomatic,
ironic, depending on the purpose being served or the point being illustratedand the cadence of
language, through the use of rhythm, repetition, and consonant or dissonant sounds that match the
ideas being expressed.
Allow me to illustrate. Pope wrote another essay in verse that among other things
specifically discussed the use of rhetorical devices, An Essay on Criticism, published in 1711. It
contains a plethora of quotable lines, including To err is Humane, to forgive, Divine5, and A little
Learning is a dangrous thing;/Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring6, but the one I have in
mind is, The sound must seem an echo to the sense.7
The most striking thing about this sentiment is its rhetorical use of alliteration, the repetition
of a particular consonant: sound-seem-sense. The presence of this alliteration actually sets up the
echo effect Pope wants us to understand. The word echo also makes use of a rhetorical device
known as synaesthesia, where a sensual effect is attributed to something to which it does not actually
correspond. A sense, by which Pope means an intended meaning, cannot actually echo at all, after
all, but the image of a meaning being echoed in words is a very powerful one.
Much of good rhetoric rests on this principle, that language has a certain music, and that it is
this music which gives it emotional impact. Masonic ritual makes extensive use of this idea.
It should not surprise any of us that ceremonial Masonry, which after all serves as a
profound form of moral persuasion, is rich in rhetorical devices. Let us examine a few of them.
But before we do, let me observe that the word rhetoric is Greek in origin, as are metaphor,
synecdoche, synaesthesia, and the majority of the other technical terms used in the study of
5

Pope, Alexander. An Essay on Criticism, l. 327. (1711)

Pope, Alexander. An Essay on Criticism, ll. 217-218. (1711). The "Pierian spring" was a

spring in Macedonia sacred to the Muses in Greek mythology.

7

Pope, Alexander. An Essay on Criticism, l. 367. (1711)

rhetoric. Wherefore I note that to the Greeks, therefore, and not to the English, we are indebted for
what is great, judicious, and distinct in rhetoric.
I used the word allusion earlier when I mentioned that Alexander Pope made deliberate
reference to Miltons Paradise Lost. Allusion is also a rhetorical device, an application of well-known
literary language from a famous antecedent in order to achieve an emotional resonance in the reader.
We do the same thing when we describe the meaning of the common gavel by quoting St. Pauls
claim of there existing an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens8, or when describing
the level by quoting Shakespeares depiction of Hamlet confronting his own mortality when he
considers that undiscovered country from whose bourne no traveler returns9.
The use of rhetoric begins in Masonic ritual before the candidate is even admitted to the
Lodge.
Before he is initiated into the mysteries of the Craft, the candidate must answer the
Marshalls interrogations regarding his motives in seeking to become a Mason. These interrogations
consist of three questions:
I. Do you seriously declare, upon your honor, that unbiased by friends and
uninfluenced by mercenary motives, you freely and voluntarily offer yourself as a candidate for
the mysteries of Masonry?
II. Do you seriously declare, upon your honor, that you are prompted to
solicit the privileges of Masonry by a favorable opinion conceived of the Institution, a desire
for knowledge, and a sincere wish to be serviceable to your fellow creatures?
III. Do you seriously declare, upon your honor, that you will cheerfully
conform to all the ancient established usages and customs of the Fraternity?
You will observe that each of the questions begins with the same phrase, Do you
seriously declare, upon your honor . . . This is a rhetorical device variously called anaphora,
epanaphora, or epanalepsis, and simply means the repetitive use of a word or phrase at the
beginning of successive statements to impart gravity and emphasis.

2 Corinthians 5:1

Shakespeare, William. Hamlet, Act III, scene i. (1602)

4

In the Lecture of the First Degree, we are taught concerning the Great Lights that
The Holy Bible is dedicated to God, it being His inestimable gift to man as the rule and guide
of his faith; . . . The Square to the Master, because it is the proper Masonic emblem of his
office; and the Compass to the Craft, for, by due attention to its use, we are taught to
circumscribe our desires and keep our passions within due bounds toward all mankind.
This is an example of two rhetorical techniques, parallelism, wherein successive clauses
follow identical constructions, and ellipsis, where words necessary for the full correctly
grammatical construction are left out and assumed to be understood. In this case, we hear
that The Holy Bible is dedicated to God, but the Square to the Master and the Compass
to the Craft, the last two omitting the words is dedicated.
This combined technique is used rather consistently in the ritual, as in the praise of
Geometry: By this science the architect is enabled to construct his plans and execute his
designs; the general, to arrange his soldiers; the engineer, to mark out grounds for
encampments; the geographer, to give us the dimensions of the world and all things therein
contained, to delineate the extent of seas, and to specify the divisions of empires, kingdoms,
and provinces.
The Lights of a Lodge are three, situated in the East, West, and South. Changing
the normal word order for effect is called anastrophe. A more conventional way of saying the
same thing would be There are three Lights of a Lodge, situated in the East, West, and
South. The greater expressiveness of the former phrase is obvious.
Many of the Biblical passages used in our degrees were chosen in part for their rhetorical
sophistication.
Psalm 133 contains similes: It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down
upon the beard, even Aarons beard: that went down to the skirts of his garments; As the dew of
Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion.
1 Corinthians 13 uses a rhetorical device called polysyndeton, where conjunctions (in this case
the conjunction is and) are used to string out a grammatical series: And though I have the gift of
prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could
remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. (Italics mine.)
Ecclesiastes 12 is itself an extended allegorical metaphor, but I will not quote it here.

Another use of synecdoche can be found in the description of the early reign of King
Solomon, who ascended the throne, and, after David was gathered to his fathers, wielded the
scepter over Israel at a time when (as the great Jewish historian, Josephus, informs us) peace
and tranquility pervaded the world, and all eyes seemed directed toward Jerusalem, as if to
witness the splendid display of the wisdom of Solomon. In this case all eyes seemed
directed toward Jerusalem refers to the attention of all the inhabitants of Canaan being
focused on the actions of Solomon as the new Kingeyes is meant to represent the people.
This passage also makes use of euphemism, in that David was gathered to his fathers instead
of died, and metonymy, the use of a term in place of one with which it is associated: to wield the
scepter over Israel means to rule over Israel, since only a ruler may wield a scepter.
In the Third Degree, the Hour-Glass, in depleting its reservoir of sand, is a symbol, a
metaphor, for the progression of human life. But its description escapes the bounds of the
original image: Thus wastes man! Today he puts forth the tender leaves of hope; tomorrow
blossoms and bears his blushing honors thick upon him; the next day comes a frost which nips
the shoot; and when he thinks his greatness is still aspiring he falls like autumn leaves to enrich
our mother earth. This is another metaphor, of course, comparing a mans life to the growth
cycle of a flowering plant, but its a species of extended metaphor called a conceit, in that the
metaphor has multiple parts: sprouting leaves for hope, blown blossoms as honors, frost as
illness, and falling leaves as death.
Before closing, I will mention one last rhetorical device known as epizeuxis. This is the
repetition of a word exclusively for emphasis. As an example, Masons are taught that the
human soul is the inspiration of that great Divinity whom we adore, and bears the nearest
resemblance or affinity to that Supreme Intelligence which pervades all nature, and which will
never, never, never die.
There are, of course, many other instances of rhetorical technique contained within the
degrees. I have limited my selection to Monitorial examples only, and have by no means
included every one of those. I leave to you the rhetorical examination of the balance of the
ritual, especially those in the esoteric sections, which, I assure you, you will find to be an

interesting and rewarding exercise. Guides to the study of rhetoric proliferate on the web,
and there are several dictionaries of rhetorical and literary devices available in print.
The importance of rhetoric in Masonry is not limited to its expressive power, although
that is very important indeed. Why else would we be strictly charged with preserving the
ritual intact if its words were merely incidental? Why else do the degrees always culminate
with a beautiful and powerful oration? (Those, in case you were wondering, are rhetorical
questions.)
Rhetoric is important in Masonry not only for what it does, but for what it is. Alone of
the Liberal Arts, the exercise of free will is essential for its very purpose and existence, and
there is no more important question ever asked of a Mason than, Is this of your own free will
and accord?
I have often thought that the three disciplines of the Trivium bear a strong relation to
the three Great Supports of Masonry. Logic is the branch of philosophy that deals with
reason, and can therefore be said to correspond with wisdom. Grammar is the study of the
structure of language, and it how it is used to convey senseit is the very strength and
support of communication. And rhetoric, of course, being largely concerned with the
aesthetics of our writing and speech to lend it eloquence, corresponds to beauty, and as such,
can be associated with the one whom we are all encouraged to imitate.