From Payne, Robert O. “The Boundaries of Language and Rhetoric: Some Historical Considerations.” CCC 19.2 (May 1968): 109-17.
At the turn of this century, Rhetoric was a stern-faced spinster from whose steel-rimmed spectacles flashed illuminated slogans like “It is we” and “Shall for future, will for intention.” By the 1930s, it was apparent the old girl had to go. For one thing, she too often turned out to be wrong about the language, despite her prim and pure good intentions. But worst of all, what good was a Rhetoric who couldn’t persuade her own captive audience? The last time anyone in the English Department saw her, she had painted her eyelids lavender and was making a shameful living in the Radio-TV-Journalism Department. Her old office is now shared by two very busy and slightly worried young men, one with a beard. They talk a lot about the threat of over-specialized technical education, and the archetypal myths of human experience, and how badly their students write. (116-7)
