Field guide · Ornament
Figures
Classical rhetoric catalogued hundreds of figures. A host needs eight — each serving the table, never display.
The eight figures
Each figure already lives on the palette; its classical name describes the move’s shape. Choose the moment, not the figure. A figure hunting for its moment is ornament.
| Figure | The shape | Palette home | Working line | Caution |
|---|
Keep one figure off the table: the rhetorical question. A host’s questions are real. One that contains its answer is a speech wearing a question mark.
Where hosting meets the older art: Classical Rhetoric. Each figure is drilled through its palette move in Move Roulette.
On film: Frost’s anaphora — the same question, re-asked plainly (16:56).
Try it now
Three rounds of Move Roulette. Figure-bearing moves only. Out loud.