style is consistency between form and content.
1. Classical Rhetoric:
- Aristotle's "On Rhetoric" introduces the idea that style (lexis) should match the subject matter
- Cicero's "De Oratore" develops this further with his concept of decorum/aptum - the appropriate matching of style to content
2. Modern Theory:
- Richard Lanham's work is particularly explicit about this, defining style as "the relationship between manner and matter"
- Kenneth Burke's "Counter-Statement" explores how form can create audience expectations that the content must fulfill
- Robert Frost's concept of "the sound of sense" - where poetic meter should match natural speech patterns
- Marshall McLuhan's "The Medium is the Message" (1964) can be read as an extension of this principle
3. Design Theory:
- Bauhaus principles, particularly through László Moholy-Nagy's writings, emphasize that form should follow function
- Jan Tschichold's "The New Typography" (1928) argues that typographic style should reflect content meaning
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