Jarratt, Bartholomae, and Bernstein - Compare and contrast

I found these three pieces to be somewhat gruesome and worthwhile, all for different reasons. To start, Jarratt's piece, "Rhetoric," was a good rehash of ancient rhetoric as well as a fresh eye on current rhetoric study. I found her work to be refreshing and wonderful, but quite a bear to get through, and this latter point for no other reason that its length. In contrast, Bartholomae's piece, "Composition," was not that intriguing. His lists of resources, though possibly helpful as a database to jump-start from, was not particularly enjoyable to read. I definitely practiced my "graduate student reading" here, skipping over book and author names as soon as I felt them arriving.
Then, with great delight, came Bernstein's piece, "Poetics." This work was so smooth, a real pleasure to read.
As far as content is concerned, I think that Jarratt's look into rhetoric was the most useful piece. Her review of the ancient rhetoric was not too dry, and her concern with the place of Rhetoric in the University was interesting. I thought that I would touch on some of a similar problem within Bartholomae's piece, but did not, or if I did it was lost amidst my lack on interest in author names and text titles. I believe that our University has a better grasp on the place of Rhetoric, as well as Composition, than most seem to have. We are fortunate to have such a rich foundation of educators employed in our English Department.
But now to Bernstein: This piece brings up questions, gives advice, and is inspiring. I enjoyed reading about writing in an inspiring way!

One man's eloquence can be another's poison; one woman's stuttering may be the
closest approximation of truth that we will ever know (128).

But not only that, Bernstein asks some important questions:

What is the aim of literary scholarship? What is the purpose of a literature
class?

He brings to focus the idea that writing is process, it requires thinking, and it requires art. He also raises the notion of 'social poetics,' one that "actively acknowledges context dependence as a counter to the appearance of objectivity" (130). As a current student of critical pedagogy, I find this idea especially of interest. I know the cliche is cheesy, but that whole "language is power" thing really got me fired up when I learned about using writing and language as a social response. Thinking of language use in this way makes our actions and our writing take on much more meaning. Especially for someone in their fourth quarter as a grad student, I definitely need that kind of inspiration.