The Elements of Eloquence
| Author | Mark Forsyth |
|---|---|
| Country | UK |
| Published | 2013 Icon Books Ltd |
| Pages | 224 |
| ISBN |
The Elements of Eloquence: How to Turn the Perfect English Phrase is a non-fiction book by Mark Forsyth first published in 2013. The book explains selected figures of classical rhetoric, with each chapter dedicated to a particular rhetorical figure and including famous examples of its use from literature, particularly the works of William Shakespeare. Forsyth argues that Shakespeare's genius for language did not appear out of thin air, but was the result of the careful study and practice of formal rhetorical figures of speech. As well as providing many examples from varied literary and non-literary sources, he particularly highlights the occurrence of different figures throughout Shakespeare's development as a writer.
Alliteration is the rhetorical device of repeating the sound of the first consonant in a series of multiple words. An example given by Forsyth is:
Whereat, with blade, with bloody blameful blade,
He bravely broached his boiling bloody breast;
The definition that Forsyth provides of polyptoton is that of "the use of one word as different parts of speech or in different grammatical forms". The term applies wherever words derived from the same root (such as wretched and wretchedness) are used, but other sources use the related term antanaclasis in examples when the same word is repeated but in a different sense.
Grace me no grace, nor uncle me no uncle:
I am no traitor's uncle; and that word 'grace'
In an ungracious mouth is but profane.
The figure of antithesis describes the use of two opposites for contrasting effect. The classic example quoted by Forsyth is:
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.
Merism is where a single thing is referred to by an enumeration of several of its parts, or a list of several synonyms for the same thing. Forsyth's chapter focuses on the first of these definitions and provides the following amongst various examples:
Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon in front of them
Forsyth defines Blazon as "extended merism, the dismemberment of the loved one". The term is applied to a tradition of poetry that praised a woman by singling out different parts of her body and finding appropriate metaphors to compare them with.
Synaesthesia is a device is where one sense is described in terms of another. An example given by Forsyth is that of Eduard Hanslick's quoted criticism of Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto as "music that stinks to the ear".
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