The elements of eloquence : secrets of the perfect turn of phrase / Mark Forsyth.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Forsyth, Mark, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

English language--Style.

English language.

Literature.

Physical Description:

xiv, 239 pages ; 20 cm

Edition:

Berkley trade paperback edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : Berkley Books, 2014.

Summary:

From classic poetry to pop lyrics, from Charles Dickens to Dolly Parton, even from Jesus to James Bond, Mark Forsyth explains the secrets that make a phrase--such as "O Captain! My Captain!" or "To be or not to be"--memorable. In his inimitably entertaining and wonderfully witty style, he takes apart famous phrases and shows how you too can write like Shakespeare or quip like Oscar Wilde. Whether you're aiming to achieve literary immortality or just hoping to deliver the perfect one-liner, The Elements of Eloquence proves that you don't need to have anything important to say--you simply need to say it well. In an age unhealthily obsessed with the power of substance, this is a book that highlights the importance of style.

Contents:

Preface: On cooking blindfolded

Alliteration

Polyptoton

Antithesis

Merism

The blazon (a merism too far)

Synaesthesia

Aposiopesis

Hyperbaton

Anadiplosis

Periodic sentences

Hypotaxis and parataxis (and polysndeton and asyndeton)

Diacope

Rhetorical questions

Hendiadys

Epistrophe

Tricolon

Epizeuxis

Syllepsis

Isocolon

Enallage

A divagation concerning versification

Zeugma

Paradox

Chiasmus

Assonance

The fourteenth rule

Catachresis

Liotes

Metonymy and synecdoche

Transferred epithets

Pleonasm

Epanalepsis

Personification

Hyperbole

Adynaton

Prolepsis

Congeries

Scesis Onomaton

Anaphora

Peroration

Epilogue concerning terminology.

Notes:

Originally published: London : Icon Books, 2013.

Includes bibliographical references (page 237).

ISBN:

9780425276181

042527618X

OCLC:

889886474