The Elements of Eloquence: Secrets of the Perfect Turn of Phrase

I listened to this an audiobook while driving back and forth from Fresno to Sacramento. There was a point where I was laughing so hard that I feared for my safety.Mark Forsyth did a brilliant job of taking the listener/reader through the "figures of rhetoric" by way of great literature and popular music. Certain rhetorical styles simply work, whether they be alliteration (the repetition of sounds) or repetition of the final words or phrases (Epistrophe) or the repetition of the beginning words or phrases (Anaphora). This stuff works and we know it does and we are exposed to it on a daily basis, but we will never remember the technical terms and we barely notice them as they occur all around us.I am a lawyer and I think that knowing the technical terms, and the ideas behind those terms, might help me do intentionally what I am doing unintentionally. I think that others might have a similar experience, but this book is not a technical handbook. It is an enjoyable voyage through the English language, literature and lyrics. Here is an example:"The second kind of pleonasm is quite different. It’s the lazy adjective noun. This is a world of personal friends, added bonuses and free gifts. They are annoying for two contradictory reasons: first of all nobody talks like that, and secondly everybody talks like that. I have never said the words “free gift.” It would seem a sinister thing to say when gathered around the Christmas tree. “Here’s my free gift, and, as an added bonus, here’s a festive Christmas card.” People would think I’d gone mad. Yet, if you wander into a shop or make the terrible mistake of turning on the television or radio, you will hear of havens that are safe, cooperation that is mutual, and prizes that are, it turns out, to be won. Such phrases lumber about the language like zombies. They were created long ago by insanely evil marketing executives who were desperate to progress forward and sell their foreign imports to the general public. But, like Frankenstein’s monster, they could not be stopped. They still lurk in shops and howl from televisions; even though their original inventor is past history."Likewise:"There are people who would find that line inspiring. They would read it and run off to live better lives of purity and holiness up a hill somewhere. There are others who would find it infuriating. Twice. They would read it and as they did so the veins would stand out on their furious foreheads, the saliva would drip from their maddened mouths, and they would take a big red marker pen out of their pockets and delete two words. First, there’s the word “up.” What other direction can you lift something? It’s almost as bad as “fall down” or “enter into.” It is (some would say) an insult to the intelligence and an abuse of the English language. But it’s not nearly as bad as “from whence.” Whence means from where. So what does “from whence” mean? “From from where”? It’s enough to make you shoot yourself, and then write an angry letter to the paper. People who think like this lead terrible lives. They have never married, simply because they couldn’t bear to hear the words: Dearly beloved, we are gathered together in the sight of God, and in the face of this congregation, to join together this man and this woman in Holy Matrimony . . . They can’t enjoy Hamlet because of the unnecessary “that” in “To be or not to be, that is the question.” And they can’t even throw themselves in front of a train and put an end to their lives of misery and woe, because they’re not sure about railway tracks."Pleonasms can be fun.Language can be fun.

Put simply, if you want to take your writing to the next level, you must read (and reread) this book. The author has brought together the most common, and some not so common, figures of speech and literary devices to enable the reader to understand them and see how they have been utilized by writers, great and small (no merism intended), to give their writings depth, meaning, and whimsy. We all sense it when we read interesting and arresting (no alliteration intended) literature. But we often don't know why the passage, or poem, or prose captures and captivates us. Well, this book will tell you why and you will be dazzled and delighted. It will also help you in your interpretation of literature. Someone has said, "you don't know what a text means, until you know how it means." In other words, meaning is locked up in the way the text has been put together in terms of its grammar, syntax, and literary artistry. Once you understand the "how" of its construction, the meaning appears. This book will show you the "how" of the text's construction. The author has a great style of writing that always keeps your interest and he fills his pages with numerous examples of the figure or device he is describing. So, hurry and get this book. It will make you a better writer and a better reader - two goals for the price of one.

I liked this book so much I'm basing my writing blog's latest public writing challenge on it. We're going chapter by chapter and writing lines for each of these figures. At the end, we'll be writing poems using as many of them as possible. The blog is Curmudgeon In Training, and everyone is welcome.If you're bored by the syntactical straitjacket in which modern writing labors, or wonder why writing from the past seems so much more intelligent and interesting than contemporary writing, you're not just imagining things. This book can get you started on finding out what contemporary writing is missing. For some other clues, you might read Dorothy Sayers' essay on education or take a look at an old logic textbook. Yes, logic was once taught as a subject in school. Nowadays people simply assume, quite inaccurately, that their thinking is correct without the benefit of careful training.Rhetoric was also once taught as a subject in school, and is the subject of this book. Along with a lot of memorization and recitation, the teaching of rhetoric goes a long way toward explaining why people in the past had more interesting conversations, better debates, and more varied writing styles. They had tools.For those wondering what happened (not covered by this book) it is down to social engineers like John Dewey. It is down to the generation of arrogant pseudo-scientific intellectuals who gave us Prohibiton, scientific racism, abortion clinics and other eugenics measures, and rehabilitative jurisprudential methods that are far more intrusive, lengthy, mentally manipulative, and torturous than simple retributive punishment would have been. Oh - they made school "compulsive" as well - a blow from which, along with income tax, liberty will never recover. These "reformers" decided that school should now exist for the purpose of shaping society and making kids into good citizens, who contribute to the GDP instead of living their lives suitably to their personal natures. Formerly, school was dedicated solely to its natural purpose of forming and informing intellects. People dropped out when they'd had enough, and were let alone to decide, with their parents, when that was. The unambitious were allowed to remain so (on the common sense theory that it takes all kinds) instead of being cudgeled into economic servitude. Aside from creating a class of economic slaves, this reform put a huge burden on schools they simply haven't been able to bear. Of course, Dewey died and left the experiment running; and it's still running; and there's no one to say when it's failed, when it's gone on long enough, or even what the parameters are anymore. School shootings seem hardly surprising. In fact they seem hardly robust enough, as a measure of reform, although if course one wants the muzzle pointed in a more constructive direction.Mark Forsyth uses a writing style relaxed, generous, and amusing. You could not find a more accessible introduction to rhetoric. However one should be clear that the rhetorical tools in this book are not anything like the whole tree - just the "flowers" of rhetoric. The sad truth is that without prior foundational training in logic, asking people - even with MFA's - to learn and use the main body of rhetoric is like asking a toddler to drive an 18-wheeler.Still, you have to start somewhere. It might as well be somewhere enjoyable.

This is a great book: wonderfully written, very interesting, it will spike your curiosity and your intellectual sinapses non-stop. After reading "Etymologicon" and this one, I can easily surmise that Mark Forsyth is now my favourite non-fiction writer. If you haven't, read this and "Etymologicon".Also, the book arrived in perfect condition, with that great new book smell. No complaints here.Sorry for not writing this in spanish, but I can't write in spanish efficiently and translating it online might result in me saying something weird without knowing.

I was loaned this book on vacation, and I enjoyed the part that I read so much, I bought the book to finish it. Very interesting look at English, and at the little tricks that make writing so memorable, and it's written in a great style with a lot of humour. I've read another of Mark Forsyth's books, and it was good (and humourous) too.

If words be the food of (thy) love, read on.This is a fantastic introduction to the underlying structures that are the foundation of great form in writing.It focuses on the micro; meaning it looks at the structures in lines and phrases, rather than that of novels/short stories etc.The author keeps it accessible and entertaining all through, with copious familiar examples that kept me engaged.I wish the author spent more time laying out his thoughts on where he thinks the different rhetorical forms work best and why; maybe in a follow up?

Interesting read - but deep. Original etemology book was brilliant.

Excelente!! Uma aula de retórica de dar gargalhadas.