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

An outstanding book for everyone who loves language.

A wonderful compendium of literary terms with examples from the Bible, Shakespeare, hip-hop, contemporary music, poetry, and etc. beautifully written and very, very, very funny

An interesting glimpse into the world of studied literature. There are more named rhetorical devices than I had any idea existed and this is a nice introduction and examination, but the author's own unceasing attempts to demonstrate the techniques in the chapters examining them, amply show that just using these "tricks" is not enough to make eloquent prose. Consider this book like a treatise examining the brushstrokes of a great painter, it may be fascinating to someone that wants to understand the great works but being able to take something apart and understand how it works, is not the same as being able to create it in the first place. On the other hand, it is a lot easier to create something worthwhile when you actually know the techniques you're using rather than just fumbling about.

This sentence describing a dismal dinner is, says Mark Forsyth, "perhaps the greatest anadiplosis" ever written:"If the soup had been as warm as the wine, and the wine as old as the fish, and the fish as young as the maid, and the maid as willing as the hostess, it would have been a very good meal."The anadiplosis, a figure of speech where the last word in a phrase or sentence becomes the first word in the next, is but one of 39 such rhetorical devices that Forsyth, who blogs as The Inky Fool, wittily describes in "The Elements of Eloquence: Secrets of the Perfect Turn of Phrase," released in the USA in October 2014 by Berkley Books. In it he uses ample examples of deft phrasings from Shakespeare, Churchill, Oscar Wilde, Lennon & McCartney and more to explicate all manner of trope.In it you will learn that syllepsis results from using one word in two incongruous ways, as did Dorothy Parker when commenting on her small apartment: "I've barely enough room to lay my hat and a few friends."And that isocolon employs "two clauses that are grammatically parallel, two sentences that are structurally the same," as Winston Churchill did in describing Field Marshall Montgomery: "In defeat, unbeatable; in victory, unbearable."The book is a treasure for writers, public speakers, boulevardiers and anyone who wants to sound smart and witty. As Forsyth posits: "For though we have nothing to say, we can at least say it well."To say that his book is not without its uses would be, I learned, an example of litotes, understatement that results from affirming something that denies its opposite." As when, says Forsyth, Emperor Hirohito announced to his people, after two atomic bombs had been dropped on them, that "the war situation has developed not necessarily to Japan's advantage."This is a fine book, a great read and a valuable reference.

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 called Slow Literature, 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, though of 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.

I should clarify, easy and fun if you happen to love grammar and Shakespeare. I thought was quite a bit easier to get through than expected. Go for it fellow nerds!

A writer friend told me about this book and I immediately ordered it -- I'm so glad I did. I always thought of great writing as a mysterious, almost mystical thing. I loved reading some of the ways great authors of the past have used rhetoric to their advantage. It breaks down some big ideas into shorter, more manageable tools I can use in my own writing.

This book is exactly what schools should be teaching in writing classes! It's the difference between emotionally powerful brilliant writing versus weak and anemic writing that so many people get stuck in on their path to becoming better writers. Especially highly recommended for songwriters who want to learn how to rise above the sea of mediocrity in the current pop music industry. If Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen could write masterpieces using the techniques from this book, then so can you!

Entertaining and insightful too

Excelente!! Uma aula de retórica de dar gargalhadas.

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.

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?