The Elements of Eloquence: How To Turn the Perfect English Phrase

This truly is a beautifully written book which is not only entertaining to read, thanks to Forsyth's innate humour, but is also vastly educational. It's cleverly put together, with each 'chapter' covering a particular technique linked to the next, and every section is peppered with examples from a wide range of literature, media and political speeches. There are common techniques which anyone who's sat through GCSE English lessons will know, such as alliteration, however there are dealt with in such detail and with such well put together explanations that they still offer something new. Then there are techniques which many readers will already know but just won't have names for them - I know the rule of three but had never heard it was called a 'tricolon'. Or I already knew repetition can work brilliantly, but I had no idea that if you start sentences using repetition, it's known as prolepsis. Naturally, there are also techniques which are entirely new to me, such as the gorgeously named 'scesis onomaton' (if you want to know what this is, then think about the dead parrot speech from Monty Python). If you want to become a more knowledgeable reader or a better writer or appreciate good prose or like a good laugh then buy this book. I'll certainly be buying more of Forsyth's books in the future.

This is perhaps the most entertaining book about the English language I have read this year. I added the qualifier ‘perhaps’ because I am currently reading his book The Etymologicon which might eclipse Elements of Eloquence in terms of entertainment. Elements explains why great writers (of speeches, poetry, songs, advertising copy and so on) use certain phrasing to make what they have said more memorable than writing without knowledge of what makes things ‘pop’. Forsyth provides his definitions of each of the ‘figures’ of rhetoric and is quite candid that there is a lot of disagreement among scholars about these definitions. He provides the definition which he thinks makes the most sense and has the support of the majority, and provides excellent and entertaining examples of their employment. Some of the figures are in common use and I, a humble ‘self-taught’ writer, like a lot of people manage to use some of them without really thinking about it. For example I am an ardent admirer of alliteration – often employing it to the edge of overuse. I also use tricolon a lot – if only from listening to Del la Soul repeatedly enforcing the coda that three is the magic number. There’s a few others (personification was obviously part of my ‘O’ level education in terms of how they relate to simile and metaphor and allegory) but I have to agree that I have been ‘baking blindfolded’ as Forsyth puts it – sometimes I luck out and write a catchy sentence but most times not so much. Since reading the book I have been keeping an ear out for the use of these figures when listening to film dialogue and of course songs which are as close as I get to reading poetry – lyrics are full of assonance, alliteration, isocolons, anaphora, diacope, smatterings of epanalepsis and lots of other things I have already unfortunately forgotten the names for, and the lines in films are generally memorable because of the use of one figure or more. A great example recently is “if we burn, you burn with us!” I think Forsyth’s main point is that great writers such as Shakespeare and Dickens were not necessarily happy to settle on using the talents they were born with but in practicing their craft and learning how to employ the figures to great effect. He bemoans the usual edict to ‘delete unnecessary words’ that a lot of modern writers follow and this is something I will ponder as I write. It is obviously a matter of personal choice or taste when and when not to be succinct or meander into the realms of pleonasm. Finally it was great to finally find out what the iambic pentameter was and also read about all the other meters that are out there in the wondrous worlds of poetry and prose in Forsyth’s divagation concerning versification. When I have written poems in the past I have always looked at how many syllables each line contained and then struggled to make sense of the flow (or meter!) when what I should have been looking for was in fact something called ‘feet’ (of which there are four types including the iamb) to then fit to a consistent meter line by line. The iamb is a te-TUM and if you put five in a row then you get the iambic pentameter te-TUM- te-TUM- te-TUM- te-TUM- te-TUM. Simples! And much used by Shakespeare – perhaps something I was taught and have since forgotten. Anyway thanks goes to the @inkyfool Mark Forysth for running me through it!

A thoroughly enjoyable and readable book explaining the technicalities and formulas of great writing. Very entertaining and educational. I have been given a new appreciation of some of the classical works, so much so that I might be tempted to read or reread some! I would recommend this if you enjoy understanding how and why things work, or if you are just looking for something a little different to read to capture your interest.

A fun, interesting read, somewhat in the spirit of Stephen Fry’s “An Ode Less Travelled” in that it wants to educate people in literary technique rather than critique the work. It claims to be impatient with the style of writing about literature which sees its aim as to “decode” the true meaning and intent of the author, so: “English teaching at school is obsessed with what a poet thought, as though that were of any interest to anyone. Rather than being taught how a poem is phrased, schoolchildren are asked to write essays on what William Blake thought about the Tiger; despite the fact that William Blake was a nutjob whose opinions, in a civilized society, would be of no interest to anybody apart from his parole officer…” Although a little bit of an exaggeration, he has a point! So this book is a guide to the various tricks and techniques involved in turning an eloquent, memorable phrase. Although not a “how to…” guide with exercises, it does explain how a person can use all the various techniques to write and speak better. It also explains the background and etymology of all the complicated sounding words which describe rhetorical techniques: Aposiopesis, Hypotaxis, Diacope and so on. I don’t know enough about the subject to say if this book could accurately be called comprehensive, but it does seem to cover a lot of ground, without overstaying its welcome. It is quite a short book, but full of really fascinating and occasionally useful stuff. Recommended.

The best book on the subject I have read so far.

Die Bücher von Mark Forsyth gehören zu unseren Favoriten im Bücherregal (15 bis 50 Jahre). Er schreibt sehr unterhaltsam, kenntnisreich und außerordentlich humorvoll über die englische Sprache. Wir verdanken dem Autor manch vergnügliche Stunde, auch mit dem Hörbuch im Auto. Selbst Freunde, die sonst eher Romanen zuneigen, sind begeistert. Dieses Buch möchte ich uneingeschränkt empfehlen!

Libro muy interesante – permite un vistazo al "backstage" de las figuras retóricas del inglés. Muy útil para avanzar en el conocimiento de este idioma y escribir mejor y de forma mas contundente. La lectura es divertida y rápida – cero técnica y con muchos ejemplos.

libro utile per ingegneria degli elementi finiti consigliato a ingegneri strutturisti non dovrebbe mancare nella biblioteca di un ingegnere meccanico e civile

The Elements of Eloquence by Mark Forsyth Rhetoric is the art of persuasion. While this book contains material that is educational, it is presented in an entertaining style that is witty and entertaining. This book is divided into the following 39 chapters that each describe and give examples of figures of rhetoric. 1 Alliteration: the rhetorical device of repeating the sound of the first consonant in a series of multiple words. 2 Polyptoton: the use of one word as different parts of speech or in different grammatical forms. 3 Antithesis: the use of two opposites for contrasting effect. 4 Merism: 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. 5 Blazon: "extended merism, the dismemberment of the loved one". 6 Synaesthesia: a device where one sense is described in terms of another. 7 Aposiopesis: a figure of speech wherein a sentence is deliberately broken off and left unfinished, the ending to be supplied by the imagination, giving an impression of unwillingness or inability to continue. 8 Hyperbaton: a figure of speech which describes an alteration of the logical order of the words in a sentence. 9 Anadiplosis: repetition of the last word of a preceding clause. 10 Periodic Sentences: are not complete grammatically before the final clause or phrase. 11 Hypotaxis and Parataxis: hypotaxis is a complex style of writing involving the use of a large number of subordinate clauses, while parataxis is the style of writing with short simple sentences. 12 Diacope: the close repetition of a word or phrase, separated by a word or words. 13 Rhetorical Questions: a device where a question is stated to make a point, without requiring any answer because it is intended to be obvious. 14 Hendiadys: a device used for emphasis, where an adjective-noun form is swapped for noun-and-noun. 15 Epistrophe: a device using the repetition of the same word or words at the end of successive phrases, clauses or sentences for emphasis. 16 Tricolon: a sentence is composed of three equal parts. Forsyth points to the national motto of France (Liberté, égalité, fraternité) as one of his many examples of the impact of this device. 17 Epizeuxis: the repetition of a word or phrase in immediate succession, for emphasis. 18 Syllepsis: a single word is used with two other parts of a sentence but must be understood differently in relation to each. 19 Isocolon: Forsyth's definition seems to state that a sentence is composed by two parts equivalent in structure, length and rhythm. Other sources suggest two or more parts, and relate tricolon which is mentioned in the earlier chapter. 20 Enallage: a "deliberate grammatical mistake". 21 Versification: the effect of a few different verse forms used, including examples of iambic pentameter. 22 Zeugma: a series of clauses which use the same verb. 23 Paradox: a statement that is logically false or impossible for emphasis or contrast. 24 Chiasmus: a symmetrical repetition of structure or wording. 25 Assonance: the repetition of a vowel sound. 26 The Fourteenth Rule: the rhetorical device of providing an unnecessarily specific number for something for emphasis. 27 Catachresis: a grammatically wrong use of words as a means of creative expression. 28 Litotes: emphasizes a point by denying the opposite. 29 Metonymy and Synecdoche: where something connected to the thing described, or a part of it, is used in place of the thing itself. 30 Transferred Epithets: where an adjective is applied to the wrong noun, for effect. 31 Pleonasm: the use of superfluous and unnecessary words in a sentence for emphasis. 32 Epanalepsis: repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning and end of a sentence or clause to emphasize circularity. 33 Personification: a description which imputes human actions or characteristics to an inanimate or non-human thing. 34 Hyperbole: the rhetorical device of exaggeration. 35 Adynaton: a hyperbole so extreme as to be a complete impossibility. 36 Prolepsis: the use of a pronoun at the start of a sentence, which reverses the normal order. 37 Congeries: a bewildering list of adjectives or nouns. 38 Scesis Onomaton: sentences without a main verb. 39 Anaphora: starting each sentence with the same word.