Roy’s review of The Elements of Eloquence: How to Turn the Perfect English Phrase > Likes and Comments
147 likes · Like
Neat!
"Neat" might be the perfect word for this book!
I love this review! I've always loved ancient rhetorical discussions of style ("elocutio"), which, as you know, is one of the five canons of rhetoric. I'm convinced that style and invention (another one of the canons) are two faces of the same coin. I'm finding that the books you are reviewing and reading are pretty much the books I want to read. I hope you don't mind I click "like" to almost all your books :)
I don't mind at all! :-)
I'm afraid I know very little about the five canons of rhetoric, but I'm certainly curious. I do wonder, though, whether you can learn more from simply reading very sophisticated authors, than from books like this. Just as it's hard to learn music just from a music textbook without listening to music, so would it be hard (I think) to learn rhetoric without copious reading of learned authors. But probably a combination is ideal in both the case of music and of rhetoric!
Forsyth should have done what you did with your 38 pithy summaries. Well Done. Verily.
39. Hysteron-Proteron: This is a half and a review!
40. Tmesis: It's in-bloody-credible!
I'll come back to this review again and again to keep track of everything. I've already forgotten most of the things.
Nice review using all tools described, you have truly mastered the elements of eloquence!
A five-star effort for a four-star book.
well done, bloody well done. Mr lotz, he good
Froggarana wrote: "well done, bloody well done. Mr lotz, he good"
Bloody thank you!
That is a lot of Greek! Haven’t heard those words since university. Nice to see. And you did a very good job making them clear. Cheers Roy.
David wrote: "That is a lot of Greek! Haven’t heard those words since university. Nice to see. And you did a very good job making them clear. Cheers Roy."
I'm sure I've forgotten what most of them mean by now!
I enjoyed this review for the simple reason that when I was reading the book, I thought it might be a good idea to try out the different elements - get some practice, so to speak. So I commend this review as it accomplishes what I only hoped to do.
Cheers!
Thank you. This is a wonderful summary!
It was actually the stuff on Shakespeare not being a genius that made me read the book. We mythologise many great names and create this idea that their genius is somehow God-given, completely ignoring the amount of practice that goes into it. I really liked that Forsyth acknowledges the years of practice and study that Shakespeare did. It also makes it better for me as the reader- I felt like this is a skill I could pick up, not something that I would have genetically given to me.
I'm honestly copy and pasting your examples here as a brilliant mini reference, wonderful thing there! XD
Wonderful review! Is there a book on rhetoric that you prefer?
In what way does this review contain spoilers?
Thank you, Roy. To Roy, give thanks.
This review… this review by Lotz;
Brung me joy, not little — lots!
Number seven is Aposiopesis…
Not nothing but ellipsis, is what it is?
Roy’s writing is the shadow of a sound.
It’s got muscle, guts, and sinew. This review.
Please, this review is all one needs,
When reviewing reviews on Goodreads.
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Cecily
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Jan 20, 2015 02:15PM
Neat!
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"Neat" might be the perfect word for this book!
I love this review! I've always loved ancient rhetorical discussions of style ("elocutio"), which, as you know, is one of the five canons of rhetoric. I'm convinced that style and invention (another one of the canons) are two faces of the same coin. I'm finding that the books you are reviewing and reading are pretty much the books I want to read. I hope you don't mind I click "like" to almost all your books :)
I don't mind at all! :-)I'm afraid I know very little about the five canons of rhetoric, but I'm certainly curious. I do wonder, though, whether you can learn more from simply reading very sophisticated authors, than from books like this. Just as it's hard to learn music just from a music textbook without listening to music, so would it be hard (I think) to learn rhetoric without copious reading of learned authors. But probably a combination is ideal in both the case of music and of rhetoric!
Forsyth should have done what you did with your 38 pithy summaries. Well Done. Verily.
39. Hysteron-Proteron: This is a half and a review!40. Tmesis: It's in-bloody-credible!
I'll come back to this review again and again to keep track of everything. I've already forgotten most of the things.
Nice review using all tools described, you have truly mastered the elements of eloquence!
A five-star effort for a four-star book.
well done, bloody well done. Mr lotz, he good
Froggarana wrote: "well done, bloody well done. Mr lotz, he good"Bloody thank you!
That is a lot of Greek! Haven’t heard those words since university. Nice to see. And you did a very good job making them clear. Cheers Roy.
David wrote: "That is a lot of Greek! Haven’t heard those words since university. Nice to see. And you did a very good job making them clear. Cheers Roy."I'm sure I've forgotten what most of them mean by now!
I enjoyed this review for the simple reason that when I was reading the book, I thought it might be a good idea to try out the different elements - get some practice, so to speak. So I commend this review as it accomplishes what I only hoped to do. Cheers!
Thank you. This is a wonderful summary!
It was actually the stuff on Shakespeare not being a genius that made me read the book. We mythologise many great names and create this idea that their genius is somehow God-given, completely ignoring the amount of practice that goes into it. I really liked that Forsyth acknowledges the years of practice and study that Shakespeare did. It also makes it better for me as the reader- I felt like this is a skill I could pick up, not something that I would have genetically given to me.
I'm honestly copy and pasting your examples here as a brilliant mini reference, wonderful thing there! XD
Wonderful review! Is there a book on rhetoric that you prefer?
In what way does this review contain spoilers?
Thank you, Roy. To Roy, give thanks. This review… this review by Lotz;
Brung me joy, not little — lots!
Number seven is Aposiopesis…
Not nothing but ellipsis, is what it is?
Roy’s writing is the shadow of a sound.
It’s got muscle, guts, and sinew. This review.
Please, this review is all one needs,
When reviewing reviews on Goodreads.