Review of "Farnsworth's classical English rhetoric" on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
As he did in The Practicing Stoic, the author has written a summary that consists mostly of an organized collection of quotations, here to show examples of figures of speech used in spoken and written rhetoric. Each chapter is about a different figure of speech and these are divided into three categories: repetition of words and phrases, structural matters, and dramatic devices. The figures of speech are defined in English and by their Greek name as in “Simple Repetition of Words and Phrases: Epizeuxis…”
I think this work might be dull for someone without a particular interest in the topic. Even so, I found it frequently entertaining because of the many great example quotations. Farnsworth uses quotes from Winston Churchill, Abraham Lincoln, Daniel Webster, Thomas Paine, Herman Melville, The King James Bible, William Shakespeare, Arthur Conan Doyle, GK Chesterton, and many others. I enjoyed many of these, both as …
As he did in The Practicing Stoic, the author has written a summary that consists mostly of an organized collection of quotations, here to show examples of figures of speech used in spoken and written rhetoric. Each chapter is about a different figure of speech and these are divided into three categories: repetition of words and phrases, structural matters, and dramatic devices. The figures of speech are defined in English and by their Greek name as in “Simple Repetition of Words and Phrases: Epizeuxis…”
I think this work might be dull for someone without a particular interest in the topic. Even so, I found it frequently entertaining because of the many great example quotations. Farnsworth uses quotes from Winston Churchill, Abraham Lincoln, Daniel Webster, Thomas Paine, Herman Melville, The King James Bible, William Shakespeare, Arthur Conan Doyle, GK Chesterton, and many others. I enjoyed many of these, both as an example of the use of a particular figure of speech and in general.
Here are two examples:
1. For Litotes:
She was not quite what you call refined. She was not quite what you would call unrefined. She was the kind of person that keeps a parrot. Mark Twain
2. For Prolepsis:
"Although the fate of Poland stares them in the face, there are thoughtless dilettanti or purblind worldlings who sometimes ask us: "What is it that Britain and France are fighting for?" To this I answer: "If we left off fighting you would soon find out." Winston Churchill
