Book review: The Elements of Eloquence by Mark Forsyth

The fifth book I read in 2015 is The Elements of Eloquence: Secrets of the Perfect Turn of Phrase by Mark Forsyth.  A linguaphile's text, it explains various terms of classical rhetoric and provides examples of their usage in English literature and pop culture.  The author has a friendly and casual style which must serve him well in his etymological blog. (And ... followed.)

Forsyth moves from alliteration (pointing out that if you say "Full fathom five thy father lies," you're a great poet whereas if you say "Your father's corpse is 9.144 metres below sea level," you're just a coast guard with bad news) to polyptoton (repeating the same word as a different part of speech or in a different form, as in the Beatles' "Please Please Me") to antithesis ("It was the best of times, it was the worst of times....") and on through thirty-six more rhetorical formulae, some of which I remembered touching on in English class but many of which I didn't.

Unlike with short stories, I had no issue breezing through from one set of definitions and examples to the next, which probably says something about me; I can certainly imagine other readers enjoying this book more by dipping in a chapter or two at a time and some for whom the whole project would be an exercise in tedium.  Not I, however.