"--A revised system of cross-references among terms

With a unique combination of alphabetical and descriptive lists, A Handlist of Rhetorical Terms provides in one convenient, accessible volume all the rhetorical terms—mostly Greek and Latin—that students of Western literature and rhetoric are likely to come across in their reading or will find useful in their writing. The Second Edition of this widely used work offers new features that will make it even more useful: * A completely revised alphabetical listing that defines nearly 1,000 terms used by scholars of formal rhetoric from classical Greece to the present day * A revised system of cross-references between terms * Many new examples and new, extended entries for central terms * A revised Terms-by-Type listing to identify unknown terms * A new typographical design for easier access

Writing is not like chemical engineering. The figures of speech should not be learned the same way as the periodic table of elements. This is because figures of speech are not about hypothetical structures in things, but about real potentialities within language and within ourselves. The "figurings" of speech reveal the apparently limitless plasticity of language itself. We are inescapably confronted with the intoxicating possibility that we can make language do for us almost anything we want. Or at least a Shakespeare can. The figures of speech help to see how he does it, and how we might. Therefore, in the chapters presented in this volume, the quotations from Shakespeare, the Bible, and other sources are not presented to exemplify the definitions. Rather, the definitions are presented to lead to the quotations. And the quotations are there to show us how to do with language what we have not done before. They are there for imitation.

The Encyclopedia of Rhetoric is a comprehensive survey of the latest research--as well as the foundational teachings--in this broad field. Featuring 150 original, signed articles by leading scholars from many different fields of study it brings together knowledge from classics, philosophy, literature, literary theory, cultural studies, speech and communications. The Encyclopedia surveys basic concepts (speaker, style and audience); elements; genres; terms (fallacies, figures of speech); and the rhetoric of non-Western cultures and cultural movements. It covers rhetoric as the art of proof and persuasion; as the language of public speech and communication; and as a theoretical approach and critical tool used in the study of literature, art, and culture at large, including new forms of communication such as the internet. The Encyclopedia is the most wide ranging reference work of its kind, combining theory, history, and practice, with a special emphasis on public speaking, performance and communication. Cross-references, bibliographies after each article, and synoptic and topical indexes further enhance the work. Written for students, teachers, scholars and writers the Encyclopedia of Rhetoric is the definitive reference work on this powerful discipline.

Back in print after 17 years, this is a concise history of rhetoric as it relates to structure, genre, and style, with special reference to English literature and literary criticism from Ancient Greece to the end of the 18th century. The core of the book is a quite original argument that the figures of rhetoric were not mere mechanical devices, were not, as many believed, a "nuisance, a quite sterile appendage to rhetoric to which (unaccountably) teachers, pupils, and writers all over the world devoted much labor for over 2,000 years." Rather, Vickers demonstrates, rhetoric was a stylized representation of language and human feelings. Vickers supplements his argument through analyses of the rhetorical and emotional structure of four Renaissance poems. He also defines 16 of the most common figures of rhetoric, citing examples from the classics, the Bible, and major English poets from Chaucer to Pope.

We have in 'The Motives of Eloquence a significant contribution to theory, criticism, and history that graces us with the eloquence of its own motives....For comparatists of all interests and persuasions. - William J. Kennedy, 'Comparative Literature' This is a stunning book....The central thesis of 'The Motives of Eloquence' is subtle, complicated, imaginative, and bold. - Anne Barton, 'Shakespeare Quarterly In this brilliant tour de force Lanham speaks with sound and fury -- signifying everything. Though exacting and difficult, the book is well worth the effort it demands, and it succeeds admirably in providing a viable and provocative approach to reinterpreting Western literature. - William C. Johnson, 'Sixteenth Century Journal' The book offers bold and often controversial insights. Its readers will find themselves bringing significantly altered premises to much of their subsequent reading in the field. - Newsletter of the National Endowment for the Humanities A celebration of rhetoric and a challenge to all who consign consideration of style to the periphery of attention....Lanham's book represents a good place to begin, both for the student of literature and for the student of religion who wishes to review Western history in the light of its rhetorical motifs. - Thomas E. Helm, 'Journal of Religion'

This second edition of the classic linguistics text provides a basic descriptive terminology for prose style. What is a noun style? A verb style? A hypotactic or a paratactic one? How does the running style differ from the periodic style? What do "high, middle, and low" prose style mean? How might one apply the classical terminology of rhetorical figures to prose analysis? Analyzing Prose supplies detailed, carefully charted answers to these questions in order to teach the student of prose style how and where to begin.