How to Use Shakespearean Rhetoric to Create Atmosphere, Movement and Feeling in Your Writing
Lesson 2 of "Take It from Shakespeare" with Jo Gatford
Rhetoric is “the art of effective or persuasive speech or writing” through the use of compositional techniques.
In Shakespeare’s time, rhetoric was taught at school and university as a vital skill for any young upstart — in both writing and public speaking. Now its our turn!
In today’s lesson:
How to implement shakespearean-level rhetoric in modern writing.
Explore masterclass pieces in language manipulation, rhetoric, persuasion, and straight-up mockery.
How to write an 'after' poem or story: a piece paying homage or responding directly to another's work.
Springboarding - a technique for spiralling around a particular theme, idea, or image for gut-wrenching effect.
Hey there, my little iambic pentameters.
Welcome back to Take it from Shakespeare, in which we steal, borrow and muck about with Shakespearean style, structure and syntax to add new dimension to our writing.
In Lesson 1 we looked at the fundamentals of Shakespearean verse and how syntax irregularities and careful word selection can create powerful lines of prose (or poetry!).
This week we’re going to dig a bit deeper into some of the mainstays of Shakespearean rhetoric — playing with emphasis, rhythm and repetition to make your sentences sing.
Rhetoric is “the art of effective or persuasive speech or writing” through the use of compositional techniques.
In Shakespeare’s time, rhetoric was taught at school and university as a vital skill for any young upstart — in both writing and public speaking. The spoken word was important if you were to hold sway in a semi-literate population. And it translated pretty well to theatre, too. With very few props, costumes or set to speak of, and an audience who might just as easily be distracted by the bear-baiting next door, Shakespeare’s plays were largely audio-drama.
So every word mattered. Effective, persuasive composition of words was essential to grab (and keep) an audience’s attention, and to conjure up a vivid image on the stage.
As writers, we’re also rhetorical masters, manipulating words to craft each sentence. We hand-select each detail to build intrigue and interest. We arrange our prose in a particular way to get a specific response from the reader. We use linguistic devices to create metaphor, imagery, and wordplay.
The difference is that few of us today are taught all the many intricate, nuanced rhetorical terms for these techniques (and there are hundreds — check out Nina Schuyler’s wonderful workshop on Perfect Sentences for more). But that doesn’t mean we can’t use them in our work — in fact, you’re probably already doing a lot of them subconsciously. And once you start to see and hear them more clearly, you can be a bit more deliberate about it.
Rhythm, repetition and emphasis (along with all the rhetorical techniques we’ve already looked at) are particularly effective at creating shape and building towards a powerful, effective and persuasive (ahem) climax.
Take these fine Shakey examples: