Farnsworth’s Classical English Rhetoric by Ward Farnsworth; Unabridged MP3 Audio Book; Narrator Bronson Pinchot and Jim Meskimen

Masters of language can turn unassuming words into phrases that are beautiful, effective, and memorable. What are the secrets of this alchemy? Part of the answer lies in rhetorical figures: practical ways of applying great aesthetic principles—repetition and variety, suspense and relief, concealment and surprise—to a simple sentence or paragraph. Farnsworth’s Classical English Rhetoric recovers this knowledge for our times. It amounts to a tutorial on eloquence conducted by Churchill and Lincoln, Dickens and Melville, Burke and Paine, and more than a hundred others. The book organizes a vast range of examples from those sources into eighteen chapters that illustrate and analyze the most valuable rhetorical devices with unprecedented clarity. The result is an indispensable source of pleasure and instruction for all lovers of the English language.

“Not only educational but delightful.”—David Mamet, New York Times bestselling author

Ward Farnsworth is professor of law and the Nancy Barton Scholar at Boston University School of Law.