On EloquenceYale University Press, 2008 M10 1 - 208 pages On Eloquence questions the common assumption that eloquence is merely a subset of rhetoric, a means toward a rhetorical end. Denis Donoghue, an eminent and prolific critic of the English language, holds that this assumption is erroneous. While rhetoric is the use of language to persuade people to do one thing rather than another, Donoghue maintains that eloquence is gratuitous, ideally autonomous, in speech and writing an upsurge of creative vitality for its own sake. He offers many instances of eloquence in words, and suggests the forms our appreciation of them should take. Donoghue argues persuasively that eloquence matters, that we should indeed care about it. Because we should care about any instances of freedom, independence, creative force, sprezzatura, he says, especially when we liveperhaps this is increasingly the casein a culture of the same, featuring official attitudes, stereotypes of the officially enforced values, sedated language, a politics of pacification. A noteworthy addition to Donoghues long-term project to reclaim a disinterested appreciation of literature as literature, this volume is a wise and pleasurable meditation on eloquence, its unique ability to move or give pleasure, and its intrinsic value. |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 87
Page
Denis Donoghue. On Eloquence Also by Denis Donoghue The Third Voice: Modern British and Front Cover.
Denis Donoghue. On Eloquence Also by Denis Donoghue The Third Voice: Modern British and Front Cover.
Page
Denis Donoghue. On Eloquence Denis Donoghue Yale University Press New Haven and London Copyright © 2008 by Denis Donoghue. All rights reserved. This.
Denis Donoghue. On Eloquence Denis Donoghue Yale University Press New Haven and London Copyright © 2008 by Denis Donoghue. All rights reserved. This.
Page
... chapter 4 Like Something Almost Being Said / 70 chapter 5 To Make an End / 100 chapter 6 Blind Mouths / 122 chapter 7 For and Against / 143 Notes / 177 Index / 191 vii Taking Notes Eloquence is simply the end of art, and.
... chapter 4 Like Something Almost Being Said / 70 chapter 5 To Make an End / 100 chapter 6 Blind Mouths / 122 chapter 7 For and Against / 143 Notes / 177 Index / 191 vii Taking Notes Eloquence is simply the end of art, and.
Page 1
... eloquent, but in a poor way, with less intensity, until this aspect is obscured by others fattening upon its leanness. —Kenneth Burke, Counter-Statement We are all prepared to applaud eloquence when it is employed in the service of ...
... eloquent, but in a poor way, with less intensity, until this aspect is obscured by others fattening upon its leanness. —Kenneth Burke, Counter-Statement We are all prepared to applaud eloquence when it is employed in the service of ...
Page 3
... eloquence is incidental to its aim . Eloquence , as distinct from rhetoric , has no aim : it is a play of words or other expressive means . It is a gift to be enjoyed in appreciation and practice . The main attribute of eloquence is ...
... eloquence is incidental to its aim . Eloquence , as distinct from rhetoric , has no aim : it is a play of words or other expressive means . It is a gift to be enjoyed in appreciation and practice . The main attribute of eloquence is ...
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
Adorno Aeneas agile with temporal Bartleby blue Browne's Cambridge catachresis chapter claim Collected Poems context culture Dante death Derrida Dido Donne English Language Essays expression eyes feeling Finnegans Wake Flaubert Geoffrey Hill gesture gives Guy Davenport Gweneth Hugh Kenner human Hydriotaphia Ibid imagination John John Donne Kenneth Burke King knock Lady Macbeth last line Latin literary Literature live Locke London Madame Bovary means mind modern night Ophelia Oxford passage passion phrase play pleasure poet poetry Professor Hogan prose quence quoted R. P. Blackmur reader reading reason rhetoric rhyme rhythm seems sense sentence Shakespeare silence song without words soul sounds speak speech stanza Stevens story style sweet syllable T. S. Eliot take the train talk temporal intervals things thought tion trans translation tree University Press verbal W. B. Yeats William Empson Woolf writing Yeats