‘The Elements of Eloquence’

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Bible, Dashiel Hammett, Elvis Presley, Lennon & McCartney, Mark Forsyth, PG Wodehouse, Philip Larkin, Procol Harum, Rolling Stones, Shakespeare, ST Coleridge, Wordsworth

“‘I wandered lonely as a cloud …’ Clouds are not lonely. Especially in the Lake District where Wordsworth wrote that line. In the Lake District clouds are remarkably sociable creatures that bring their friends and relatives and stay for weeks. … It’s not that Wordsworth didn’t know about meteorology, it’s that he did know about metaphor.” (Mark Forsyth)

I distrust books that have blazoned on the cover, “I laughed out loud”. But in the case of The Elements of Eloquence – How to Turn the Perfect English Phrase, I did too. My fellow travellers on the train to Rochester pretended not to notice.

In this book Mark Forsyth explains figures of speech (39 in all) used by writers good and not-so-good over the last 500 years, with examples and comment. Shakespeare, the Bible, William Blake, Leonard Cohen – they’re all here. This is a great read in its own right, and also a mine for the writer aspiring to write better.

Take Merism. This is when you don’t say what you’re talking about, but instead name all of its parts, as in “For better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health”, when you could just say “in all circumstances”…

Or Polyptoton, the repeated use of one word as different parts of speech or in different grammatical forms, eg Lennon & McCartney’s Please Please Me. Or the Bard in Richard II – “Grace me no grace, nor uncle me no uncle”.

Enallage, a deliberate grammatical mistake – “Love me tender” works where “Love me tenderly” wouldn’t. Unadverbial Elvis.

When Mick Jagger, singing of his honky tonk woman, tells us that “She blew my nose, and then she blew my mind,” he is demonstrating his use of Syllepsis, where one word is used in two (or more) incongruous ways.

There are Transferred Epithets, when the adjective is applied to the wrong noun, as in Wodehouse: “His eyes widened and an astonished piece of toast fell from his grasp.”

We all know Hyperbole: Dashiel Hammett on a private eye: “He … could have shadowed a drop of salt water from Golden Gate to Hong Kong without losing sight of it.”

Philip Larkin’s most famous line, we learn, is an example of Prolepsis, when you use a pronoun before saying what it stands for. We don’t know who They are, until we’re told they’re Your Mum and Dad. Doesn’t work the other way round, does it?

‘The Fourteenth Rule’ – Mark Forsyth’s own term – is that a number can give an apparent significance. The “sixteen vestal virgins” in Whiter Shade of Pale work so much better than “several vestal virgins”.     The Spirit that follows the Ancient Mariner’s doomed ship does so “Nine fathoms deep”.  (What was so special about 54 feet down?)

And many more, as they used to say on compilation albums …

Great entertainment, and you’re learning while you laugh! Published in 2014 by Icon Books Ltd, ISBN 978-184831733-8 RRP £7-99

 

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A hit. A palpable hit…

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Isle of Ely Arts Festival, Shakespeare, Short Story Competition

Our very own Val has just learned that she’s won second prize in the Isle of Ely Arts Festival Short Story Competition. The brief was to produce a 500-word unpublished story inspired by Shakespeare.

What tremendous news. Val’s special interest is in writing plays and sketches (we’ve seen them performed, they’re great), but she’s also a knowledgeable fan of Shakespeare and a talented short story writer. Small wonder she did so well.

A hit. A palpable hit!  (With apologies for using a quote from Hamlet, rather than Othello, the play which inspired her entry)

 

Heart v Head

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EU referendum, Head, Heart, Jane Austen, Leave, Remain, Shakespeare

I’ve heard someone answer, when asked about the EU referendum, that their heart says Leave but their head says Remain. Heart v Head? That’s the theme of so many stories. A whole sub-genre of romantic novels, perhaps. Which are your favourites?

I first thought that Persuasion was in this category, but I’m not so sure now. When we get to the end we see that Heart wins, but by then we so much approve of Captain Wentworth that we would put Anne marrying him in the Head category too. Hmm.

In the typical Heart v Head story the presumption is that heart is in fact right.   Of course Jessica should elope with Lorenzo – they are young and attractive and in love. The practical and social downsides of this are simply discounted, or not even considered.

Can you think of a story where Head wins?

Thought not. As a writer, would you compose a story-line in which Head wins over Heart? Would such a novel work? Would people buy it?

(And how does that help decide over the EU …….. ?)

June Competitions

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Isle of Ely Festival, Shakespeare

Our correspondent in Spain has alerted us to a 500-word short story competition being held as part of the Isle of Ely Arts Festival. They are looking for stories inspired by Shakespeare, which should be emailed to rjwest@hotmail.com by June 15.

The Festival Facebook page gives no information about prizes – perhaps la gloire will be enough – but some of you might like to have a go.

Some Shakespearean memories this anniversary day

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Czech, King Lear, Measure for Measure, Midsummer Night's Dream, President Kennedy, Prof Martin Hilský, Richard III, Shakespeare, Taming of the Shrew, Twelfth Night

Back in 1967, with all of an adolescent’s assurance and pomposity I wrote in my A Level English exam that King Lear was too great a play actually to be successfully staged. It makes me cringe somewhat to think of that now, but it must have impressed the examiners as they gave me a good grade. And it is true that I have in fact never seen Lear on stage. I fear that I would not see it done well enough. A couple of years back I tried to get to the Ian McKellen production – surely that would have been top class, I thought – but it was sold out.

Two nights ago I went to a talk by a Professor* who has translated ALL of Shakespeare into Czech, in which he told his spellbound audience how he went about it and what the difficulties and the joys are in that huge task. In it he said that he put Lear among the best plays ever written, by anybody, with its massive themes of folly and loyalty and disloyalty.

It was while my father was driving me home after seeing Richard III at Stratford in November 1963 that we learned of the death of President Kennedy. We turned on the car radio and heard the voice of Sir Alec Douglas-Home, then the Prime Minister, paying tribute to the President. An evening of dramatic deaths became all too real.

I had not thought much of A Midsummer Night’s Dream in my teens, thinking that it was all about fairies and with not much happening. But then at college I saw a student production and came out of the theatre feeling that it was so good to be alive. Not many plays have done that – fingers of one hand? – but that was one of them.

Some reservations? In that study of how power corrupts, Measure for Measure, the amazing coincidences that solve the plotlines do grate somewhat: did the Bard lose interest, or run out of time, and just bring in a deus ex machina or two (dei ex machina?) to finish it? And I admit to not actually enjoying The Taming of the Shrew, and to having seen so many Twelfth Nights that I won’t mind if I go to my grave not having seen any more.

But a great King Lear …………?  Yes please.

*Prof. Martin Hilský, of Charles University in Prague, awarded an honorary MBE for his services to literature

The Cambridge Literary Festival

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Andy Stanton, Cambridge, David Hare, Howard Jacobson, Jackie Kay, Kate Tempest, Sebastian Barry, Shakespeare, Tracy Chevalier

There are three wonderful literary festivals lined up this spring, at Cambridge, Oxford and Charleston (the great Bloomsbury house near Lewes in Sussex).  Lots of authors to see and listen to, and buy books from – and other famous names from the media and other worlds are on show too.

The Cambridge Literary Festival – 5-14 April

The website (http://www.cambridgeliteraryfestival.com ) says, “This year’s eclectic and vibrant line-up is bigger than ever and presents leading lights from the worlds of comedy and current affairs, history and hip-hop, finance and fiction, science and Shakespeare and poetry and politics.”

The programme includes: Akala, Sebastian Barry, Tracy Chevalier, David Hare, Horrible Science, Howard Jacobson, Jackie Kay, Ken Livingstone, Ben Miller, Alexei Sayle, Andy Stanton, Kate Tempest, Edmund de Waal and Ruby Wax.

The Oxford Literary Festival

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Ian McKellen, Jacqueline Wilson, Joan Bakewell, Melvyn Bragg, Michael Frayn, Oxford, Shakespeare

The Oxford Literary Festival overlaps with Cambridge (either by design or accident). It’s from 2-10 April – see http://oxfordliteraryfestival.org. So you might have to decide between light and dark blue.

Among the attractions: “Award-winning actor of stage and screen Ian McKellen takes to the Sheldonian stage for talk about his life in Shakespeare – One of our greatest actors Sir Ian McKellen is to join Shakespeare scholar Professor Sir Jonathan Bate for a discussion to mark the 400th anniversary of the death of The Bard. McKellen and Bate will discuss how their lives have been shaped by their relationship to the great plays.”

Also appearing, as stated on the website: Jacqueline Wilson, Melvyn Bragg, Joan Bakewell, A C Grayling, James Naughtie, Garry Kasparov, Maureen Lipman and Michael Frayn.

The Charleston Festival

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Charleston, Charlotte Bronte, Ian McEwan, Jane Austen, Jeanette Winterson, Rose Tremain, Shakespeare

The Charleston Festival follows, from 20-30 May. See www.charleston.org.uk. Highlights (taken from a Festival e-mail and the website) include:

• an appearance by Sir Tim Berners-Lee;
• Jeanette Winterson on The Gap of Time, her response to Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale. Echoing the original play, the book is a contemporary story of betrayal, paranoia and redemption. We are to expect a zestful performance;
• Lord Martin Rees, Astronomer Royal, cosmologist and space scientist, and Ian McEwan, one of our most science-savvy novelists, discuss the future of our planet;
• Award-winning author, Rose Tremain, talks about her new novel, set in the lead-up to WW2. The Gustav Sonata revolves around the relationship between two Swiss boys and follows them through to old age;
• Jane Austen versus Charlotte Brontë: who better to try to resolve the contest than Claire Harman, current biographer of Charlotte Brontë and John Mullan, Professor of English Literature and author of What Matters in Jane Austen? The audience will have the final say. Moderator Virginia Nicholson, social historian, will be entirely impartial.

Two for the Diary?

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British Library, Shakespeare, Somerset House

Shakespeare in Ten Acts.

There will be an exhibition at London’s British Library to mark the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death which will explore the impact of ten significant moments – from the first production of Hamlet to a digital-age deconstruction for the 21st century.  Together with paintings, photographs, costumes and props you will be able to see rare printed editions, including the First Folio, and the only surviving play script in his own handwriting.

Running from the 15th April to the 6th September this could be something to include in your plans for the spring/summer.

Details from: http://www.bl.uk/bl.uk.whats-on

P.S. An invaluable research tool for writers, the British Library has a free email newsletter at email@email.bl.uk

In addition, By me William Shakespeare : a Life in Writing is being held at Somerset House between the 3rd February and the 29th May. Among many documents on view will be his last will and testament. Tickets and details from: http://www.bymewilliamshakespeare.org

The Rejection Diaries

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competitions, rejection, Shakespeare

When troubles come, they come not single spies but in battalions...

Did Shakespeare get rejections? Must have done, mustn’t he? Anyway, I’ve had two rebuffs in the last days: a magazine declining one of my stories and a local charitable 400-word competition which has been scooped by someone else. Am I downhearted? You betcha!

HOWEVER, this is proof positive that I’ve been busy writing and submitting, which is a huge accomplishment in itself. I’ve been much more active this year than last and have had a few invaluable fragments of encouragement – a long-listing and a short-listing. Also, although the magazine didn’t want my story, it was recently commended in a competition.

Writers need thick skins. Wine. Chocolate…