<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>This paper is a case study examining the choice and interaction of stylistic devices employed in <italic>The Schoole of Vertue</italic>, Francis Segar and Robert Crowley’s manual of good manners for children issued between 1582 and 1687. It was designed to convince its readers that particular patterns of behaviour were socially beneficial and worth following. In order to enhance the attractiveness, persuasiveness, and mnemonic qualities of the text, several stylistic devices are employed in the manual, including, for example, rhymes, acronyms, as well as binomials. It is generally agreed that repetitive patterns (especially binomials) are typical of formal registers, and particularly plentiful in legal and literary texts in Early Modern English, but the present study shows that similar rhetorical devices were also readily employed in the less formal and elevated style of manuals of good behaviour. Another rhetorical device frequently used in the manual under consideration consists in addressing the reader directly with the second person singular pronoun, especially in imperative constructions, thus creating an ambiance of emotional closeness, characterising the relationship between the master and the pupil.</p></abstract>

This paper is a case study examining the choice and interaction of stylistic devices employed in The Schoole of Vertue, Francis Segar and Robert Crowley’s manual of good manners for children issued between 1582 and 1687. It was designed to convince its readers that particular patterns of behaviour were socially beneficial and worth following. In order to enhance the attractiveness, persuasiveness, and mnemonic qualities of the text, several stylistic devices are employed in the manual, including, for example, rhymes, acronyms, as well as binomials. It is generally agreed that repetitive patterns (especially binomials) are typical of formal registers, and particularly plentiful in legal and literary texts in Early Modern English, but the present study shows that similar rhetorical devices were also readily employed in the less formal and elevated style of manuals of good behaviour. Another rhetorical device frequently used in the manual under consideration consists in addressing the reader directly with the second person singular pronoun, especially in imperative constructions, thus creating an ambiance of emotional closeness, characterising the relationship between the master and the pupil.

Stylistic Devices in <italic>The Schoole of Vertue</italic>, an Early Modern Manual of Good Conduct for Children

Faculty of English, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań

Studia Anglica Posnaniensia

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Stylistic Devices in , an Early Modern Manual of Good Conduct for Children

This paper is a case study examining the choice and interaction of stylistic devices employed in The Schoole of Vertue, Francis Segar and Robert Crowley’s...

Stylistic Devices in The Schoole of Vertue, an Early Modern Manual of Good Conduct for Children

Publié en ligne: 30 déc. 2016

Pages: 95 - 124

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/stap-2016-0016

Mots clés
Early Modern English, stylistic devices, early modern etiquette manuals, early printed books

© 2016 Hanna Rutkowska, published by De Gruyter Open

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Stylistic Devices in The Schoole of Vertue, an Early Modern Manual of Good Conduct for Children

Publié en ligne: 30 déc. 2016

Pages: 95 - 124

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/stap-2016-0016

Mots clésEarly Modern English, stylistic devices, early modern etiquette manuals, early printed books

© 2016 Hanna Rutkowska, published by De Gruyter Open

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Mots clés
Early Modern English, stylistic devices, early modern etiquette manuals, early printed books