12.3 The relationship between style and emotional effect

Longinus explores how style and emotional impact intertwine in sublime writing. He argues that powerful language choices can evoke strong feelings in readers, elevating the work to greatness.

The chapter examines specific techniques writers use to create emotional resonance. These include vivid imagery, figurative language, and strategic sentence structures that intensify the reader's experience and connection to the text.

Modes of Persuasion

Emotional, Ethical, and Logical Appeals

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• Pathos appeals to audience emotions evokes strong feelings to persuade
  • Utilizes vivid language, personal anecdotes, and emotive imagery
  • Effective for motivating action or changing attitudes (political speeches)
• Ethos establishes speaker's credibility builds trust with audience
  • Demonstrates expertise, experience, and moral character
  • Enhances persuasiveness through perceived authority (expert testimonials)
• Logos employs logical reasoning presents facts and evidence to convince
  • Includes statistical data, empirical studies, and sound arguments
  • Persuades through rational thinking and intellectual appeal (scientific presentations)

Stylistic Devices

Rhetorical and Figurative Language Techniques

• Rhetorical devices enhance persuasive power of speech or writing
  • Anaphora repeats words at beginning of successive clauses (Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech)
  • Chiasmus inverts word order for emphasis ("Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country")
• Figurative language uses non-literal expressions to convey meaning
  • Metaphors compare two unlike things without using "like" or "as" ("Life is a rollercoaster")
  • Similes make explicit comparisons using "like" or "as" ("Her voice was as smooth as silk")
  • Personification attributes human qualities to non-human things ("The wind whispered through the trees")

Imagery and Amplification Strategies

• Imagery creates vivid mental pictures through sensory details
  • Appeals to sight, sound, taste, touch, and smell
  • Enhances reader engagement and emotional impact (describing a bustling marketplace)
• Amplification emphasizes or expands on an idea for greater effect
  • Repetition reinforces key points through multiple restatements
  • Elaboration provides additional details or examples to clarify concepts
  • Climax arranges ideas in order of increasing importance or intensity

Sentence Structure

Asyndeton and Polysyndeton Techniques

• Asyndeton omits conjunctions between phrases or clauses
  • Creates a rapid, emphatic rhythm in speech or writing
  • Conveys a sense of urgency or importance ("I came, I saw, I conquered")
• Polysyndeton uses multiple conjunctions in close succession
  • Slows down the pace and emphasizes each element equally
  • Adds a rhythmic quality to prose ("We have ships and men and money and stores")

Hyperbole and Exaggeration

• Hyperbole employs deliberate exaggeration for emphasis or effect
  • Not meant to be taken literally, but to make a point
  • Adds humor, drama, or intensity to expression ("I've told you a million times")
• Exaggeration techniques in various contexts
  • Literature uses hyperbole to create memorable characters or scenes
  • Advertising employs exaggeration to highlight product benefits
  • Comedians utilize hyperbole for humorous effect in stand-up routines