Stylistic devices in "The Schoole of Vertue", an Early Modern manual of good conduct for children
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Date
2016
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Adam Mickiewicz University
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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.
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Keywords
Early Modern English, stylistic devices, early modern etiquette manuals, early printed books
Citation
Studia Anglica Posnaniensia, vol. 51.3(2016), pp. 95-124