Book III, Chapter 10-12 Summary and Analysis

Chapter 10: Effective prose will express its important points with succinct, elegant sayings. These sayings are characterized by antithesis, metaphor, and vividness. Antithesis is the grouping of two opposite qualities in order to make a point especially striking. For example, one might say that a certain public figure is "not a savior, but a traitor"—in one short phrase, the audience is forced to imagine two completely opposite extremes. Metaphors are useful because people take pleasure in new ideas and they are the best vehicles for conveying them. Simple words convey what people already know and complex, foreign words only confuse them. Vivid speech—speech which, so to speak, draws a picture for the audience, is very effective.

Chapter 11: Vivid descriptions should always draw a picture of something that is in activity. One might...