Euphuism

Euphuism is an ornate English prose style marked by balanced clauses, antithesis, alliteration, and elaborate similes. John Lyly popularized it through his prose romance Euphues.

Antithesis: A rhetorical figure that places contrasting ideas in parallel grammatical structures. Euphuistic sentences repeatedly balance opposing ideas to create symmetry and emphasis.
John Lyly: An English writer and playwright whose prose romance Euphues gave Euphuism its name. His writing established the style’s most influential model.
Elizabethan prose: Prose written in England during the reign of Elizabeth I, encompassing fiction, history, translation, and religious writing. Euphuism was a conspicuous stylistic fashion within this broader body of prose.
Ciceronianism: A Renaissance ideal of Latin prose modeled on the balanced periods and eloquence of Cicero. Both prize balance, but Ciceronianism favors periodic argument rather than Lyly’s dense patterns of simile and sound.
Isocolon: A rhetorical figure in which successive clauses have similar length and grammatical structure. Its matched clauses supply the measured cadence characteristic of Euphuistic prose.
Euphues: The Anatomy of Wit: John Lyly’s 1578 prose romance about the young Athenian Euphues and his education in love and conduct. This work introduced the prose manner later called Euphuism.
Prose romance: A prose narrative centered on idealized adventures, love, and the conduct of its characters. Lyly used the romance form to stage Euphues’s speeches and moral reflections.
Plain style: A prose manner that favors directness, simplicity, and minimal ornament. Its restraint makes clear the conspicuous verbal ornament that defines Euphuism.
Alliteration: The repetition of initial consonant sounds in nearby words. Repeated initial sounds make Euphuistic passages conspicuously patterned and memorable.
Euphues and His England: John Lyly’s 1580 sequel to Euphues: The Anatomy of Wit. The sequel extended Lyly’s ornate style into a story set in England.

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