A Treatise of Schemes and Tropes

Giving a name to a turn of phrase is the teaching method behind Richard Sherry’s handbook of rhetoric. First printed in 1550, it organizes figures of speech under Greek and Latin terms, then explains them in English with examples. The accompanying introduction places this approach within a tradition that treated style and verbal ornament as central to eloquence.

The sampled entries show how an argument can answer an anticipated objection, weigh competing explanations or draw a conclusion from earlier statements. Classical stories and religious discussion provide material for demonstrating those moves. Sherry’s older English spelling takes some adjustment, but it also lets readers see the language in which these tools were taught. Students of rhetoric, literary history and prose style can use the book to examine how a carefully classified set of figures was intended to help people both understand authors and shape their own expression.