Rhetoric and the Familiar in Francis Bacon and John Donne - Hardcover

This is an ambitious and wide-randing first book. In it, Daniel Derrin examines the rhetorical practices of Francis Bacon and John Donne. ... Any student of Bacon, Donne, or Renaissance rhetoric could turn to this book with profit. * Renaissance Quarterly *

Rhetoric and the Familiar examines the rhetorical practice of Francis Bacon and John Donne in both their writing and public speaking. It explores how their rhetorical planning negotiates the need both to use and combat familiar ideas, images, and emotions, when engaging different audiences. The book's main selling points are that it explores well-known texts from the neglected angle of faculty psychology. Its ability to illuminate familiar ground in an important but neglected way will be its main selling point in the academic market.