Aphelia (Greek, "plainness") is a plainness of writing or speech. Aphelia is used to explain or teach rather than to entertain or elicit an emotional response.

Style

The sentence structure is typically both short in length and lacks "poetic and rhetorical adornment."

Parataxis Parataxis (from el, παράταξις, "act of placing side by side"; from παρα, ''para'' "beside" + τάξις, ''táxis'' "arrangement") is a literary technique, in writing or speaking, that favors short, simple sentences, without conjun ...

and asyndeton are also expected within the plain style. Writing or speech using aphelia may display a "right-branching" sentence structure for the most part; that is, the sentence will begin with an independent clause that will be followed by at least one

dependent clause A subordinate clause, dependent clause, subclause, or embedded clause is a clause that is embedded within a complex sentence. For instance, in the English sentence "I know that Bette is a dolphin", the clause "that Bette is a dolphin" occurs as t ...

.Zimmerman, Brett. ''Edgar Allan Poe: Rhetoric and Style''. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2005. 138. Print

Examples

*"In plain prose, here are four whales as well known to the students of Cetacean History as Marius or Sylla to the classic scholar." —

Herman Melville Herman Melville (Name change, born Melvill; August 1, 1819 – September 28, 1891) was an American people, American novelist, short story writer, and poet of the American Renaissance (literature), American Renaissance period. Among his bes ...

, Moby-Dick *"I knew what the old man felt, and pitied him, but chuckled at heart." —

Edgar Allan Poe Edgar Allan Poe (; Edgar Poe; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic. Poe is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre. He is wide ...

The Tell-Tale Heart "The Tell-Tale Heart" is a short story by American writer Edgar Allan Poe, first published in 1843. It is related by an unnamed narrator who endeavors to convince the reader of the narrator's sanity while simultaneously describing a murder the n ...

*"She presented all of the ordinary appearances of death. The face assumed the usual pinched and sunken outline. The lips were of usual marble pallor. The eyes were lustreless. There was no warmth. Pulsation had ceased." —

The Premature Burial "The Premature Burial" is a horror short story by American writer Edgar Allan Poe, published in 1844 in ''The Philadelphia Dollar Newspaper''. Its main character expresses concern about being buried alive. This fear was common in this period and ...

References

{{Reflist Rhetoric

Style

Examples

See also

References