The words: I am not going anywhere and there is nothing you can do to stop me can be pulled right out of Charles Lamb’s mouth from reading this letter. Charles Lamb vetoes his “friend’s” invitation to visit the country, and shows his disdain for said idea through a plethora of rhetorical methods – i.e. comparison and contrast, lists, similes and metaphors, tone, and a rhetorical question. To explain his rejection Lamb identifies his best friend. No. His “mistress”. Her name is London. The extensive list of attractions of the city, intertwined with passionate descriptions accounting for the joy they bring to Lamb, is the genesis of Lamb’s comparing and contrasting between “dead nature” and the effervescent city. Lamb immediately dictates his …show more content…
That’s just in the first paragraph. Lamb continues his list with another seven prevalent items from his childhood that he still relates to and loves. Analyzing these areas, Lamb unambiguously weaves an eloquent web of adjectives connecting his many loves. These are his rhetorical descriptions, whether just through adjectives or other methods such as similes and metaphors. Using this web of love Lamb traps the city in his heart; with nowhere to escape, much like a spider does to a fly. “Like a faithful dog” similes and metaphors, adjectives and personification follow his train of thought. Bookcases are not the only items of Lamb’s passion following him. The lust and greed Lamb has for these tangible objects dispersed through the city and the intangible ones produced through the tangibility of books is ever increasing throughout the letter. The first paragraph identifies the power these coveted articles have through his “often shed tears”. But they are tears of joy. The second paragraph reaches the full potential of the amount of his love. Lamb considers “these [as] …show more content…
Well, Lamb does it. As he is weaving his web of love, he is also placing bread crumbs of disdain leading to the enlightenment of even the relationship between the two men. These breadcrumbs are the subtle, hidden rhetorical devices Lamb uses to fully emphasize his point. One of these is this said progressive enlightenment, pieced together through context clues utilized by the tone. Wordsworth has sent the invitation under the impression that Lamb is Wordsworth’s friend. Lamb begins with an attempt at having a benevolent tone, but without even a friendly salutation or good-bye this is hard to maintain. As Lamb writes, his disdain for more than the country begins to show as his tone becomes more hostile. Referring to the country as “dead nature”, the inhabitants as “mountain men”, and acknowledging that he is late in responding, Lamb “[doesn’t] much care” about Wordsworth in addition to the country. From this terse introduction, he continues this degrading tone throughout the letter. Lamb then follows up later with a rhetorical question, again slipping in another item. Lamb asks about his own life in regards to the possibility of missing out on the chance of the city. But the implications of his question are directed at the life choices of Wordsworth. Going back to Lamb’s pity, following his creation of the web of love Lamb calls out Wordsworth, implying he sees Wordsworth as a