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What does the writing of Katy Perry, Hemingway, and The Bible have in common?

Mark Forsyth has the answer. He studied history's greatest writers and noticed how they used the same rhetorical formulas.

Here's what you need to know:

1. The formulas are timeless (and still work).

2. Where to begin? Try taking the last word of one sentence and repeating it as the first word in the next. It gives the illusion of logic. Like this one from Yoda: "Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hatred. Hatred leads to suffering."

3. An example from Malcolm X: "Once you change your philosophy, you change your thought pattern. Once you change your thought pattern, you change your attitude. Once you change your attitude, it changes your behavior pattern and then you go on into some action."

4. It's a mystery why, but people love to hear a string of words that begins with the same letter. "Two to Tango" is a heck of a lot more memorable than "Two to Waltz."

5. From his book, Elements of Eloquence: "Adjectives in English absolutely have to be in this order: opinion-size-age-shape-colour-origin-material-purpose Noun."

6. People will tell you to write only what's necessary, but endless repetition can be a way to emphasize something. Katy Perry's repetition of opposites is logically unnecessary, but it works:  "'Cause you're hot then you're cold, You're yes then you're no, You're in then you're out, You're up then you're down, You're wrong when it's right, It's black and it's white, We fight, we break up, We kiss, we make up."

7. Wedding vows have the same kind of repetition: "For better or for worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health..."

8. JFK leaned on a rhetorical device called a Chiasmus, where you take the first half of a sentence and say it backward. You see it in sentences like "Mankind must put an end to war—or war will put an end to mankind" and "Ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country."

9. I like the Chiasmus because it's so easy to implement. Here's another example of a Chiasmus, like when Cormac McCarthy wrote: "You forget what you want to remember, and you remember what you want to forget."

10. Language is ruled by the mob. Doesn't matter what the committees think. If everybody uses a word in a certain way, then that's what it means.

11. Most of Shakespeare's famous lines are simply examples of famous formulas.

12. Shakespeare often "stole" content from other people, but he improved what he stole by using rhetorical formulas and figures of speech. Mark insists that he had Thomas North’s translation of Plutarch open while writing Julius Caesar.

13. Write two things that connect, then add a twist for the third thing. The magic comes from the surprise. An example is: "Lies, damned lies, and statistics." Another is: "Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."

14. Sometimes, the things that stick will simply surprise you. One of the most famous lines in film history only has three words: "Bond. James Bond."

15. The James Bond-style line is called a Diacope. Other examples are "Burn, baby, burn" and "Zed’s dead, baby, Zed’s dead."

Algorithm decided I needed to listen to this AGAIN at 3am today. I sighed, I denied, but then I complied.

"Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who tresspass against us" I always thought that was a bar😂😂🔥🔥🔥

This episode is like being introduced to a whole new universe of writing tools

As a professor of rhetoric, I’m torn — on the one hand, thrilled to see so much renewed excitement about rhetorical devices, on the other hand, very frustrated to hear him say there are no books on these, as though he has uncovered some long lost secret. It would be nice if people could popularize the things they love without this need to pretend no one else is doing it.

“If it flows out of you, it flows into the reader”

This man's book is a grimoire. It contains forbidden literary knowledge, and whichever writer reads it will have its power.

This is the third time I've watched this interview. It's the best video on writing I've seen. I've made lots of notes.  I've put Mark's books on my Xmas list.

Great interviewer. “Tell me more about that.” Just realizing that his guest much have more that’s worth hearing, where so many others might move on.

What he said about practicing a lot then writing something quickly (like a jazz musician practicing tons of scales then improvising with facility) reminds me of the book "Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell.  The premise is that people are able to make "snap" decisions so well sometimes because of all the background information they've been consciously or unconsciously compiling all their lives.

Within the first 10 minutes of the interview, I found his book and purchased it. I don't believe I've ever done that before. This was brilliant.

And just like that, two people I’d never heard of an hour ago are now two of my favorite humans on earth.

Goddamn this is wonderful content.

You mentioned about your teacher with the stutter - and how he struggled to speak in sentences but did well with freestyle rap.  If my memory serves me, music and speech come from different parts of the brain (and my memory MAY not serve me here, but that is what I am recalling in this moment).  My mother was a nurses Aid back in the 1990's and had a patient named Jack.  Jack could only speak the words "Twenty Two" and to/too - so everything he say would be "Two to Twenty Two too, twenty two!" or "TWENTY TWO!!!" Or "twenty two.... ?" When she would sit and SING with him however, he could sing every word to the song.  The brain is AMAZING.

I am polish so my language has completely different roots, sound and rules than english but I am sure, that this knowledge is applicable also in polish. I am also mesmerized by memory, intelligence and of course eloquence of Mark Forsyth. This interview is a proof that YouTube is a blessing of technology: so much knowledge under our thumb! 🤯🤯🤯

I paused the video half way through and immediately ordered a copy of his book online.  Awesome interview. It's changed me as a person.

Heard his accent, checked his bio.  Of course he went to Oxford. Outstanding interview. Kudos.

This was really an amazing interview. He's so eloquent and so well spoken and has a memory almost unimaginable. Thank you, Anthony Barbera

I would love for Shakespeare  to break into my house and tidy up. This video was wonderful. The conversation itself was a poem.

This is incredible. I wish there are more videos like this to actually teach us how to write.

I really appreciate how the conversation was sharp and to the point. I felt like I learnt a lot. It definitely inspired me to go back to the old dictionaries of my language and spend time with them. ❤