Lying in Bed
“If there is one thing worse than the modern weakening of major morals, it is the modern strengthening of minor morals.” This is parallel structure and alliteration like whoa. It brings a ton of emphasis to the point, which is kind of the thesis of the entire essay, and it makes it memorable. Even long after people have finished reading this essay, perhaps this one line will stick in their heads and make it hard to forget. The thesis will be remembered, because it was stated in a catchy and easy to understand way. Another big rhetorical strategy used is personal anecdote, as well as the reference to Michelangelo and his similar experience. “I am sure that it was only because Michael Angelo was engaged in the ancient and honourable occupation of lying in bed that he ever realized how the roof of the Sistine Chapel might be made into an awful imitation of a divine drama that could only be acted in the heavens.” This, and also all the references he makes to his own lying in bed all give support to his point that lying in bed is a good thing. His readers are expected to have an appreciation for art, and pointing out that the Sistine chapel might have never been painted if it weren’t for lying in bed says both that it was a more valued experience back when Michael Angelo was around and that it was a really good thing that it was more values or a great piece of art would have never been created. The personal anecdotes don’t do quite as much for his argument, but they do lend him credibility and also give him a persona of someone who things that he’s doing a good thing and that others should be more like him. You kind of get an idea of who he is as well as what he thinks and why he thinks it.
