Euphuism

Prose style that was named after John Lyly's romance, Euphues: the Anatomy of Wit (1580). While it can sound terribly affected and artificial to modern ears, it was very trendy at Elizabeth's court during the 1580s. Elaborate rhetorical devices (mostly similes, antitheses and rhetorical questions) combine with complicated syntactical patterns (sentences and sounds that are balanced against each other). The result is a flowery style that allows gentlemen to impress each other with their classical learning, their remarkable knowledge and their wit.