We’re so accustomed to the Lusty Lady using basic rhyme-based wordplay that we’ve forgotten all about the other rhetorical devices she has in her arsenal. Asyndeton, anaphora, alliteration: she knows them all intimately. But like the dancers she employs, the Lady also knows the proper role of decoration in seduction (by dance or by pun). For instance, bronzer, when used appropriately, can accentuate a girl’s cleavage, but when used simply for its own sake, distracts. Likewise anastrophe can transform a common saying like ‘Pleasure Doing Business’ into a saucy turn of phrase, or can result in ‘Lear King’. The Lusty Lady lesson here: No need to show off. Now if only this writer could learn it.
