The Common Style ofCommon Sense

摘要

The extraordinary impact of Thomas Paine'sCommon Sensehas often been attributed to its style — to the simplicity and forcefulness with which Paine expressed ideas that many others before him had expressed. Comparative analysis ofCommon Senseand other pre-Revolutionary pamphlets suggests thatCommon Sensewas indeed stylistically unique; no other pamphleteer came close to matching Paine's combination of simplicity and forcefulnes