Greenblatt knows the life and the period deeply, has no hobbyhorses to ride, and makes, one after another, exquisitely sensitive and persuasive connections between what the eloquent poetry says and what the fragmentary life suggests.
And it has found a keenly appreciative audience among writers such as the New Yorker's critic Adam Gopnik, who found it "startlingly good", and admired Greenblatt for "mak[ing] exquisitely sensitive and persuasive connections between what the eloquent poetry says and what the fragmentary life suggests".
Mr. Szot's lady-killer aura (bedroom eyes, pencil-line mustache, flickering half-smile, loosened tie and the slightly tousled look of a lover emerging from an erotic tussle) is matched vocally by a much more persuasive emotional connection with his material.
Sempra has employed a battalion of DC lobbyists who, like Zichal, can take advantage of the connections they built working in government -- a classic illustration of how ambitious people now use taxpayer-funded public service as a stepping stone to lucrative K Street careers where policy chops, persuasive skills, and DC connections are sold to the highest bidder.
"Management is less about hierarchy, control and giving orders and more about making connections and being persuasive, developing personal skills - the MBA is still behind that," she said.
Some connections are more persuasive than others: linking "What the Thunder Said" to a devastating cyclone in 1896 may stretch the point, and I was delighted by Crawford's belief that the "sultriness" of English summer temperatures that reached the 70s fahrenheit must have reminded Eliot of St Louis (during the 1904 World Fair, St Louis temperatures averaged above 100F).
There are a few light links between the chapters, but these connections are not especially persuasive or meaningful.
The saxophonist's experiences with narcotics also made him a persuasive contributor to Jack Gelber's play The Connection as an actor, and he performed it in New York and also in a film made in 1961.
But I am your man when it comes to delivering content, piquing a student's curiosity, helping a hesitant writer formulate a persuasive essay and encouraging students to make connections across the curriculum.
