"Ford's characters speak in courtly love-jargon, pen and recite love letters and poems, woo in extravagant conceits, and carry on debates and similitude contests; they become involved in secret loves and disguises and despair over unsatisfied desire."
Ford's characters employ ornate vocabulary to convey their ardent emotions, compose and recite passionate letters and verses, utilize elaborate metaphors to woo, and engage in sophisticated debates and rhetorical contests; they become entangled in clandestine passions and melancholy over unrequited longing.