Eloquence
Eloquence (from
Latin eloquentia) is fluent, forcible, elegant or persuasive
speaking in public. It is primarily the power of expressing strong
emotions in striking and appropriate language, thereby producing conviction or persuasion. The term is also used for writing in a fluent style.
Some people say that eloquence is a talent and a gift of nature. Others are of the opinion that it could be acquired by exercise and study. Most people would agree that it is impossible for eloquent persons to affect their hearers in any degree without being affected by it themselves.
"True eloquence,"
Oliver Goldsmith says, "Does not consist ... in saying great things in a
sublime style, but in a simple style; for there is, properly speaking, no such thing as a sublime style, the sublimity lies only in the things; and when they are not so, the language may be turgid, affected,
metaphorical, but not affecting." (
Of Eloquence, 1759)
*
Oratory*
Oration*
Rhetoric*
Speech*
Peak of Eloquence*
Figures of Speech*
Abraham Lincoln's Lost Speech
