Look up eloquence in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

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. Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Wiktionary is a Wikimedia Foundation project intended to be a free wiki dictionary (hence: Wiktionary) (including thesaurus and lexicon) in every language. ... Latin is an ancient Indo-European language originally spoken in the region around Rome called Latium. ... Public speaking is speaking to a group of people in a structured, deliberate manner. ... It has been suggested that Feeling be merged into this article or section. ...

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) Oliver Goldsmith Oliver Goldsmith (November 10, 1730(?) – April 4, 1774) was an Irish writer and physician known for his novel The Vicar of Wakefield (1766), his pastoral poem The Deserted Village (1770) (written in memory of his brother), and his plays The Good-naturd Man (1768) and She Stoops... In aesthetics, the sublime (from the Latin sublimis (exalted)) is the quality of transcendent greatness, whether physical, moral, intellectual or artistic. ... In language, a metaphor (from the Greek: metapherin) is a rhetorical trope defined as a direct comparison between two or more seemingly unrelated subjects. ...

In contrast with empathy, eloquence is often thought of as vacuous, brazen and hollow. "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal." (I Cor 13:1). Empathy is the recognition and understanding of the states of mind, beliefs, desires, and particularly, emotions of others. ...

See also

• Oratory
• Oration
• Rhetoric
• Speech
• Peak of Eloquence

Oratory is the art of eloquent speech. ... Orator is a Latin word for speaker (from the Latin verb oro, meaning I speak or I pray). In ancient Rome, the art of speaking in public (Ars Oratoria) was a professional competence especially cultivated by politicians and lawyers. ... Rhetoric from Greek ρήτωρ, rhêtôr, orator) is the art or technique of persuasion, usually through the use of language. ... One might be looking for the academic discipline of communications. ... The Nahj al Balagha (Peak of Eloquence) is the most famous collection of speeches and letters by Ali ibn Abi Talib, accepted as the fourth of the Caliphs by Sunni Muslims and the first of the Imams by Shia Muslims. ...

External links

• Figures of Speech
• Abraham Lincoln's Lost Speech