Literary notes about elocution (AI summary)
Throughout literary history, "elocution" has been employed both as a mark of refined speaking ability and as a broader metaphor for the art of expression. Early texts, such as Cicero’s writings, associate elocution with intellectual elegance and species-wide character ([1]), while later works, including Brontë’s depiction of theatrical rehearsals, emphasize it as an essential skill honed through rigorous practice ([2]). In adventure narratives like Smollett’s, elocution becomes a tool of persuasion and survival ([3]), whereas satirical and humorous contexts, as seen in Shaw and Wilde, critique overly affected delivery ([4], [5]). Moreover, in the reflections of public speaking and literary discourse from authors like Whitman and Carnegie, elocution is celebrated as the pinnacle of human vocalization and a means to achieve both clarity and aesthetic pleasure ([6], [7], [8]). This rich tapestry of usage illustrates how the term has evolved from a technical guideline for clear enunciation to a broader symbol of cultured, persuasive, and even transformative speech.
- For the question 237 here is not concerning our genius and elocution, but our species and figure.
— from Cicero's Tusculan Disputations by Marcus Tullius Cicero - The choice, too, of the actors required knowledge and care; then came lessons in elocution, in attitude, and then the fatigue of countless rehearsals.
— from Villette by Charlotte Brontë - Our adventurer, who dreaded such an interview as the infallible means of his own ruin, resisted the proposal with the whole power of his elocution.
— from The Adventures of Ferdinand Count Fathom — Complete by T. Smollett - HIGGINS [wounded in his tenderest point by her insensibility to his elocution]
— from Pygmalion by Bernard Shaw - [38] was declaimed with the painful precision of a school-girl who has been taught to recite by some second-rate professor of elocution.
— from The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde - A work of genius, recited by a man of fine taste, enthusiasm, and powers of elocution, is a very pure and high gratification.
— from The Art of Public Speaking by Dale Carnegie and J. Berg Esenwein - At any rate, we need to clearly understand the distinction between oratory and elocution.
— from Complete Prose Works by Walt Whitman - Of course there is much taught and written about elocution, the best reading, speaking, &c., but it finally settles down to best human vocalization.
— from Complete Prose Works by Walt Whitman
