Literary notes about oratory (AI summary)
In literature the word "oratory" unfolds a range of meanings. It frequently denotes the art and style of public speech, applauded for its persuasive force and mastery of rhetoric, as when a speaker’s carefully crafted expressions leave an audience "absolutely intoxicated" by his performance [1], or when technical treatises explore its subtleties [2]. At the same time, the term also identifies a modest space for prayer or reflection, evoking images of intimate chapels and sanctuaries where the sacred intertwines with the spoken word [3][4]. In some contexts authors even employ the word with irony or to signal a divergence from genuine eloquence—from dismissive comparisons of empty rhetoric [5] to puns that shift its meaning entirely [6]—thereby underscoring its rich and versatile presence in literary expression.
- For a few seconds the speaker paused, and the public, absolutely intoxicated by his splendid oratory, applauded frantically.
— from The International Jew : The World's Foremost Problem by Anonymous - Books VIII-XI treat of the manner (style) of oratory.
— from Helps to Latin Translation at Sight by Edmund Luce - a place where prayer is offered, an oratory, perhaps, Ac. 16.13, 16. S. Προσεύχομαι, f. εύξομαι, imperf.
— from A Greek-English Lexicon to the New Testament by William Greenfield - Nor did I pause till I had taken sanctuary in the oratory, now empty.
— from Villette by Charlotte Brontë - 19 Not that I would altogether reject extempore oratory, or its use in critical cases, but it should be used only as one would take medicine.
— from Plutarch's Morals by Plutarch - "Oratory," properly a private chapel or closet for prayer; here a canting term for brothel: cf. abbess = bawd; nun = whore, and so forth.
— from The Choise of Valentines; Or the Merie Ballad of Nash His Dildo by Thomas Nash