Includes bibliographical references and index.

Eloquence: why? -- Eloquence: when and where? -- Eloquence: how? -- Cultural resonance -- Personal investment -- Poetic imagination -- Eloquence assessed -- Eloquence tomorrow.

"This book examines a wide swath of political discourse-some old and some contemporary-looking for what makes political speech persuasive, eloquent, and concise. Focusing mainly on twentieth century oratory and using computer-based methods of analysis, the political scientist Roderick P. Hart argues that eloquence is the byproduct of cultural resonance, personal investment, and poetic imagination. As Catherine Nicholson has said, "to speak English eloquently is to speak it strangely." Taking this literally, to say that something is "strange" is to say that it is statistically anomalous, deviating in important ways from a cache of other texts. Therefore persuasive political speech stands apart from mundane conversation, stirring emotions and spurring action. This work in the digital humanities considers some 60,000 textual documents to which were applied a computer program called DICTION, a utility that has been used in over 700 published studies throughout the humanities and social sciences during the last forty years. Although based on objective data, 80 percent of the manuscript features the author's critical analysis of the most important speeches of the twentieth century. Each chapter features texts that fundamentally changed life in the United States, texts authored by speakers ranging from Martin Luther King, Jr. to Lou Gehrig, from Woodrow Wilson to Hillary Clinton, from Mario Savio to Mario Cuomo"-- Provided by publisher.

Description based on online resource; title from digital title page (viewed on January 27, 2023).

WorldCat record variable field(s) change: 050