Eloquence and Invisible Man Christopher Hanion Christopher Hanlon is assistant professor ofEnglish at Eastern Illinois University His writing has appeared inNew Literary History, Pedagogy, and Exquisite Corpse. 1. It is the doctrine of the popular music-mas ters that whoever can speak can sing"?or so Emerson opens his essay "Eloquence," included in the 1870 volume Society and Solitude. As Emerson describes it near the end of his career as an orator, verbal eloquence becomes a form of musical expression, not only inasmuch as both share the formal ele ments of pitch, rhythm, and meter, but also to the extent that both make "instruments" of their audience. Hence, "Him we call an artist who can play on an assembly of men as a master on the keys of the piano,?who, see ing the people furious, shall soften and com pose them, shall draw them, when he will, to laughter and to tears" (1903-04, 7. 65). The Emersonian speaker is a "master" of men, an Orphic wordsmith who "will have them pleased and humored as he chooses." But elo quence is for him no mere art of domination, the art of propaganda Emerson keeps inmind as he paraphrases Platos definition of rheto ric: "the art of ruling the minds of men" (7. This content downloaded from 129.219.247.33 on Wed, 23 Sep 2015 05:24:31 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions