Hortation

Hortation is a speech or piece of writing that urges an audience to take a specific action or to adopt a particular attitude. In rhetorical study, hortatory discourse is oriented toward mobilizing or motivating an audience, rather than merely informing or analyzing. In contemporary usage, the term is relatively formal or literary, and the more common word for the same idea is exhortation.

Etymology traces hortation to the Latin hortatio, from hortari, meaning to exhort or encourage. In English, hortation conveys a sense of urgency and moral or communal appeal that distinguishes it from more speculative or descriptive rhetoric.

Contexts and features. Hortatory rhetoric appears in religious sermons, political or civic addresses, moral essays, and other writings that aim to prompt action or behavioral change. It often employs imperative verbs, inclusive pronouns such as we or our, and appeals to shared values, duty, or fear and hope. Common devices include exhortation through repetition, parallelism, and direct appeals to the audience’s sense of obligation or opportunity.

Historical and academic usage. Classical rhetorical theory treats exhortation as a key component of deliberative (political) rhetoric, where the speaker seeks to persuade an audience to adopt a course of action. In scholarly writing, hortation is discussed as a mode of persuasive rhetoric distinct from narration or demonstration, though overlaps exist with exhortation and instruction.

Modern usage. The noun hortation is now relatively uncommon in everyday language, with exhortation or exhorting as its more frequent equivalents. When used, hortation often appears in literary, historical, or formal contexts to emphasize the exhortive character of a discourse.