jats:titleAbstract</jats:title>jats:pThis essay will especially consider the role of the cogitative power and affectivity in the formation of vocal utterances, showing how the Thomistic account of the integration of passion with reason provides a fascinating apparatus for assessing different uses of language—from the Eucharistic hymns of Aquinas, to the poetry of his Franciscan contemporaries Bonaventure and Iacopone da Todi, and even live sports commentary. The insights developed here, moreover, are not stand‐alone reflections on language but hold consequences both for the moral life and for a proper construal of mystical union. By drawing out these further consequences of Aquinas's doctrine, we suggest the continuing relevance of Thomistic metaphysics and anthropology to concerns both contemporary and popular.</jats:p>