Part 5 of A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful by Irish philosopher Edmund Burke focuses on the nature of linguistics, poetics, and the effects of words in general. The chapters include the following: "Of Words"; "The Common Effects of Poetry, Not by Raising Ideas of Things"; "General Words Before Ideas"; "The Effect of Words"; "Examples that Words May Affect Without Raising Images"; "Poetry not Strictly an Imitative Art"; and "How Words Influence the Passions."

In these chapters of part 5, Burke examines not only the aesthetics of the written word, such as within poetic forms, but also what poetry evokes within the reader. Burke also explores the dynamic between what we say or write and what we truly feel. Burke tries to understand the very nature of literary forms, such as poetry, by exploring the psychological processes of literary expression.

Although not trained as a psychologist or linguist, Burke tries to analyze the very origins of human linguistics and its complex mechanisms. However, Burke's viewpoints regarding our relationship with words are limited in scope. For instance, Burke views the origins of linguistics from a Eurocentric perspective and does not take into account the development of different languages and how they are dependent on specific cultures and social codes.