An Essay on the Expression of Passion in Oratory

Voorkant
C.W. Benedict, 1848 - 18 pagina's

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Pagina 17 - in my time, one noble speaker, who was full of gravity in his speaking. No man ever spoke more neatly, more pressly, more weightily, or suffered less emptiness, less idleness in what he uttered. No member of his speech but consisted of its own graces. His hearers could not cough, or look aside from him without loss. He commanded where he spoke, and had his judges angry and pleased at his devotion.
Pagina 7 - ... is the province of philosophical criticism to investigate the language of the thought. It is the province of philosophical rhetoric to investigate the language of the tone. The language of the tone, of course, includes all those modifications of the voice which belong to intelligible speech, viz. : accent, emphasis, and the rising, falling, and circumflex inflexions. For passion speaks its sentiments intelligibly, as well as communicates its own peculiar intonations to the voice. It is to be...
Pagina 3 - York. SOUND is a mere sensation ; but of what infinite variations it is capable ! and when appropriated by experience, and determined and fixed by the intelligent will, it becomes a medium through which the mind communicates with the external world, and mind with mind. In its more delicate and subtle modifications it becomes the living and irrepresentable language of the soul. Sound, as appropriated by man, admits of two general divisions. First, music ; secondly, language. Music is in the soul,...
Pagina 4 - ... and abruptness, a fullness and majesty in the sounds without which it could not be perfect, and would lose its effect* THIRD SERIES, VOL. IV. NO. 4. 9 Who does not feel that there is a charm and a power in the very sounds which speak the thoughts of Demosthenes and Tully ; and that if the thought may be represented by the fires of heaven, or its pure element of light, the sounds may be represented by the thunder, or by the music of the spheres. Poetry is so dependent, in this respect, that it...
Pagina 14 - ... as a dream. Could Garrick have taken the place of Chatham'? — were his habits of thought and feeling such as to fit him for the oratory of Chatham 1 As well might Chatham have taken the place of Garrick. The enquiry will here be made : If it be true that the language of passion cannot be taught, then ought not Elocution, as a branch of education, to be exploded 1 Elocution, according to the current acceptation, ought to be exploded ; but in its place, the true study of oratory can be introduced.
Pagina 5 - ... is degrading to poetry to lay its distinction in mere sound." But pause a moment and think of music. Music is sound ; but there is in it a spirit which opens to the soul the infinite and the divine. Music, without speaking a thought, and when unaided by any association, from its wonderful connection with the soul, excites it to thoughts and aspirations, and fills it with delights which have never yet found a language — which leave language with all its properties of the thought far behind,...
Pagina 4 - ... winds. Or it is the same power in the chariot of the sun. Its language has the highest properties of the thought. But, in addition, there is an energy and abruptness, a fullness and majesty in the sounds without which it could not be perfect, and would lose its effect* THIRD SERIES, VOL. IV. NO. 4. 9 Who does not feel that there is a charm and a power in the very sounds which speak the thoughts of Demosthenes and Tully ; and that if the thought may be represented by the fires of heaven, or its...
Pagina 16 - If this were action it would not be oratory. But it cannot be action. No imagination is vivid enough for the performance. It is nothing more than a miserable, absurd, and ridiculous attempt at'imitation. If oratory cannot be gained in this way, why practice it 1 It is worse than no instruction to learn...
Pagina 16 - ... is, to select such pieces as will lead to the habit of expressing our own sentiments with unaffected interest. But what shall we think of the practice of mounting the stage and, in the character of Hannibal or Bonaparte addressing an army on the eve of battle ; or in the character of Antony making a speech over the body of Caesar ; or in the character of Hamlet uttering a soliloquy ; or in the character of satan making a speech to the fallen spirits in Pandsmonium 1 If this were action it would...
Pagina 11 - ... facts which illustrate and confirm these remarks. The first we shall mention, and one, too, most worthy of notice, is that great orators have never been made in the schools of oratory. We believe it is equally true that no great actor has ever been formed by theatrical discipline. They may have labored like Demosthenes to overcome natural defects, to strengthen the voice, to acquire a clear and correct pronunciation, to remove bad habits ; they must have labored to furnish the intellect, and...

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