THE ART OF PUBLIC SPEAKING. J. BERG ESENWEIN DALE CARNAGEY. Читать онлайн. Newlib. NEWLIB.NET

Автор: J. BERG ESENWEIN DALE CARNAGEY
Издательство: Bookwire
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isbn: 9783753192390
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permitted to speak to you tonight and-uh-uh-I should say-er"--that

      is not pausing; that is stumbling. It is conceivable that a speaker may

      be effective in spite of stumbling--but never because of it.

      On the other hand, one of the most important means of developing power

      in public speaking is to pause either before or after, or both before

      and after, an important word or phrase. No one who would be a forceful

      speaker can afford to neglect this principle--one of the most

      significant that has ever been inferred from listening to great orators.

      Study this potential device until you have absorbed and assimilated it.

      It would seem that this principle of rhetorical pause ought to be easily

      grasped and applied, but a long experience in training both college men

      and maturer speakers has demonstrated that the device is no more readily

      understood by the average man when it is first explained to him than if

      it were spoken in Hindoostani. Perhaps this is because we do not eagerly

      devour the fruit of experience when it is impressively set before us on

      the platter of authority; we like to pluck fruit for ourselves--it not

      only tastes better, but we never forget that tree! Fortunately, this is

      no difficult task, in this instance, for the trees stand thick all about

      us.

      One man is pleading the cause of another:

      "This man, my friends, has made this wonderful sacrifice--for

      you and me."

      Did not the pause surprisingly enhance the power of this statement? See

      how he gathered up reserve force and impressiveness to deliver the words

      "for you and me." Repeat this passage without making a pause. Did it

      lose in effectiveness?

      Naturally enough, during a premeditated pause of this kind the mind of

      the speaker is concentrated on the thought to which he is about to give

      expression. He will not dare to allow his thoughts to wander for an

      instant--he will rather supremely center his thought and his emotion

      upon the sacrifice whose service, sweetness and divinity he is

      enforcing by his appeal.

      _Concentration_, then, is the big word here--no pause without it can

      perfectly hit the mark.

      Efficient pausing accomplishes one or all of four results:

      _1. Pause Enables the Mind of the Speaker to Gather His Forces Before

      Delivering the Final Volley_

      It is often dangerous to rush into battle without pausing for

      preparation or waiting for recruits. Consider Custer's massacre as an

      instance.

      You can light a match by holding it beneath a lens and concentrating the

      sun's rays. You would not expect the match to flame if you jerked the

      lens back and forth quickly. Pause, and the lens gathers the heat. Your

      thoughts will not set fire to the minds of your hearers unless you pause

      to gather the force that comes by a second or two of concentration.

      Maple trees and gas wells are rarely tapped continually; when a stronger

      flow is wanted, a pause is made, nature has time to gather her reserve

      forces, and when the tree or the well is reopened, a stronger flow is

      the result.

      Use the same common sense with your mind. If you would make a thought

      particularly effective, pause just before its utterance, concentrate

      your mind-energies, and then give it expression with renewed vigor.

      Carlyle was right: "Speak not, I passionately entreat thee, till thy

      thought has silently matured itself. Out of silence comes thy strength.

      Speech is silvern, Silence is golden; Speech is human, Silence is

      divine."

      Silence has been called the father of speech. It should be. Too many of

      our public speeches have no fathers. They ramble along without pause or

      break. Like Tennyson's brook, they run on forever. Listen to little

      children, the policeman on the corner, the family conversation around

      the table, and see how many pauses they naturally use, for they are

      unconscious of effects. When we get before an audience, we throw most of

      our natural methods of expression to the wind, and strive after

      artificial effects. Get back to the methods of nature--and pause.

      _2. Pause Prepares the Mind of the Auditor to Receive Your

      Message_

      Herbert Spencer said that all the universe is in motion. So it

      is--and all perfect motion is rhythm. Part of rhythm is rest.

      Rest follows activity all through nature. Instances: day and night;

      spring--summer--autumn--winter; a period of rest between breaths; an

      instant of complete rest between heart beats. Pause, and give the

      attention-powers of your audience a rest. What you say after such

      a silence will then have a great deal more effect.

      When your country cousins come to town, the noise of a passing car will

      awaken them, though it seldom affects a seasoned city dweller. By the

      continual passing of cars his attention-power has become deadened. In

      one who visits the city but seldom, attention-value is insistent. To him

      the noise comes after a long pause; hence its power. To you, dweller in

      the city, there is no pause; hence the low attention-value. After riding

      on a train several hours you will become so accustomed to its roar that

      it will lose its attention-value, unless the train should stop for a

      while and start again. If you attempt to listen to a clock-tick that is

      so far away that you can barely hear it, you will find that at times you

      are unable to distinguish it, but in a few moments the sound becomes

      distinct again. Your mind will pause for rest whether you desire it to

      do so or not.

      The attention of your audience will act in quite the same way. Recognize

      this law and prepare for it--by pausing. Let it be repeated: the thought

      that follows a pause is much more dynamic than if no pause had occurred.

      What is said to you of a night will not have the same effect on your

      mind as if it had been uttered in the morning when