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

Автор: J. BERG ESENWEIN DALE CARNAGEY
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isbn: 9783753192390
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they are all definite parts of a forceful

      presentment of a subject, without being the only parts. Strong

      meat may not be as attractive as ices, but all depends on the

      appetite and the stage of the meal.

      You can not deliver an aggressive message with caressing little strokes.

      No! Jab it in with hard, swift solar plexus punches. You cannot strike

      fire from flint or from an audience with love taps. Say to a crowded

      theatre in a lackadaisical manner: "It seems to me that the house is on

      fire," and your announcement may be greeted with a laugh. If you flash

      out the words: "The house's on fire!" they will crush one another in

      getting to the exits.

      The spirit and the language of force are definite with conviction. No

      immortal speech in literature contains such expressions as "it seems to

      me," "I should judge," "in my opinion," "I suppose," "perhaps it is

      true." The speeches that will live have been delivered by men ablaze

      with the courage of their convictions, who uttered their words as

      eternal truth. Of Jesus it was said that "the common people heard Him

      gladly." Why? "He taught them as one having _AUTHORITY_." An audience

      will never be moved by what "seems" to you to be truth or what in your

      "humble opinion" may be so. If you honestly can, assert convictions as

      your conclusions. Be sure you are right before you speak your speech,

      then utter your thoughts as though they were a Gibraltar of

      unimpeachable _truth_. Deliver them with the iron hand and confidence of

      a Cromwell. Assert them with the fire of _authority_. Pronounce them as

      an _ultimatum_. If you cannot speak with conviction, be silent.

      What force did that young minister have who, fearing to be too dogmatic,

      thus exhorted his hearers: "My friends--as I assume that you are--it

      appears to be my duty to tell you that if you do not repent, so to

      speak, forsake your sins, as it were, and turn to righteousness, if I

      may so express it, you will be lost, in a measure"?

      Effective speech must reflect the era. This is not a rose water age, and

      a tepid, half-hearted speech will not win. This is the century of trip

      hammers, of overland expresses that dash under cities and through

      mountain tunnels, and you must instill this spirit into your speech if

      you would move a popular audience. From a front seat listen to a

      first-class company present a modern Broadway drama--not a comedy, but a

      gripping, thrilling drama. Do not become absorbed in the story; reserve

      all your attention for the technique and the force of the acting. There

      is a kick and a crash as well as an infinitely subtle intensity in the

      big, climax-speeches that suggest this lesson: the same well-calculated,

      restrained, delicately shaded force would simply _rivet_ your ideas in

      the minds of your audience. An air-gun will rattle bird-shot against a

      window pane--it takes a rifle to wing a bullet through plate glass and

      the oaken walls beyond.

      _When to Use Force_

      An audience is unlike the kingdom of heaven--the violent do not always

      take it by force. There are times when beauty and serenity should be the

      only bells in your chime. Force is only one of the great extremes of

      contrast--use neither it nor quiet utterance to the exclusion of other

      tones: be various, and in variety find even greater force than you could

      attain by attempting its constant use. If you are reading an essay on

      the beauties of the dawn, talking about the dainty bloom of a

      honey-suckle, or explaining the mechanism of a gas engine, a vigorous

      style of delivery is entirely out of place. But when you are appealing

      to wills and consciences for immediate action, forceful delivery wins.

      In such cases, consider the minds of your audience as so many safes that

      have been locked and the keys lost. Do not try to figure out the

      combinations. Pour a little nitro glycerine into the cracks and light

      the fuse. As these lines are being written a contractor down the street

      is clearing away the rocks with dynamite to lay the foundations for a

      great building. When you want to get action, do not fear to use

      dynamite.

      The final argument for the effectiveness of force in public speech is

      the fact that everything must be enlarged for the purposes of the

      platform--that is why so few speeches read well in the reports on the

      morning after: statements appear crude and exaggerated because they are

      unaccompanied by the forceful delivery of a glowing speaker before an

      audience heated to attentive enthusiasm. So in preparing your speech you

      must not err on the side of mild statement--your audience will

      inevitably tone down your words in the cold grey of afterthought. When

      Phidias was criticised for the rough, bold outlines of a figure he had

      submitted in competition, he smiled and asked that his statue and the

      one wrought by his rival should be set upon the column for which the

      sculpture was destined. When this was done all the exaggerations and

      crudities, toned by distances, melted into exquisite grace of line and

      form. Each speech must be a special study in suitability and proportion.

      Omit the thunder of delivery, if you will, but like Wendell Phillips put

      "silent lightning" into your speech. Make your thoughts breathe and your

      words burn. Birrell said: "Emerson writes like an electrical cat

      emitting sparks and shocks in every sentence." Go thou and speak

      likewise. Get the "big stick" into your delivery--be forceful.

      QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES

      1. Illustrate, by repeating a sentence from memory, what is meant by

      employing force in speaking.

      2. Which in your opinion is the most important of the technical

      principles of speaking that you have studied so far? Why?

      3. What is the effect of too much force in a speech? Too little?

      4. Note some uninteresting conversation or ineffective speech, and