beforehand, by general laws, the exact degree of emphasis, would be as idle as to attempt to affix to a certain extent of motion of the hands in gesticulation a particular degree of intensity of thought or feeling." The best rule, and one to which there is no exception, is this: Study to understand your reading exercise, and then deliver it with earnestness and expression, pronouncing every word accurately and distinctly. 189. Much of the effect of good reading depends on sufficient and appropriate pauses. The use of the marks of punctuation is mostly grammatical, and many more stops than are indicated to the eye ought often to be observed. Pausing may be one of the chief means of expressing emphasis. The hearer's attention is excited, and curiosity awakened, for the word which the speaker pauses to introduce. The following passages afford an exercise in emphatical pausing: "You called me - dog; and for these · O Death! — where is thy sting? O Grave! courtesies, - where is thy victory?" 190. In the following passages, the dash indicates the division of the sentence at which the longest pause may be made. The dotted lines indicate that an inferior momentary pause may take place: "We make provision for this life. . as though it were never to have an and for the other life. end ning." as though it were never to have a begin 191. By Force or Stress in speaking, we mean loudness or volume of voice in a greater or less degree. Force may be used on entire phrases or sentences, and on single words or syllables. In the following line the strength of the voice is chiefly expended on the Italicized syllable : "Whence and what art thou, execrable shape?" In expressions of great enthusiasm, of alarm, remorse, or importunate entreaty, or when invoking aid, the utmost force of the voice is sometimes applied to emphatic words; as in the following examples: "Arm! arm! it is—it is the cannon's opening roar." "Draw, archers, draw your arrows to the head!" "My native hills! ye guards of liberty! To cultivate and strengthen the voice in the upper range, it will be well to practise a few passages like the above, that require the high tones for their proper expression. But any exercise requiring vehement efforts of the voice must be managed with prudence, and not too much protracted. QUESTIONS.-184. What is emphasis? 185. What is necessary to attain a proper emphasis? 186. Is emphasis ever essential to the expression of meaning? 187. Illustrate antithetical emphasis. 188. In how many ways may emphasis be expressed? 189. What of Pause? 191. What is understood by Force or Stress? 185. Must not all rules for inflection give way to emphasis ? LESSON XIV. METRICAL LANGUAGE, INVERSION, ELLIPSIS. 192. METRICAL Language, or language that is measured in its flow and succession of syllables, is that in which the thoughts of poetry are generally expressed. In order to render verse harmonious, or to avoid a too common mode of expression, the poet often inverts words in a manner that would not be proper in prose discourse; as in the following line: "Bent was his bow, the Grecian hearts to wound." This transposing of the natural order of words is called Inversion. Sometimes a verb is made to commence a sentence; as, "Echoed from earth a hollow roar." "9 Adverbs are sometimes placed before instead of after their verbs; and prepositions are occasionally placed after instead of before the words they govern; as, "Where Echo walks steep hills among, Listening to the poet's song." 193. As in the foregoing couplet, the poet sometimes takes the liberty of making an imperfect rhyme; so do not be misled by him. 194. The Ellipsis is a license very frequently used in poetry. This word is derived from a Greek word, meaning to leave or pass by. By the Ellipsis entire words are dropped, under the supposition that the reader will see the meaning of a sentence without them; as in the following examples: "To this the Thunderer." Here the word answered is understood. "There are who have no relish for the chase." Here the word those is dropped after are. By an elliptical form of expression, we mean one in which one or more words, which it is supposed will be understood, are omitted. 195. There is in metrical language, or verse, a pause called the Casural pause, which takes place generally near the middle of a verse, as in "To him who gives us all" I yield a part." Sometimes there are two such pauses in a verse; and sometimes several inferior pauses, called Demi-cæsural, should be made. Beware of a sing-song habit of reading verse. 196. Certain abbreviations, rarely used in prose, are common in poetry; as eve for evening, morn for morning, lone for lonely, list for listen, yon for yonder, 'gan for began, happed for happened, ne'er for never, e'er for ever, &c. Antiquated words and modes of expression, as, methinks, ere, behest, erst, ken, ycleped (pronounced e-klěpt), dight, don, doffed, &c., occasionally occur. Sometimes words that are pronounced only in one syllable in prose have two in poetry. See ¶35. 197. By blank verse we mean any verse without rhyme; but the term is particularly applied to what is called heroic verse, consisting of ten syllables, with sometimes an unaccented eleventh. In this verse the "Paradise Lost" of Milton and the greater portion of the plays of Shakspeare are written. 198. In reading poetry, do not sacrifice the spirit and meaning of a sentence to a mechanical adherence to pauses of structure. The pause at the end of a line, which the measure may seem to require should never be so decided as to distract attention from the sense to the rhythm. The following Imes: EI a bad reader w.ll be apt to deliver thus: "There is no rustling in the lofty elm - that canopies my dwelling and its shade- scarce cools me." The good reader gives expression at once to the sense and the harmony of the verse. QUESTIONS.193. What do you understand by inversion in poetical language? 194. Give examples of it. 195. What is Ellipsis? 196. What are some of the abbreviations and antique words common in poetry? 197. What is blank verse? 198. What is said of a fault in reading poetry? EXERCISE X. - Examples of Low Pitch. See page 60. 1. Tread softly! bow the head; Is passing now. 2. I have almost forgot the taste of fears. The time has been, my senses would have cooled rouse, and stir Cannot once start me. 3. I had a dream, which was not all a dream : The bright sun was extinguished; and the stars Swung blind and blackening in the moonless air. 4. Ah! Gentlemen, that was a dreadful mistake. Such a se ret can be safe nowhere. The whole creation of God has neither nook nor corner where the guilty can bestow it, and say it is safe. A curious child, who dwelt upon a tract Brightened with joy; for murmurings from within Even such a shell the universe itself Is to the ear of faith. 2. A little furrow holds thy scattered seed; 3. Insects generally must lead a truly jovial life. Think what it must be to lodge in a lily. Imagine a palace of ivory and pearl, with pillars of silver and capitals of gold, and exhaling such a perfume as never arose from human censer. Fancy, again, the fun of tucking one's self up for the night in the folds of a rose, rocked to sleep by the gentle sighs of the summer air, with nothing to do when you wake but to wash yourself in a dew-drop, and fall to eating your bed-clothes. 4. Nothing is more natural than to imitate, by the sound of the voice, the quality of the sound or noise which any external object makes, and to form its name accordingly. A certain bird is termed the cuckoo, from the sound which it emits. When one sort of wind is said to whistle, and another to roar; when a serpent is said to hiss, a fly to buzz, and falling timbers to crash; when a stream is said to flow, and hail to rattle; the analogy between the word and the thing signified is plainly discernible. Examples of High Pitch. 1. What! shall one of us, That struck the foremost man of all this world, 2. Thy spirit, Independence, let me share, Green vales and icy cliffs, all join my hymn! |