THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES c Foundations of Expression Studies and Problems for Developing- the Voice, Body, and Mind in Reading and Speaking S. S. Curry, Ph.D., LittD. Author of " The Province of Expression,'' " Lessons in Vocal Expression," " Imagination and Dra- matic Instinct," " Vocal and Literary In- terpretation of the Bible," etc. 3Boston The Expression Company Pierce Building, Copley Square Copyright, 1920 bv S. S. CURRY Library A WORD ON THE POINT OF VIEW The Muse of Eloquence and the Muse of Liberty, it has been said, are twin sisters. A free people must be a race of speakers. The perversion or neglect of oratory has always been accompanied by the degradation of freedom. The importance of speaking to a true national life, and to the forwarding of all reforms, can hardly be overesti- mated; but it is no less necessary to the development of the individual. Expression is the manifestation of life, and speaking in some form is vitally necessary for the assimilation of truth and the awakening to a con- sciousness of personal power. Since the invention of printing, the written word has been overestimated in education, and living speech has been greatly neglected. Recent discoveries of the neces- sity of developing the motor centres have revived interest in the living voice. With this revival of interest the inadequacy of modern elocutionary methods has come to be realized. Such methods have been based usually upon imitation and artificial or mechanical analysis, and consist of mere rules founded upon phraseology, the modulations of the voice being governed by rules of grammar or rhetoric instead of by the laws of thought. Neither the nature nor functions of the voice modulations have been recog- nized. An able college graduate, and head of an edu- cational institution, once acknowledged to me that he had never thought of a voice modulation as having a distinct meaning of its own with power to change even the meaning of a phrase. This book outlines the results of some earnest endeavors to study anew the problem of developing the voice and body and improving reading and speaking. The attempt has been made to find psychological causes, not only of 4 A WORD ON THE POINT OF VIEW the expressive modulations of the voice, but of the condi- tions of mind and body required for its right training and correct use. The usual view is that every defect in the use of the voice is associated with some local constriction, and that for every abnormal habit or action some exercise to restore the specific part can always be found. While this is true, it is but a half truth. Every abnormal action or condition has its cause in the mind. Hence technical training must always be united with work for the removal of the causes of faults, and for the awakening of the primary actions and conditions. This enables the student to become himself conscious of right modes of expression, develops him without imitation or mechanical rules, and produces no artificial results. Even when the right technical exercise is prescribed for a fault in reading or speaking it is often ineffective on account of wrong or mechanical practice on the part of the student, or a lack of attention on the part of teacher or student to the real psychological causes of the abnormal conditions. In seeking for such exercises as are safe for classes, for private study, or where specific technical exercises cannot be given individually by a teacher, and such as require primary mental action or at least apply practi- cally and naturally the results of technical training, what are here called problems have been found most helpful. Technical exercises, to accomplish any good result, must be carefully prescribed by the teacher and practised under his direction so that the exact part may be made to act in just the right way. In large classes and with young students this is well-nigh impossible. These exercises stimulate the primary mental actions, cause the normal response of voice, and furnish an intro- duction or practical addition to technical exercises; they prevent artificial results, stimulate normal growth, are more interesting, cause more complete self study, and are safer for practice alone. To accomplish these ends, what are called in this book problems have been found most helpful. One who will systematically practise these inductive studies will be led step by step to the right use of A WORD ON THE POINT OF VIEW 5 his voice, and to a conscious command of its expressive modulations. Such practice has its difficulties. It requires care, perseverance, self study, a harmonious use of thinking and feeling, insight into what is fundamental rather than accidental, exercise of the imagination to hold a situation, and of the sympathetic instinct to yield breathing, voice, and body to its dominion. Students and teachers, especially those who have been accustomed to mechanical or imitative methods, will at first consider such a method impractical. But patient, persevering practice for a few lessons will be followed by such an awakening of interest, such a realization of the true nature of expression, and such satisfactory results, that there is little danger of a return to artificial methods. Such training with careful study of himself on the part of the student, especially if directed by a true teacher possessing insight, will accomplish surprising results. The student should regard no problem as trivial, but should practise it faithfully and the lesson will solve for him difficulties not seen at the time. Teachers will of course, according to the earnestness of students and opportunities for practice, add technical exercises at certain points complementary to these prob- lems. For information regarding additional exercises or explanation, the author's other works should be con- sulted. For example : " The Province of Expression," " Lessons in Vocal Expression," " Imagination and Dra- matic Instinct," " Vocal and Literary Interpretation of the Bible," and especially the books on the training of voice and body soon to be published. The student is urged not to accept passively the super- ficial views of delivery so prevalent at the present time, but to study himself anew, to take the problems in their order and work upon them with a receptive and teach- able spirit until he masters this most difficult but most important phase of education. s. s. c. School of Expression, Copley Square, Bostom. CONTENTS Page A WORD ON THE POINT OF VIEW 3 I. UNPRINTED ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION 9 1. Modes of Expression 9 2. The Nature of Expression 10 3. The Mental Cause of Expression n 4. Organic Means of Expression 13 5. Fundamentals and Accidentals 14 IL CONCENTRATION AND ITS EXPRESSION i9 1. Elements of Thinking i9 2. Pause 24 3. Phrasing 27 4. Touch 31 in. DISCRIMINATION AND INTERVALS 43 IV. ATTITUDE OF MIND AND INFLEXION 49 1. Direction of Inflexion, 50 2. Length of Inflexion 52 3. Abruptness of Inflexion 55 4. Complex Modulations of Inflexion 56 5. Freedom of Inflexion 57 V. RESPONSE OF THE ORGANISM 61 VI. CONDITIONS AND QUALITIES OF VOICE 69 1. Fundamental Principle 70 2. Correct Method of Breathing 76 3. Freedom of Tone 83 Vn. VOICE AND BODY 89 1. Expansion of the Body r 9o 2. Elevation and Centrality of the Body 9i VIII. LOGICAL RELATIONS OF IDEAS 97 1. Relative Value of Ideas 97 2. Centrality of Ideas 103 3. Antithesis 106 IX. MODES OF EMPHASIS in i. Inflexion and Form in a. Change of Key and Range 113 3. Rhythmic Emphasis 115 4. Emphatic Pause 118 7 8 CONTENTS Page X. AGILITY OF VOICE 123 1. The Training of the Ear 124 2. Intervallic Agility 126 3. Inflexional Agility 127 4. Range of Voice 130 XL SPONTANEOUS ACTIONS OF THE MIND AND MODU- LATIONS OF THE VOICE 135 1. Vision 138 2. Imagination 143 3. Emotion 14- 4. Development of Spontaneous Action 152 XH. TONE-COLOR 159 XIII. SECONDARY VIBRATIONS OF TONE i69 XIV. PANTOMIMIC CONDITIONS OF TONE 183 XV. MOULDING TONE XNTO WORDS i9 3 XVI. FORCE AND ITS EXPRESSION 201 1. Volume 203 2. Intensity 206 XVII. SUPPORT AND STRENGTH OF VOICE 217 XVIII. FLEXIBILITY OF VOICE 225 1. Accentuation 225 2. Centrality and Subordinate Touch 226 3. Metre 227 XIX. ASSIMILATION AND SYMPATHY 239 1. Identification 240 2. Personation and Participation 243 3. Dramatic Instinct 245 4. Purposes * 257 XX. MOVEMENT 261 XXI. ACTION 273 XXII. UNITY OF DELIVERY 293 1. Transition 29^ 2. Harmony .- . . . jQti FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION UNPRINTED ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION. Read the following lines in two ways, first, as an abstract statement of fact; and secondly, .. suggesting as much depth of meaning as pos- sible, and note the chief differences in the renderings. Two prisoners looked out from behind their bars ; One saw the mud, the other saw the stars. In the first rendering the words follow each other almost continuously; in the second, there are many pauses, variations, and modulations of the voice While the words remain the same the impressions caused by the two renderings are very different, and the elements which cause this difference cannot be clearly defined. These unprintable elements constitute delivery. They are distinct from words and have a meaning of their own, for though all the modulations of the voice are directly associated with words they express that which words cannot say. i. MODES OF EXPRESSION. All natural conversa- tion consists of three elements : words, modulations of tone, and action. Words represent ideas and name objects of attention, events, or qualities. Modulations of tone while simultaneous with words have a meaning distinct from words and can be changed without chang- ing pronunciation. They reveal degrees of conviction, processes of thinking, attitudes of mind and feeling. Actions, such as the expansion of the body, changes of 9 IO FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSIOH countenance, and motions of the hand or head, express character, purpose, degrees of excitement, and self- control. While distinct from each other, these words, tones, and actions co-operate and act simultaneously ; as each reveals something which cannot be expressed by the others, they complement each other, and when sympathetically and naturally co-ordinated, thought is expressed with far greater clearness and force than is possible otherwise. It is the problem of delivery to develop each of these elements of expression according to its distinct nature and function, and to bring them all into harmonious co-operation. 2. THE NATURE OF EXPRESSION. As the leaf mani- fests the life at the root of the tree ; as the bobolink's song is the outflow of a full heart; so all expression obeys the same law; it comes FROM WITHIN OUTWARD, from the centre to the surface, from a hidden source to outward manifestation. However deep may be the life, it reveals itself outwardly by natural signs. Expression in man is governed by the same law. Every action of face or hand, every modulation of voice, is simply an outward effect of an inward con- dition. Any motion or tone that is otherwise is not expression. A machine is manipulated from without, but an organism is modulated from within. Man can, on the one hand, produce by his will certain actions of body and inflexions of voice ; he can, for example, imitate the action or speech of another, or obey mere mechanical directions; but, on the other hand, he can obey the spontaneous energies of his being. The results of the first process are artificial and mechanical; the results of the second, a genuine awakening of man's powers, with true force and naturalness of expression. One of the first steps in the development of expression UNPROTTED ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION n must be a recognition of the necessity of genuine possession. IMPRESSION must precede and determine all EXPRESSION, and it will be noted that the tendency toward expression is directly proportionate to this inner fullness, while mere surface work causes superficiality. Observe this spontaneous tendency of realization to determine expression, by reading two short passages widely contrasted. If superficially apprehended, or the mere words be given, they will appear practically the same, but in proportion to the genu- ine realization of the thought and feeling will the modulations of the voice differ. Merrily, merrily, shall I live now, Under the blossom that hangs on the bough. Artel fa " The Tempest." SHAKESPEARE Though love repine and reason chafe, I heard a voice without reply, Tis man's perdition to be safe, When for the truth he ought to die. EMERSON 3. THE MENTAL CAUSE OF EXPRESSION. The un- printed and unprintable modulations of voice and body are so natural and necessary to the simplest sentence in conversation, that, one would naturally think, their nature and function would be recognized by everyone; but as a matter of fact, the subject of delivery is uni- versally misunderstood and neglected. The simplest modulations of the voice, as well as the primary actions of the body, are hardly recognized or their functions distinguished. Expression is employed blindly and is rarely considered a proper subject of education. So superficial is the conception of the elements of delivery that they are universally regarded as mere matters of manner, and the methods adopted for their development are often founded upon imitation or mechanical rules. All true expression is not only from within outward 12 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION but from the mind. Modulations of voice and body are directly responsive to the deepest life. That expression is a mental and not a physical thing is shown by the fact that all true expression is more or less spontaneous and subconscious. Its elements can- not all be reduced to rule. At the best rules can be applied only to a very few of the more accidental and external elements. Expression is infinitely complex, and to start with the idea that delivery belongs to the body and can be regulated by rules or conscious direc- tions is sure to produce superficial results. To realize that the nature of expression is the direct effect of mental action, read a line or a short passage first listlessly or with indifference and then with intense earnestness, and it will be seen that the expression is natural and forcible in direct proportion to the clearness, force, and variation of the thinking. Long sleeps the summer in the seed. " In Memoriam." TENNYSON. A BOOK. /He ate and drank the precious words, / His spirit grew robust; He knew no more that he was poor, Nor that his frame was dust. He danced along the dingy days ; And this bequest of wings Was but a book. What liberty A loosen'd spirit brings I EMILY DICKINSON. If some passage with an extreme transition be trulj rendered, at the very point of the change in situ- ation, thought, or feeling will come changes in the ^ modulations of the voice. If the changes of expression do not occur, observe first, whether the situation and ideas were truly felt; second, whether the organs of the voice were normally used ; and third, whether there was a true conception of UNPRINTED ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION the nature and function of the modulations necessary to the expression. " By the God that made thee, Randolph, tell us what mischance has come "; Then he lifts the riven banner, and the asker's voice is dumb. M Battlt of Flodden Field.' ; AYTOUN. A little thought will show that language is always a means, and that in the natural languages the modula- tions of tone and action directly reveal the processes of the mind. Expression is perfect in proportion to the directness of its revelation of mental energy. Too much attention to the mere externals of expression, a study of modulation or action without observing and securing control of the mental cause, will render all work in delivery inadequate and mechanical. *> ORGANIC MEANS OF EXPRESSION. Notwithstand- ing the natural tendencies of right mental and emo- tional action to cause true changes in expression, in many cases even an extreme change of thought or emo- tion does not in reading and speaking cause a change in the voice. Why? Because the voice has become constricted from misuse, habits of indifference in reading, a mechan- ical view of speaking, a neutral, negative attitude of mind, or a lack of sympathy has perverted the natural responsiveness of the vocal organs. Hence, not only must the cause of expression be awakened; the right means must also be secured. Vocal expression is the modulation of living organs. These must be flexible and used naturally. Work for the attuning of the organism is vitally necessary and must go hand in hand with the develop- ment of the right use of the modulations of the voice and all work for expression. The development of normal conditions and possibil- 14 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION ities of the organism is called training. Nature's own functions, methods, and processes must be studied to find the basis for development. Training implies exer- cises, or the accentuation of natural and fundamental actions which must be so practised as to correct bad habits, and develop the normal and best conditions of the organism. Exercise may be technical, or the direct volitional practice of a fundamental action ; and psychic, or the specific practice of that mental action which tends to cause the right expressive action, or to estab- lish conditions for such action. Both of these means of training are necessary, but in this work psychic exercises, here called problems, are chiefly used because they are safer for the use of the student alone or in class. Technical exercises, however, can be introduced from the author's other works by the teacher when the class is small and the students suffi- ciently earnest to be willing to practise alone, carefully and regularly. Psychic exercises also demand practice, but practice upon these is more interesting and less liable to be perverted by the student on account of the fact that it primarily calls for mental effort. The psychic exercise is also more synthetic; the technical exercise more analytic. The psychic exercise calls for earnestness and observation; the technical exercise demands great precision and care. 5. FUNDAMENTALS AND ACCIDENTALS. The develop- ment of expression implies necessarily an inner awaken- ing, a stimulation of faculties and powers, a securing of a deeper impression, and more vital realization of truth. Accordingly, the problem of improving expression is not only important for its own sake, but modulations of voice and actions of the body are so directly connected with activities of being that to become conscious of the UNPRINTED ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION 15 function of any elemental modulation and to develop its power requires the awakening of the whole nature. True work in expression must necessarily be associated with a discovery of one's self. For the same reason the problem of developing delivery is difficult. Some even doubt the possibility of its development. How can the spontaneous actions of the mind, for example, be stimulated? How can complex modulations of the voice and actions of the whole body be awakened and brought into anything like unity, especially if we are to discard mechanical rules and imitation? The general characteristic of a true method of devel- oping expression needs careful attention. Throughout all nature we find an infinite variety of phenomena. Expression necessarily implies infinite complexity, but in the midst of seemingly the most confused mass of elements we find a principle upon which all else rests. For example, if we examine the numberless shades and tints of color we find only three that are primary. Chem- istry has proven that there are but few elements which form the basis of material objects. Similarly, in all the complex modulations of the voice and actions of the body we can find a few primary elements upon which all the varied results are founded. By finding and developing these, and bringing them into conscious recognition, the key to natural expression is found. When we recognize these fundamentals develop them normally and realize their function the mind is enthroned. All the subconscious involuntary, and even accidental elements, will respond in natural fulness from the accentuation of those primary elements upon which all the modulations rest. Work upon fundamentals does not produce self- consciousness, in fact such work corrects it. Self-con- sciousness results from a perversion of nature, from 1 6 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION focussing attention upon accidentals, and not upon fundamentals ; from abnormal constrictions, and some kind of hindrance. The removal of self-consciousness implies develop- ment of elemental conditions. " Work upon acciden- tals secures mediocre results; work upon fundamental?: develops power." There are innumerable illustrations of this principle. To work upon mere accidents of phrasing, to lay down rules where to pause, will supev- ficialize all expression. On the contrary, expression will be made natural and forcible by developing the rhythm of thinking, by securing the power to conceive vivid ideas and impressions, and by awakening that instinctive action of the mind in which vivid, clear ideas gather words into groups, which is the character- istic of naturalness in conversation. It will be found in every step of training, in all true work in expression, no matter under what phase of it, that the principle holds good. First, find the funda- mentals; make these normal, and expression can then be naturally improved. There will be no perversions, no artificialities, no affectation, but all will be normal r dignified, and strong. To realize the general nature of delivery, take some short passage or fable and, after careful study, render it as naturally as in conversation, noting the while the fundamental actions of the mind in think- ing and the primary modulations of the voice. Skies may be dark with storm While fierce the north wind blows, Yet earth at heart is warm And the snow drift hides the rose. CELIA T BAXTER. A hungry Fox one day saw some fine grapes hanging high up from the ground. He made many attempts to reach them, but all in vain. Tired out with his failures, he walked off, grumbling to himself, " Sour things, I am sure you are not fit lor a gentleman's eating." UNPRINTED ELEMENTS OF EXPRESSION 1 7 Or give some poem as simply and adequately as pos- sible, endeavoring to think it and to express it in ft uch a way as to make another realize its force. Then note that every modulation of the voice is directly associated with some primary action of the mind. THE BROOKLET. The brooklet came from the mountain, As sang the bard of old, Running with feet of silver Over the sands of gold. Far away in the briny ocean There rolled a turbulent wave, Now singing along the sea-beach, Now howling along the cave. And the brooklet has found the billow, Though they flowed so far apart, And has filled with its freshness and sweetness That turbulent, bitter heart. LONGFELLOW. The student should first observe the general differ- ences. For example, in the preceding poem, " Brook- let " is made the center of the first stanza in the think- ing, and the voice gives this word a corresponding degree of importance. The thought of the second stanza is made to gather around " wave," and peculiar changes in the voice show that the mind receives a different impression from that in the preceding. In the last stanza there is a still wider difference of feeling. Tell a short story in your own words, or state a simple thought in a sentence and note the actions of both mind and voice necessary to make it clear and interesting to another. EXPRESSION is the manifestation of mental activity; the outward sign of life and spirit. DELIVERY is the expression of the human being through the human organism. It results from the 1 8 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION right union of the modulations of the voice and actions of the body as natural signs of the speaker's experience. VERBAL EXPRESSION is the representation of ideas by conventional symbols or words. VOCAL EXPRESSION is the manifestation of the pro- cesses of thought and feeling through modulation of the tone. PANTOMIMIC EXPRESSION is the action of the body revealing activities of being. A FUNDAMENTAL is a primary truth, action, or con- dition which lies at the basis of other elements. AN ACCIDENTAL is a secondary fact, truth, condition, action, or modulation which is more external and conditioned. MODULATIONS are expressive actions of the voice and always imply a spontaneous element. MANIPULATIONS are volitional productions of any action of the voice or body. They are always mechan- ical and imply absence, or suppression, of the spon- taneous elements. TRAINING is the process of making normal or perfect any organism by stimulating natural processes of growth and development. It is a conscious and deliber- ative stimulation of nature's own processes. A STUDY is an observation or experiment to find a fundamental action or condition. A PROBLEM is a synthetic exercise or endeavor to secure a condition or outward effect by stimulating the psychic cause. A TECHNICAL EXERCISE is some fundamental action to be correctly practised in accordance with a principle. n. CONCENTRATION AND ITS EXPRESSION. Since expression is an effect as natural as the bloom- ing of a rose and as spontaneous as the song of the bird, to improve it requires primarily the stimulation of its mental cause. Hence, it is necessary first to develop the actions of the mind which directly produce modula- tions of voice or their natural signs. i. ELEMENTS OF THINKING. The principles regard- ing fundamentals apply not alone to voice modulations but to every phase of expression. Not only is thinking fundamental to expression, but thinking itself has cer- tain fundamental elements which must be carefully observed. The primary elements of thinking are: first, concen- tration upon one point, and secondly, a leap of the mind to another. Note for example, that after a walk down the street as you recall the persons you met or the objects that awakened attention, your mind concentrates attention upon one point after another. Or if you think over some walk you have taken along a country road your mind will concentrate upon a tree here and a rock there, upon a house on this side and a barn on that, upon some bridge or cluster of flowers, some distant view, upon whatever attracted observation. The mind in thinking leaps from one conception to another as the eye leaps from object to object. We can dominate this process of thinking by holding or concentrating attention upon successive objects and 20 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION by accentuating the progressive leap of the mind. In musing the mind drifts from point to point without active concentration. It stays for an instant here and there, and obeying the first impulse or association drifts passively from idea to idea. But in genuine thinking the mind holds its attention longer upon each successive centre and deliberatively chooses another point, it may be from many possible ones, upon which next to concentrate itself. Both the staying of the attention upon each idea and the leap from idea to idea may be increased. The mind can be made to dwell longer upon an object or idea and thus receive a deeper impression and cause discrimi- nation to be more decided and definite. This staying of the mind and the active concentration of the energies upon each successive idea is the first step necessary to improve expression. That attention is of fundamental importance in expression can be easily realized. If we read the following poem in two ways: first, with little _ attention, allowing the mind to drift passively from idea to idea without receiving a vivid and definite impression, the expression will be superficial and tame. But if we definitely concentrate attention upon each successive idea and receive a decided impression, the whole rendering becomes animated, varied, and full of interest. The difference between the two renderings will be proportional to the degree of attention. I hear the dashing of a thousand oars, The angry waters take a deeper dye ; A thousand echoes vibrate from the shores With Athens' battle-cry .... Victory, sitting on the Seven Hills, Had gain'd the world when she had mastered thee; Thy bosom with the Roman war-note thrills, Wave of the inland C P- CONCENTRATION AND ITS EXPRESSION 21 Across the deep another music swells, On Adrian bays a later splendor smiles; Power hails the marble city where she dwells Queen of a hundred isles. . . . But the light fades; the vision wears away; I see the mist above the dreary waves; Blow, winds of Freedom, give another day Of glory to the brave. From '' Mare Mediterranean!." JOHN N1CHOL MY REST. Round yon snowy house green woods dream ; 'Twixt the giant boughs moonbeams stream Ah! fain I'd adore ev'ry tree; Here dreamt I of yore happily. All my many songs found I here, 'Mid thy branches heard, woodland dear 1 In my tiny room, vine entwin'd, Can I those sweet thoughts once more find ? Here the Rhine like to silv'ry band, Like to sunbeam, flows o'er the land. Wind, which 'mid green boughs o'er me blows, Once thy lullaby brought repose CARMEN SYLVA. In reading silently we think rapidly. In reading aloud, if we read with any naturalness or earnestness, we think more slowly, and the mind is held longer upon successive points. In listless reading the mind rests here and there almost at random ; but in earnest think- ing and expression the mind is held intensely concen- trated until a definite impression is made. There is a pause to receive the impression and a vigorous assertion in the following phrase. We can hold out a lens and focus the rays of the sun, but we must necessarily steady the glass for an instant or there will be no flame. So to concentrate the mind and awaken an inner fire, we pause and focus mental energy, and the pause must be directly due to thought. The most common fault in reading aloud is trying to think as we do in silent reading. The student should carefully study and master the difference. 22 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION Read the following poem in silence simply to gather its general meaning ; then endeavor to convey its . ideas to another, and note that in reading aloud attention is staid longer, and more definitely focussed upon each successive idea. THE HOUSE AND THE ROAD. The little Road says Go, The little House says Stay; And 0, it's bonny here at home, But I must go away. The little Road, like me, Would seek and turn and know; And forth I must, to learn the things The little Road would show I And go I must, my dears, And journey while I may, Though heart be sore for the little House That had no word but Stay. Maybe, no other way, Your child could ever know Why a little House would have you Stay, When the little Road says, Go. JOSEPHINE PRESTON PEABODY. Render the following passage accentuating both the concentration and the progressive transition of 1Q the mind in thinking and note the effect upon Expression. THE BLACKBIRD. The nightingale has a lyre of gold, The lark's is a clarion call, And the blackbird plays but a boxwood flute, But I love him best of all. For his song is all of the joy of life, And we in the glad spring weather, We two have listened till he sang And awoke our hearts together. WILLIAM ERNEST HENLEY. CONCENTRATION AND ITS EXPRESSION 33 Attention lies at the basis of all power, and any real increase of mental energy depends upon its develop- ment. All education, all development of power to think, and all creative energy, in fact, depend upon the discipline of attention. Render this poem many times, intensifying the mean- ing with each reading and note the differences .. - in the mental and vocal actions. WHERE GO THE BOATS? Dark brown is the river, golden is the sand. It flows along forever, with trees on either hand. Green leaves a-floating, castles of the foam, Boats of mine a-boating, where will all come home ? On goes the river and out past the mill, Away down the valley, away down the hill. Away down the river, a hundred miles or more, Other little children shall bring my boats ashore. R. L. STEVENSON. Give some fable, tell some story, or explain the thought of the following in your own words, 12 accentuating definitely each successive concen- tration of the mind. THE PINE AND THE PALM. In the far North stands a Pine-tree, lone, upon a wintry height; It sleeps: around it snows have thrown a covering of white. It dreams forever of a Palm that, far i' the Morning-land, Stands silent in a most sad calm midst heaps of burning sand. From Heine. LANIER. AN ELEMENTARY ACTION of the Mind consists in con- centration upon one point and a progressive leap or transition to another. CONCENTRATION is a voluntary staying of attention upon one point. TRANSITION is a variation in thought, situation, or feeling, or a change in expression caused by such a mental change. 24 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION 2. PAUSE. The concentration of the mind and the reception of an impression sufficiently definite to cause expression demand a period of silence. " Silence is the father of speech." In natural conversation, however quick, however animated or excited, innumerable pauses are necessary on account of the action of the mind. During a pause, however short, the mind lays hold of its idea and chooses the words. In all effective or natural reading and speaking silence precedes utterance. The length of pause is due to the intensity of thinking or to the degree of clearness, vividness, and depth of the impression. In taking up a new subject, in weighing an idea before giving it, in the reception of all impres- sions, the length of pause will vary according to the degree of mental action, the extent of the change the mind is supposed to make, or the importance of the idea. A period of silence, however, is not necessarily a pause. It may be hesitation. Hesitation is a stopping for lack of ideas or a word, and is due, not to the presence of thought, but to a mental blank. A speaker hesitates when he starts before he has fully grasped his idea and the words that express it. Since his impression does not precede and determine his expression he is compelled to stop for lack of thought. Failing to pause at the right time he is compelled to hesitate during the act of expression. Hesitation is one of the worst faults that may occur in both reading and speaking. It not only reveals chaos in the thinking of the speaker, lack of definite precedent attention and impression before expression, but it prevents natural attention on the part of the hearer. The remedy for hesitation is genuineness of thinking, a right use of pauses, a strengthening of the power to stay the attention and wait for expression until a complete impression has been formed. CONCENTRATION AND ITS EXPRESSION 2 5 Hesitation for a word may be turned into a genuine pause by staying and concentrating the mind before beginning the phrase. Whenever attention is centred merely upon words or upon form, as is the case in proof-reading, the pauses are few, and the stops usually have little meaning. But if the passage is read with intensity of thought, if there is comprehension of its meaning rather than of its mere form, there will be long pauses and the consequent utterance seems to come out of the silence. There is a rhythmic alternation between silence and speech. Read over some passage, keeping the attention upon the spelling, punctuation, type or form pronouncing the words ; then give it with the centre of interest in 1 the meaning and with intense realization of the thought while the words or form are made subordinate. What is the chief difference? I hide in the solar glory, I am dumb in the pealing song, I rest on the pitch of the torrent, in slumber I am strong. No numbers have counted my tallies, no tribes my house can fill, I sit by the shining Fount of Life, and pour the deluge still; . . . No ray is dimmed, no atom worn, my oldest force is good as new, And the fresh rose on yonder thorn gives back the bending heavens in dew. " Song of Nature." EMERSON. Pause is apt to be regarded as something so simple that it needs no attention; but rarely do readers or speakers realize the value of silence, and the fact that the power to stay attention until the mind has received a definite impression lies at the foundation of all natural modulation of the voice. Study carefully some interesting passage, prolonging the pauses, not mechanically or artificially, but as the result of intense thinking and the reception of .. impressions, and note that such prolonging of the attention makes the utterance of the following phrase vigorous and natural. 26 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION At twilight on the open sea We passed, with breath of melody A song, to each familiar, sung In accents of an alien tongue. We could not see each other's face, Nor through the growing darkness trace Our destinies ; but brimming eyes Betrayed unworded sympathies. JOHN B. TABB. Speak not, I passionately entreat thee, till thy thought have silently matured itself . . . Out of Silence comes thy strength. " Speech is silvern, Silence is golden ; Speech is human, Silence is divine." CARLYLE. L ENVOI. When Earth's last picture is painted, and the tubes are twisted and dried, When the oldest colors are faded, and the youngest critic has died, We shall rest, and, faith, we shall need it lie down for an aeon or two, Till the Master of all Good Workmen shall set us to work anew! And those that were good shall be happy; they shall sit in the golden chair ; They shall splash at a ten-league canvas with brushes of comet's hair; They shall find real saints to draw from Magdalene, Peter, and Paul; They shall work for an age at a sitting and never grow tired at all. And only the Master shall praise us, and only the Master shall blame ; And no one shall work for money, and no one shall work for fame; But each for the joy of the working, and each, in his separate star, Shall draw the Thing as he sees It, for the God of things as They Are ! KIPLING. Tell a story in your own words, pausing long and allowing the mind time to receive an impression of each event and to choose the words to represent it and - g justify the pause by the force of the following phrase. Do not hesitate, but definitely pause. Do not CONCENTRATION AND ITS EXPRESSION 37 start to express a phrase without first completely grasp- ing both ideas and words. A PAUSE is a period of silence due to the presence of mental or emotional activity. A Hesitation is a period of silence caused by lack of mental activity. An Impression is the result of concentration, that is, conception and the feeling it awakens. 3. PHRASING. The concentration of the mind upon an idea or the reception of an impression during a pause causes the words which express it to be gathered into a single group and given with the unity of one word. The words belonging to one idea cluster about it like filings around a magnet. In natural reading there is the same phrasing or group- ing of words as in conversation. In satisfactory read- ing there must be instant perception of the words before the concentration and conception. In conversation the idea comes first and the mind chooses the words. All words have not the same relative value or impor- tance. There is always one word on which attention is concentrated. In the phrase " In the dim twilight," for example, the mind naturally concentrates its atten- tion on " twilight " and the other words are accidental. It takes the whole phrase to make a picture, and the words, on account of the unity of the mental conception, are gathered by the voice into a group. " In the early morning," in ordinary speech, is as much one word as " nevertheless " or " indivisibility." A phrase expressing an idea has been called an " ora- toric word." As the individual word has an accent on one syllable, so the touch and inflexion come upon the central word of the phrase and the others are gathered around and subordinated to it by shorter inflexions and intervals. 28 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION Phrasing or grouping is definite in proportion to the clearness of the thinking. Where there is uncertainty, a failure to realize the meaning of words, or where, for any reason, the mental picture does not form definitely and instinctively, the words may be broken apart unnaturally- In conversation the phrasing is always natural because the words are the speaker's own, and the direct expres- sion of his thought. Bad phrasing is usually found in reading, and is due to a lack of genuine thinking, a want of attention, of a true pause, and of active penetration through words to the fundamental picture, and the gathering of the words about these, making all, both idea and words, the reader's own before speaking. Vivid realization of the ideas, and the words belonging to them as a part of the impression before expression, is the cause of true phrasing. Render the following, concentrating the mind and forming a clear idea during each successive pause, .. giving time for eye and mind to act before each phrase. O Thou! whose balance does the mountains weigh, Whose will the wild tumultuous seas obey, Whose breath can turn those watery worlds to flame, That flame to tempest, and that tempest tame. Wherever, O man, God's sun first beamed upon thee where the stars of heaven first shone above thee, where His light- nings first declared His omnipotence, and His storm and wind shook thy soul with pious awe, there are thy affections, mere is thy country. Where the first human eye bent lovingly over thy cradle, where thy mother first bore thee joyfully on her bosom, where thy father engraved the words of wisdom on thy heart, there are thy affections, there is thy country. M. E. ARNDT. Note in the following poem a tendency to pause at the end of the third line. Then read the third and 1 _ fourth lines with genuine realization of the ideas and note the different effects secured by pausing CONCENTRATION AND ITS EXPRESSION 2Q after " murmurs " and after " within " ; that the first destroys and the second accentuates the sequence of ideas. APPRECIATION. To the sea-shell's spiral round 'Tis your heart that brings the sound: The soft sea-murmurs that you hear Within, are captured from your ear. You do poets and their song A grievous wrong, If your own soul does not bring To their high imagining As much beauty as they sing. T. B. ALDRICH. Observe in the following the difference between R pausing after " nature " and after " rolled." Out from the heart of nature rolled The burden of the Bible old. " The Problem." EMERSON. Mechanical rules, such as " Pause before a preposi- tion, or relative pronoun," and the like are useless. They are, moreover, vicious because they concentrate the student's attention upon accidentals, and may pre- vent genuine thinking. There is frequently some difficulty in bringing words into the right connection with ideas. Usually this is due to lack of definiteness in conceiving the ideas. When the mind exactly conceives each successive centre of attention and thinking moves forward with decision and clearness of vision, the phrasing is natural. In the sentence " George only knows James," if the word " only " is spoken with " George " it implies that no one else knows him. If " only " is given with the following words it means that " George " knows no one else but James. Usually, however, such ambiguity is prevented by good writing } the first idea being expressed JO FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION " Only George knows James," the natural tendency being to put " only " with the following word. Render some unfamiliar passage. Prolong each successive pause, and be sure that you use your eye as the agent of your thinking. Grasp both the word - g and the idea before speaking each phrase, and note the effect of your thinking upon phrasing. THE GIFTS OF GOD. The light that fills thy house at morn, Thou canst not for thyself retain ; But all who with thee here are born, It bids to share an equal gain. The wind that blows thy ship along, Her swelling sails cannot confine ; Alike to all the gales belong, Nor canst thou claim a breath as thine. The earth, the green out-spreading earth, Why hast thou fenced it off from me ? Hadst thou than I a nobler birth, Who callest thine a gift so free ? The wave, the blue encircling wave, No chains can bind, no fetters hold ; Its thunders tell of Him who gave What none can ever buy for gold. JONES VERY NATURE. O Earth ! Thou hast not any wind that blows Which is not music every weed of thine Pressed rightly flows in aromatic wine : And every humble hedgerow-flower that grows And every little brown bird that doth sing Hath something greater than itself, and bears A living word to every living thing, Albeit it holds the message unawares. All shapes and sounds have something which is not Of them ; a spirit broods amid the grass ; Vague outlines of the everlasting thought Lie in the melting shadows as they pass ; And touch of an eternal presence thrills The fringes of the sunset and the hills. RICHARD REAL* CONCENTRATION AND ITS EXPRESSION JI Still glides the stream, and shall forever glide; The Form remains, the Function never dies' While we, the brave, the mighty, and the wise, We men, who in our morn of youth defied The elements, must vanish ; be it so, Enough, if something from our hands have power To live, and act, and serve the future hour; And if, as toward the silent tomb we go, Through love, through hope, and faith's transcendent dower, We feel that we are greater than we know. From Sonnet on the River Duddon. WORDSWORTH. Speak upon some simple topic, definitely grasping each successive idea, giving the words that express it naturally. Be sure not to hesitate after unimportant words but give the whole phrase expressing the idea with completeness as in common conversation. PHRASING is the grouping of words caused by gen- uinely thinking the thought they are meant to express. Phrasing shows that delivery must be governed not by the rules of grammar, but by the principles of logic, or the laws of thought. 4. TOUCH. When we observe natural and entertain- ing conversation, we find a series of strokes or accents. Each idea, each concentration of the mind receives a central touch as definite as the stroke of a hammer. As the stroke implies a lifting of the hammer so speech implies a pause for mental concentration, emotional realization, breathing, and the establishment of right conditions. But to the listener a pause is a mere blank unless intensified by a vigorous expression of the fol- lowing phrase. Silence is not only necessary for the reception of an impression but pause is an outward manifestation of inward activity, an outer sign of hidden life. The first of these outward signs or modulations of the voice and the one possibly most vitally related to pause, is touch. Pause and touch are in proportion and as vitally related to each other as cause and effect. The 3* FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION more intense the preparatory attention the greater will be, not only the length of pause, but also the vigor and decision of the consequent stroke upon the central word of the phrase. During the pause the impression is received ; by active touch it is asserted or expressed. Alternation of pause and touch constitutes one of the most important phases of rhythm in expression. Rhythm is a law of all life, and its mastery is necessary in every art, especially in one like vocal expression which deals not with space but with time. Silence and speech must not only alternate but must alternate in rhythmic unity. They must have continuity and sequence. Both must be due to attention. The right alternation of pause and touch is one of the primary elements of all naturalness in conversation, reading, or speaking. To improve expression demands careful preservation and accentuation of the elements of naturalness. In familiar conversation pauses may be short and touches slight, but the moment there is a sense of weight and importance the pauses must be- come longer and the touches more decided in direct proportion. The accentuation of these two in rhythmic sequence and unity, and as the direct expression of increase in the rhythm of thinking, is one of the first and most impor- tant elements in the improvement of delivery. The importance of touch cannot be over-estimated. As the music of the violin depends upon the delicacy and deci- sion with which the bow touches the string, as beautiful piano playing consists in the touch, so a speaker or reader is effective in proportion to the decided ictus of his voice in expressing the clearness of his impressions and the vigor of his attention. Touch is volitional, requiring not only concentration of the mind and a decided and vigorous leap from idea to idea, but control over emotion and all the psychic CONCENTRATION AND ITS EXPRESSION 33 conditions, as also over the breathing and the physical conditions. Failure in the clearness of the impression or command of any of the means of expression will at once interfere with touch. A jerk, a shove, a push, a swell upon words, will lower the noblest passage. Indifference, sarcasm, fear, weakness, vagueness of thinking, lack of control over emotions or familiarity with words, hesitation, lack of command over the voice or any chaotic condition of the mind, will degrade the touch. Every thought, emotion, and character should be expressed with as much dignity as possible. Dramatic representation of an undignified character or the telling of a story by a speaker demanding " fidelity of portrai- ture " may seem occasionally to disobey this principle. But without the power to make a decided touch even the interpretation of an undignified character is not possible. Touch is a subjective control on the part of the speaker, and command of normal action and dignified touch will add power to the expression even of an undignified character or an abnormal action contrasted with the normal. The greatest misunderstanding regarding touch has arisen in relation to emotion. " Swells," " median stresses," " intermittent stresses," " terminal stresses," and the like, have been recommended as necessary and correct means of expressing certain feelings. On the contrary, all emotions should be expressed by definite radical touches. Emotions vary the resonance of the voice, but the touch varies only in proportion to the degree of intensity. Its variation does not express feel- ing but volitional control over feeling. To modify touch or inflexion in order to express emotion is to introduce one of the worst of all faults. If a rubber hammer strike a rubber anvil the percus- sion will differ from the stroke of a steel hammer upon 34 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION a steel anvil, but the stroke and the force may be ex- actly the same. This difference is due to the difference between rubber and steel. The texture of the human body is directly modulated by emotion, and this makes the difference between the expression of two emotions. But the touch should be as decided and as definite as possible in the expression of every feeling save in the expression of weakness. It cannot be too definitely realized that the vigor of the touch is in direct proportion to the intensity of the feeling no matter what that feeling may be. Even in the expression of love and tenderness, in reverence and prayer, the touch should be as vigorous as possible. In sorrow or despair there is a tendency to lessen the breath and to give voice with " tremulo," " semi- tonic melodies," and " intermittent stresses " ; but adequate expression of sorrow demands not less but more breath than usual, for dignity and nobleness require that we express not the despair of grief but heroic endeavor to control it. This causes touch to be most decided, most important, in the expression of sorrow. Otherwise, all expression of sorrow will be the manifestation of weakness. In expressing these emotions calculated to soften the voice it is really the overtones that are affected. Touch expresses control over the feelings and must be decided and definite. Decision of touch may be developed by rendering simple passages intensifying the thought and 2Q expressing this through a vigorous ictus of the voice. Justify also the long pauses by the degree of the touch. Nothing 's small ! no lily-muffled hum of summer -bee but finds some coupling with the shining stars; no pebble at your feet but proves a sphere; no chaffinch but implies the cherubim. . . . Earth's crammed with heaven, and every common bush afire with God, but only he who sees takes off his shoes. " Aurora Leigh." MRS. BROWNING. CONCENTRATION AND ITS EXPRESSION 35 Another exercise to develop this step is the sug- gestion of great intensity, resolution, or excite- 91 ment. In the following animated lyric emphasize the courage, the firm resolve and determination of the Cornish men to deliver Trelawney. THE SONG OF THE WESTERN MEN. A good sword and a trusty hand, A merry heart and true, King James's men shall understand What Cornish lads can do. And have they fix'd the where and when ? And shall Trelawney die? Here's twenty thousand Cornishmen Will know the reason why 1 Out spake their captain brave and bold, A merry wight was he: " If London Tower were Michael's hold, We'll set Trelawney free I We'll cross the Tamar, land to land, The Severn is no stay, All side by side and hand to hand, And who shall bid us nay ? And when we come to London wall, A pleasant sight to view, Come forth, come forth, ye cowards all, To better men than you." Trelawney, he's in keep and hold, Trelawney, he may die ! But here's twenty thousand Cornish bold, Will know the reason why I R. D. HAWKER. Render a passage with and without command and intensity, and observe the necessity of intense concentration and vigorous touch in expressing authority, control, or earnestness. Worcester, get thee gone, for I do see Danger and disobedience in thine eye. You have good leave to leave us ; when we need Your use and counsel, we shall send for you. " Henry IV." SHAKESPEAR& 36 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION New occasions teach new duties; Time makes ancient good uncouth; They must upward still, and onward, who would keep abreast with Truth ; Lo, before us gleam her camp-fires ! we ourselves must Pilgrims be, Launch our Mayflower, and steer boldly through the desperate winter sea, Nor attempt the Future's portal with the Past's blood-rusted key. " The Present Crisis," JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL. All in a hot and copper sky the bloody Sun, at noon, Right up above the mast did stand, no bigger than the Moon. COLERIDGE. Give the following in two ways : first, as the words of a prince, and second, as those of a clown, and 2 o observe the differences. When Jacques de Molay said, amidst the fire, " My trust is in God, and I make an appointment with Philip and Clement to meet me within the year before the bar of God," the true regality was in the martyr, not in his persecutors; their thrones became pillories, and his stake became a throne. W. R. ALGER. Henceforth Let me not hear you speak of Mortimer: Send me your prisoners by the speediest means, Or you shall hear in such a kind from me As will displease you. My Lord Northumberland, We license your departure with your son: Send us your prisoners, or you'll hear of it. "Henry IV." SHAKESPEARE, Suit the action to the word, the word to the action; with this special observance, that you o'erstep not the modesty of nature: for anything so overdone is from the purpose of playing, whose end, both at the first and now, was, and is, to hold, as 't were, the mirror up to nature; to show virtue her own feature; scorn her own image; and the very age and body of the time, his form and pressure. "Hamlet." SHAKESPEARE. A fourth step in realizing the nature and function of touch and in developing its right use is the rendering of a variety of emotions. This step is difficult and very important. It may be delayed until some understanding has been gained as to the right use of the voice and the nature and func- CONCENTRATION AND ITS EXPRESSION 37 tion of tone-color and intensity. But perverted notions regarding stress are so common that it is necessary in most cases for the student speedily to realize that touch expresses primarily the will and the control of condi- tions, and that the artificial modulations of touch that have even been taught in systems of Elocution are real faults and should be avoided as such. Touch expresses the degree of intensity, the degree of concentration or earnestness, the command over the breath and all the conditions of tone production. It expresses the volitional control of emotion rather than the feeling itself. For example, note in the following the extreme changes in feeling and how these are ex- pressed by extreme change in key, in the quality of the voice and in the movement, but observe that in both emotions the touch is equally decided. If any differ- ence is found, the more tender and pathetic the feeling the more decided and vigorous the touch, and to employ " median stresses " will introduce weakness and lack of control. Touch increases in degree, it will be noticed, according to the degree of control by the will. Render passages full of excitement and passion with and without control and note that command of . feeling is expressed by greater decision of touch. Now, men of death, work forth your will, For I can suffer and be still ; And come he slow, or come he fast, It is but Death who comes at last. " Marmion." Immolation of Constance. SCOTT. Queen Catherine. Pray you keep your way; When you are called, return. Now the Lord help me; They vex me past my patience I Pray you pass on. penry VIII." SHAKESPEARE. Fight, gentlemen of England! fight, bold yeomen! Draw, archers, draw your arrows to the head: Spur your proud horses hard, and ride in blood; Amaze the welkin with your broken staves. -Richard III. ' SHAKESPEARE. 38 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION Give a pathetic passage first as if expressed by a ;ak man, and tl ie, and note th< touch in the second. weak man, and then expressed by a strong one, and note the necessity of decision of WHITE ROSES. No sleep like hers, no rest, In all the :arth to-night: Upon her whiter breast Our r ses lie so light. She had no oins to lose, As so; LC might say ; But calmly keeps her pale repose, Till God's good day. ERNEST RHYS. KILLED AT THE FORD. Only last night, as we rod-* along, Down the dark >f the mountain gap, To visit the picket-guard at the ford, Little dreaming of any mishap, He was humming the words of some old song: " Two red roses he had on his cap And another he bore at the point of his sword." Sudden and swift a whistling ball Came out of a wood, and the voice was still ; Something I heard in the darkness fall, And for a moment my blood grew chill ; I spake in a whisper, as he who speaks In a room where some one is lying dead; But he made no answer to what I said And I saw in a vision how far and fleet That fatal bullet went speeding forth, Till it reached a town in the distant North, Till it reached a house in a sunny street, Till it reached a heart that ceased to beat Without a murmur, without a cry; And a bell was tolled, in that far-off town, For one who had passed from cross to crown, And the neighbors wondered that she should die. LONGFELLOW. Render short lines or poems expressing different feel- Ings in contrast, and observe that no matter 9fi how tender and delicate the feeling, it may be intensified without changing its character by increasing CONCENTRATION AND ITS EXPRESSION 39 the concentration of the mind, the control of the breath, and the decision of the touch. Observe also that touch is the least changeable of modulations because it expresses will or command. There is no chance, no destiny, no fate, Can circumvent or hinder or control The firm resolve of a determined soul. ELLA WHEELER WILCOX. O better that her shattered hulk should sink beneath the wave. Her thunders shook the mighty deep, and there should be her grave. Nail to the mast her holy flag, set every threadbare sail, And give her to the god of storms, the lightning and the gale. 'Old Ironside*." OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES. TO-DAY. Lord, for to-morrow and its needs, I do not pray; Keep me from any stain of sin just for to-day ; Let me both diligently work and duly pray ; Let me be kind in word and deed just for to-day, Let me be slow to do my will, prompt to obey; Help me to sacrifice myself just for to-day. Let me no wrong or idle word unthinking say - Set thou thy seal upon my lips just for to-day. So for to-morrow and its needs I do not pray, But keep me, guide me, hold me, Lord, just for to-day. Attributed to SAMUEL WILBERFORCE. No idlest word thou speakest but is a seed cast into Time, and grows through all Eternity! The Recording Angel, con- sider it well, is no fable, but the truest of truths ; the paper tablets thou canst burn; of the " iron leaf," there is no burning. CARLYLE. The basis of good manners is self reliance. Essay on Mannen. EMERSON. Sweet bird! thy bower is ever green, thy sky is ever clear; Thou hast no sorrow in thy song, no winter in thy year ! Oh ! could I fly, I'd fly with thee ! we'd make, with joyful wing, Our annual visit o'er the globe, attendants on the spring. To the Cuckoo." LOGAN. Tis midnight's holy hour, and silence now Is brooding like a gentle spirit o'er The still and pulseless world. Hark ! on the winds The bell's deep tones are swelling, 'tis the knell Of the departed year. GEORGE D. PRENTICE 4O FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION The star of an unconquered will has risen in my breast, I stand serenely calm and still, resolved and self-possessed. Fear not in a world like this, and thou shalt know ere long How great and how sublime it is to suffer and be strong. Adapted from " The Light of the Stars." LONGFELLOW THE WIND. Who has seen the wind? Neither I nor you: But when the leaves hang trembling, The wind is passing through. Who has seen the wind? Neither you nor I : But when the trees bow down their heads, The wind is passing by. CHRISTINA G. ROSSETTI. They never fail who die In a great cause ; the block may soak their gore ; Their heads may sodden in the sun ; their limbs Be strung to city-gates and castle walls ; But still their spirit walks abroad. Though years Elapse, and others share as dark a doom, They but augment the deep and sweeping thoughts Which overpower all others, and conduct The world at last to freedom. BYRON, The outward shows of sky and earth, Of hill and valley, he has viewed ; And impulses of deeper birth Have come to him in solitude. In common things that round us lie Some random truths he can impart, The harvest of a quiet eye That broods and sleeps on his own heart WORDSWORTH, If American scholarship is not in place, it is in power. If it does not carry the election to-day, it determines the policy of to-morrow. Calm, patient, confident, heroic, in our busy material life it perpetually vindicates the truth that the things which are unseen are eternal. So in the cloudless midsummer sky serenely shines the moon, while the tumultuous ocean rolls and murmurs beneath, the type of illimitable and unbridled power; but, resistlessly marshaled by celestial laws; all the wild waters, heaving from pole to pole, rise and recede, obedient to the mild queen of heaven. ' The Leadership of Educated Men." GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS. CONCENTRATION AND ITS EXPRESSION 41 Accentuate as much as possible in reading and speaking the concentrations of the mind or ._ rhythm of thinking with pause, touch, and phrasing, and the rhythmic elements of Expression. LIFE'S MIRROR. There are loyal hearts, there are spirits brave, There are souls that are pure and true; Then give to the world the best you have And the best will come back to you. Give love, and love to your life will flow, A strength in your utmost need ; Have faith, and a score of hearts will show Their faith in your word and deed. Give truth, and your gift will be found in kind, And honor will honor meet; And a smile that is sweet will surely find A smile that is just as sweet. For life is the mirror of King and slave ; Tis just what we are and do; Then give to the world the best you have, And the best will come back to you. MADELINE S. BRIDGES THE GREEK SPIRIT. All the triumphs of truth and geniur over prejudice and power, in every country and in every age, have been the triumphs of Athens. Wherever a few great minds have made a stand against violence and fraud in the cause of liberty and reason, there has been her spirit in the midst of them: inspiring, encouraging, consoling ; by the lonely lamp of Erasmus ; by the restless bed of Pascal; in the tribune of Mirabeau; in the cell of Galileo; on the scaffold of Sidney. But who shall estimate her influence on private happiness? Who shall say how many thousands have been made wiser, happier, and better, by those pursuits in which she has taught mankind to engage ; to how many the studies that took their rise from her have been wealth in poverty, liberty in bondage, health in sickness, society in soli- tude? Her power is indeed manifested at the bar, in the senate, in the field of battle, in the schools of philosophy. But these are not her glory. Wherever literature consoles sorrow, or assuages pain, wherever it brings gladness to eyes which fail with wakefulness and tears, and ache for the dark house and the long sleep, there is exhibited in its noblest form the immortal influence of Athens. 42 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION Speak with great earnestness upon some topic which profoundly interests you or upon which you have true convictions. Prolong the pauses intensely no and realize each impression before expression. Give each successive phrase with definite force on some central word sufficient to justify the long pause. Accen- tuate the rhythm of thinking and be sure that it dom- inates the rhythm of expression. The weakest among us has a gift, however seemingly trivial, which is peculiar to him, and which, worthily used, will be a gift also to his race forever. RUSKIN. WORLD-STRANGENESS. Strange the world about me lies, Never yet familiar grown, Still disturbs me with surprise, Haunts me like a face half known. In this house with starry dome, Floored with gem-like plains and seas, Shall 1 never feel at home, Never wholly be at ease? On from room to room I stray, Yet my Host can ne'er espy; And I know not to this day Whether guest or captive I. So between the starry dome And the floor of plains and seas I have never felt at home, Never wholly been at ease, WILLIAM WATSON. TOUCH is the ictus given by the voice, in the utterance of a phrase, directly expressive of concentration of the mind. INTENSITY exists in proportion to the depth, centrality, and command of force and life. CONTROL is the regulation or reserve of emotion or force by will. SUPPRESSION is the elimination of mental action usually imaginative or emotional by will. ra. DISCRIMINATION AND INTERVALS. With concentration is another primary action of the mind, a progressive leap from one centre of attention to another. All thinking is associated with discrimination. The more vigorously the mind is focussed upon a point, the more definitely the idea is conceived and the more intensely it is realized, the greater will be the tendency of the mind to move forward according to the law of association of ideas, and make a decided transition to another concept. When we observe the effect of discrimination upon the voice, we find that in proportion to the degree of variation between one idea and another will be the corresponding degree of change in pitch. If we observe the simplest conversation we find that one of the most salient points is a constant variation in pitch. There is an interval with every idea, and this is upward or downward, limited or wide in extent accord- ing to the intensity and animation of the thinking. It is a perfectly free response to the actions of the mind. As the vigor of the touch and length of the pauses are proportional to the degree of concentration so thb length of the interval is in proportion to the vividness and definiteness of discrimination between ideas. If we compare reading with talking, another differ- ence noted is the constant variation of pitch in the talker while the reader calls successive words and phrasef upon the same key. This is due to the fact that in talk- ing we think an idea before we speak the words express ing it. In reading, however, we often get the idea aft*' speaking the words. 43 44 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION It is the mental action that causes the difference. In reading, as a rule, there is less definite discrimination, less realization of successive ideas than in talking. It is a good rule to " Read as you talk," but it is a better one to realize and discriminate each idea when reading or speaking to an audience as we do in conversation. Take a passage and make it thoroughly your own, and while genuinely thinking and feeling it, endeavor to impress its successive ideas upon another. Be 9q sure that you think as genuinely as in conver- sation before speaking each phrase. Discriminate espe- cially each successive idea and express this discrimi' nation by extreme variation in pitch. THE FOX AND THE CAT. One day a Cat met a Fox in the wood. "Ah," she thought, " he is sensible, and talked of in the world a great deal ; 1 will speak to him." So she said, in a friendly manner, " Good morn- ing, Mr. Fox ; how are you ? and how do aff airs go with you these hard times? " The Fox looked down upon the cat in scorn for a long time. At last he said, "Oh, you poor little whisker-cleaner, you grey old tabby, you hungry mouse-hunter, what are you thinking about to visit me, and to stand there and ask me how I am getting on? What have you learnt, and how many tricks do you know? " "I know only one trick,'' answered the Cat, meekly. "And pray what ia that? " he asked. "Well," she said, "if the hounds are behind me, 1 can spring up into a tree and save myself." "Is that all?" cried the Fox; "why, I am master of a hundred tricks, and have over and above all a sackful of cun- ning ; but I pity you, puss ; come with me, and I will teach you how to baffle both men and hounds." At this moment a hunter, with four hounds, was seen approach- ing. The cat sprang nimbly up a tree, and seated herself on the highest branch, where, by the spreading foliage, she was quite concealed. "Turn out the sack, Mr. Foxl turn out the sack!" cried the Cat; but the hounds had already seized him and held him fast. "Ah, Mr. Fox," cried the Cat, " your hundred tricks are not of much use to you ; now if you had known only one like mine, you would not have lost your life." I ANB W. GRIMM, DISCRIMINATION AND INTERVALS 45 Render the first line of the following, first as one idea and then as four, and note that the definite 3Q individualizing action of the mind causes vari- ation in pitch. I slip, I slide, I gloom, I glance, Among my skimming swallows ; I make the netted sunbeam dance Against my sandy shallows. "The Brook." TENNYSON. As the mind leaps and conceives with perfect free- dom so is change of pitch free. It matters little, as a rule, in which direction the pitch changes. What is needed is the change or spontaneous response of voice to mind. Definitely realize each idea in the following and while accentuating the mental variation in pass- _. ing from one idea to another directly associate this with extreme variation in pitch. THOUGHT. Thought is deeper than all speech, Feeling deeper than all thought; Souls to souls can never teach What unto themselves was taught. We are spirits clad in veils; Man by man was never seen; All our deep communing fails To remove the shadowy screen. Heart to heart was never known; Mind with mind did never meet; We are columns left alone Of a temple once complete. Like the stars that gem the sky, Far apart though seeming near, In our light we scattered lie ; All is thus but starlight here. .... C. I'. CRANCH. The passage may be read making changes of pitch in directly opposite directions with equal naturalness. Such an exercise awakens in the student a sense of freedom and is one of the most important means of 46 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION developing the spontaneous activities of the mind in union with the deliberative. This exercise is also important in developing flexi- bility of the voice. If the student greatly exaggerates changes of pitch, he will note that the more he dis- criminates ideas, the more natural his delivery becomes. Read the following, putting each clause as far apart in pitch from the preceding as possible, and note that _ this increases rather than decreases naturalness. Merrily swinging on brier and weed, Near to the nest of his little dame, Over the mountain-side or mead, Robert of Lincoln is telling his name. BRYANT Wilt thou not ope thy heart to know What rainbows teach, and sunsets show! Verdict which accumulates From lengthened scroll of human fates, Voice of earth to earth returned, Prayers of heart that inly burned, Saying, " What is excellent, As God lives, is permanent; Hearts are dust, hearts' loves remain, Heart's love will meet thee again." Revere the Maker ; fetch thine eye Up to His style, and manners of the sky. Not of adamant and gold Built He heaven stark and cold ; No, but a nest of bending reeds, Flowering grass and scented weeds; Or like a traveller's fleeting tent, Or bow above the tempest bent; Built of tears and sacred flames, And virtue reaching to its aims ; Built of furtherance and pursuing, Not of spent deeds, but of doing. Silent rushes the swift Lord Through ruined systems still restored, Broad-sowing, bleak and void to bless, Plants with worlds the wilderness; Waters with tears of ancient sorrow Apples of Eden ripe to-morrow. House and tenant go to ground, Lost in God, in Godhead found. From " Threnody." EMERSON. DISCRIMINATION AND INTERVALS 4^ Sing loud, O bird in the trees ! bird, sing loud in the sky I And honey-bees, blacken the clover seas I There are none of you glad as I. 'In Blossom Tim," p. 74. Blessings on thee, little man, Barefoot boy, with cheek of tan! With thy turned-up pantaloons, And thy merry whistled tunes ; With thy red lip, redder still Kissed by strawberries on the hill; With the sunshine on thy face, Through thy torn brim's jaunty grace. From my heart I give thee joy; 1 was once a barefoot boy ! WHITTIER. Should the student render some sentence or passage in verse or prose first abstractly, and then with intense attention to the successive ideas, he will become conscious of what is meant by variation of pitch. Over our manhood bend the skiec; Against our fallen and traitor lives The great winds utter prophecies; With our faint hearts the mountain strives, Its arms outstretched, the druid wood Waits with its benedicite, And to our age's drowsy blood Still shouts the inspiring sea. "Vision of Sir Launfal." JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL. The tree's leafy buds were bursting their brown. " Shall I take them away? " said the frost, sweeping down. " No; leave them alone Till the blossoms have grown," Prayed the tree, while he trembled from rootlet to crown. The tree bore his blossoms, and all the birds sung. "Shall I take them away? " said the wind as he swung. " No ; leave them alone Till the berries have grown," Said the tree, while his leaflets quivering hung. The tree bore his fruit in the midsummer glow. Said the child, " May I gather the berries now? " " Yes: all thou canst see, Take them ; all are for thee,' ; Said the tree, while hf bent down his laden boughs low, B BJ6RNSON. 48 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION Observe in the reading of some lyric that in order to suggest its animation and spirit each idea must be vividly conceived and carefully discriminated. The pitch of each successive phrase can be changed to an astonish- ing degree without interfering with the natural- . ness, so long as thinking is specific and animated and the change of pitch is the direct expression of a corresponding change in the mental pictures. The feel- ing also can be made more intense and the whole expres- sion of the poem more adequate and forcible. THE HOUSE OF THE TREES. Ope your doors and take me in, spirit of the wood ! Wash me clean of dust and din, clothe me in your mood. Take me from the noisy light to the sunless peace, Where at midday standeth Night singing Toil's release. All your dusky twilight stores to my senses give ; Take me in and lock the doors, show me how to live Lift your leafy roof for me, part your yielding walls: Let me wander lingeringly through your scented halls. Ope your doors and take me in, spirit of the wood ! Take me make me next of kin to your leafy brood. ETHELWYN WETHERALD. Describe some scene, expressing sympathetically each centre of attention and making sure that ._ each phrase is not only given with unity and decided touch, but with extreme variation of pitch from the preceding. AN INTERVAL OR CHANGE OF PITCH is caused by the discrimination or variation in the impression as the mind passes from one centre of attention to another. Intervals, or changes of pitch, cannot be regulated by rule. Their direction and extent must be more or less the spontaneous expression of the free, varied move- ment of the mind, which will chiefly result from the degree of concentration. IV. ATTITUDE OF MIND AND INFLEXION. If we observe the many ways in which men utter such simple words as " yes," " no," " well," or " why," we shall find that while the pronunciation may be the same, the meaning conveyed differs nearly always because of a peculiar modulation of the voice. This modulation is a change of pitch during the emission of a central vowel, and is called inflexion. Almost any sentence may be so uttered as to imply question, doubt, or negation, on the one hand, or, on the other, affirmation or confidence, by simply varying the inflexion. Inflexion is the primary characteristic of all natural speech. It is not found in song. When a person is said to speak unnaturally, the trouble is with his in- flexions as a rule. They are the last elements of speech to be mastered by a foreigner. In these lines Shakespeare is supposed to be speak- ing at the Mermaid Inn at dinner. The spirit of the poem is familiar but intense. The attitude of the fi speaker's mind can be easily realized in every phrase, and emphasized or expressed by variations of the inflexions. Have you found your life distasteful? My life did and does smack sweet. Was your youth of pleasure wasteful? Mine I saved and hold complete. Do your joys with age diminish? When mine fail me, I'll complain. Must in death your daylight finish? My sun seU to rise again. . . . I find earth not gray, but rosy, heaven not grim but fair of hue, Do I stoop? I pluck a posy. Do I stand and stare? All's blue. " At the M"maid." BROWNING (Shakespeare "uppos-xl to he t peaking.) 49 c;O FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION Why does "Clang" have no inflexion, while __ every other word has a definite rise or fall ? Clang, clang, the massive anvils ring, Clang, clang, a hundred hammers swing. The importance of inflexions has long been recog- nized, but unfortunately, mechanical and artificial rules have been laid down for their use. The student must carefully study the action of his own mind in conversation, and train his ear to recog- nize the subtlest modulation of his inflexions, until he realizes their importance and also their right use. He must perceive also the great help of inflexions as a means of clearly expressing his thought. We have four leading modulations of inflexion. They may be rising or falling. That is, they may A ary in direction. Either of these may be long or short. They may also be gradual or very abrupt, and lastly simple or compound, that is, circumflex. i. DIRECTION OF INFLEXION. The primary nature of inflexion is a rising or falling variation of pitch in the central vowel of a word. A rising inflexion expresses doubt or question, a seek- ing or negative attitude of the mind, formality, triviality, an appeal to the will or knowledge of the hearer. The mind is looking forward, the thought subordinated to something that is coming, or incomplete in itself. The falling inflexion, on the contrary, indicates con- viction, certainty, and positive evidence of the truth. It asserts the speaker's own view or will: it implies genuineness, directness, and earnestness. " I must have left my book here," may be spoken with a rising inflexion, this indicates doubt. But if one is certain, he speaks the same words positively, with falling inflexion. " Good-morning," with a rising inflexion, is merely ATTITUDE OF MIND AND INFLEXION 51 formal, and may not be genuine ; but if I meet someone I do not expect I give a falling inflexion. This indi- cates genuineness or surprise. A beggar may say " Give me five cents," as a timid, shrinking request, with a rising inflexion. But the owner of a shop would ask for it as a demand with definite falling inflexion. Trivial or trite ideas are given with a short rise: but words spoken with great earnestness receive a falling inflexion. Rising inflexions and falling inflexions are con- tinually opposed in conversation. It is at times of little consequence whether an inflexion be rising or falling, but a mere suspensive action, or the absence of rise or fall, expresses weakness, doubt, or lack of thought. Read the following, using a definite rise or fall with each centre of attention, and bring these into co- operation. Follow no artificial rules as to the kind of inflexion to be given to any word, but take a definite attitude of mind toward each successive idea. WINGS. Shall we know in the hereafter All the reasons that are hid? Does the butterfly remember What the caterpillar did? How he waited, toiled, and suffered To become a chrysalid? When we creep so slowly upward ; When each day new burden brings ; When we strive so hard to conquer Vexing sublunary things; When we wait and toil and suffer, We are working for our wings. DANSKE CAROLINA DANDR1DGE. Death is a dialogue between the spirit and the dust; " Dissolve," says Death. The spirit, " Sir, I have another trust." Death doubts it, argues from the ground ; the spirit turns away. Just laying off, for evidence, an overcoat of clay. A Dialogue. EMILY DICKINSON 52 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION My home was a dungeon, how could that be, When loftiest ceilings rose stately and free? Love roamed in the forest or sat by the sea, And through the long hours was nothing to me. My home is a palace, how can that be, When through the rude rafters the stars I can see? Love knocked at my window and bade me be free. I followed him gladly to share this with thee. " Then and Now,'' Kindergarten Review. RENA H INGHAM- THE BATTLE-FIELD. They dropped like flakes, they dropped like stars, Like petals from a rose, Then suddenly across the June A wind with fingers goes. They perished in the seamless grass, No eye could find the place ; But God on his repealless list Can summon every face. EMILY DICKINSON. 2. LENGTH OF INFLEXION. Rising or falling inflexions may vary greatly in length. The length of an inflexion is in proportion to the clearness, positiveness, or vigor of the thought or emotion. A long, decided inflexion is characteristic of mental power, of genuineness and earnestness. Length of inflexion is something to be cultivated. A universal tendency is to increase volume rather than range of voice. The development of the power to emphasize by long inflexions and range is one of the first and most important steps to be taken in developing good delivery. Render a passage first listlessly, then with great seri- ousness and earnestness, noticing meanwhile 3 g that the chief way of expressing increase of earnestness is by the lengthening of the inflexions. We live in deeds, not years; in thoughts, not breaths; In feelings, not in figures on a dial. We should count time by heart-throbs. He most lives Who thinks most, feels the noblest, acts the best. " Festus." BAILEY ATTITUDE OF MIND AND INFLEXION 53 Why do the quoted words of the following ^ have longer inflexions ? " Who dares " this was the patriot's cry, As striding from the desk he came " Come out with me, in Freedom's name, For her to live, for her to die ! " A hundred hands flung up reply, A hundred voices answered, " I." " Rising rf 1776." T. B. READ. Practise a variety of passages with different degrees of earnestness, intensity, or dignity: and con- .- trast a lack of interest with a sense of great weight. The crimsoned pavement where the hero bleeds, Breathes nobler lessons than the poet's lay. HOLMES When a man lives with God, his voice shall be as sweet as the murmur of the brook and the rustle of the corn. EMERSON. The real world is not the world of things. When Sir Hsrry Vane was dragged up the Tower-hill, sitting on a sled, to suffer death as the champion of the English laws, one of the multitude cried out to him, " You never sat on so glorious a seat." Charles II., to intimidate the citizens of London, caused the patriot Lord Russell to be drawn in an open coach through the principal streets of the city, on his way to the scaf- fold. " But," to use the simple narrative of his biographer, "the multitude imagined they saw liberty and virtue sitting by his side." EMERSON. THE SEMINOLE'S REPLY. Blaze, with your serried columns ! I will not bend the knee ! The shackles ne'er again shall bind the arm which now is free. I've mail'd it with the thunder, when the tempest mutter'd low; And, where it falls, ye well may dread the lightning of its blow I Ye've trail'd me through the forest, ye've track'd me o'er the stream; And, struggling through the everglade, your bristling bayonets gleam ; . But I stand as should the warrior, and I'll fight ye till I die I I scorn your proffered treaty 1 The pale-face I defy I I ne'er will ask ye quarter, and I ne'er will be your slave; But I'll swim the sea of slaughter, till I sink beneath its wave! GEORGE W. PATTEN 54 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION I live for those who love me, For those who know me true; For the heaven that smiles above me, And awaits my spirit, too ; For the cause that lacks assistance, For the wrong that needs resistance, For the future in the distance, And the good that I can do. BANKS. Speak a sentence to one person and then as if to a thousand: or first colloquially, and then 42 with great earnestness, and note that increased earnestness lengthens the inflexions. Blessed is the man who has found his work; let him ask no other blessedness. CARLYLE. Read one of the following passages, not only clearly thinking each idea, but taking a definite attitude of mind, and expressing this by a positive rising . or falling inflexion. Give a phrase with a decided touch and a rising inflexion, definitely awak- ening the hearer's anticipation, and follow this with a decided falling inflexion. Express each idea with such a clear attitude of mind that the minds of the auditors will share in the thinking of the speaker. A fairy, by some mysterious law of her nature, was condemned to appear at certain seasons in the form of a foul and poisonous snake. Those who injured her during the period of her dis- guise were forever excluded from participation in the blessings which she bestowed. But to those who, in spite of her loath- some aspect, pitied and protected her, she afterward revealed herself in the beautiful and celestial form which was natural to her, accompanied their steps, granted all their wishes, filled their houses with wealth, made them happy in love and vic- torious in war. Such a spirit is Liberty. At times she takes the form of a hateful reptile. She grovels, she hisses, she stings. But woe to those who, in disgust, shall venture to crush her! And happy are those who, having dared to receive her in her degraded and frightful shape, shall at length be rewarded by her in the time of her beauty and her glory. MACAULAY. ATTITUDE OF MIND AND INFLEXION 55 Speak colloquially and listlessly upon some subject and then give this or some other subject with .. such intense earnestness as to dominate the attention of an audience. Give a speech as in common conversation with one person. Then so give the same as to ._ dominate the attention of a thousand men. 3. ABRUPTNESS OF INFLEXION. Less noticeable than direction and length of inflexion, but hardly less im- portant, is the fact that inflexion may change the length of sound-waves very slowly or very quickly. Inflexions are gradual in the expression of delibera- tion, reverence, calmness. They are abrupt in com- mand, in great excitement, in intense domination of one mind over another, and in antagonism. Abruptness of inflexion must not be confused with length. Notice, for example, the difference between Hamlet's inflexions when speaking to his , fi friends and to the ghost. The inflexions are long in each case, but very different in their degree of abruptness. Hamlet. Unhand me, gentlemen ! By heaven, I'll make a ghost of him that lets me! I say away ! Go on ; I '11 follow thee ! "Hamlet." SHAKESPEARE. Degrees of excitement, control, domination, or brusk- ness, cause the inflexional modulations to be more ._ or less abrupt. Kentish Sir Byng stood for his King, Bidding the crop-headed Parliament swing; And, pressing a troop unable to stoop And see the rogues flourish and honest folk droop, Marching along, fifty-score strong, Great-hearted gentlemen, singing this song. Marching Along." BROWNING. 56 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION Give the following line with entreaty or great excite- ment, as if in the presence of danger, and then . g with the antagonistic domination which be- longs to it in the first scene of Julius Caesar, and note the effect on the inflexions. Run to your houses, fall upon your knees. "Julius Czsar." SHAKESPEARE. Speak with deliberation, and then with controlled excitement, great intensity, or with domination of the attention of another. 4. COMPLEX MODULATIONS OF INFLEXION. Inflexions may be straight, or circumflex, that is, a rising or falling of the voice may be mixed in the same inflexion. In this case the last part of the inflexion is usually governed by the same law as direction of inflexion, but the various turns express an additional element. Inflexions are straight in proportion to the dignity, frankness, and ear- nestness of the thought, and in the expression of sim- plicity, truthfulness, sympathy, and tenderness. They are crooked in proportion to the colloquial familiarity, mischief, sarcasm, lack of directness in the thought, double meaning, as a joke or lack of seriousness. Circumflexes are common in everyday life, but usually indicate abnormal mental attitudes, lack of dignity in character, or are merely colloquial without earnestness. Inflexion should be as straight and direct as possible. Crooked inflexions imply undignified conditions, lack of sincerity, playful, sarcastic, or negative attitudes of mind towards truth and towards persons. They are some- times necessary, but should be rare in dignified discourse. Careless, circumflex inflexions detract from any speaker's force except in rare instances. Only a little observation is needed to show the char- acter of circumflex inflexions. Note in any play _ of Shakespeare that the more dignified the character, the straighter and the longer the inflexions ATTITUDE OF MIND AND INFLEXION 57 necessary to portray it. The crooked inflexions of the joking workman in the opening scene of Julius Caesar are in sharp contrast to the long, abrupt, straight in- flexions of Marullus and Flavius. How different are Falstaff's inflexions from those of Prince Henry! How much more angular and abrupt the inflexions of Cassius than those of Brutus! Falstaff. God save thy grace, King Hal ! my royal Hal ! Pistol. The heavens thee guard and keep, most royal imp of fame 1 Falstaff. God save thee, my sweet boy I King. My Lord Chief Justice, speak to that vain man. Chief Justice. Have you your wits? Know you what 'tis you speak? Falstuff. My king! my Jove! I speak to thee, my heart! King. I know thee not, old man. Fall to thy prayers. From "Henry IV." SHAKESPEARE. Falstaff. I call thee coward i I'll see thee hanged ere I call thee coward; but I would give a thousand pound I could run as fast as thou canst. You are straight enough in the shoulders; you care not who sees your back. Call you that backing of your friends? A plague upon such backing ! "Henry IV." SHAKESPEARE. 5. FREEDOM OF INFLEXION. While all these MODU- LATIONS of inflexion should be distinguished from each other, the length, the abruptness, and even the compound or circumflex modifications, are continually varying. While every little turn is distinct in meaning yet it is the constant variations and combinations that make inflex- ions so expressive. The innumerable changes of inflex- ions and their relations to each other should be studied with great care. Render short poems and become conscious of at least some of the leading variations of inflexion and their function. Then give one of the following fi1 with all the freedom and variety of conversation. Can you indicate at some one point the inflexional changes, and some differences between the second and the third passages ? 58 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION Follow Light, and do the Right for man can half control his doom Till you find the deathless Angel seated in the vacant tomb. " Locksley Hall Sixty Years After." TENNYSON Now, by my faith as belted knight, and by the name I bear, And by the bright Saint Andrew's cross, that waves above us there . . . I have not sought in battle-field a wreath of such renown, Nor dared I hope on my dying day to win the martyr's crown! . . . For truth and right 'gainst treason's might, this hand hath always striven, And ye raise it up for a witness still in the eye of earth and heaven. Then nail my head on yonder tower, give every town a limb, And God who made shall gather them: I go from you to Him! AYTOUN ESQUIRE NIMBLE FROG'S MISTAKE Esquire Nimble Frog sat on a big log, Just as happy as he could be ; Near by sat Dame Frog the Queen of the Bog, And she was happy as he, While all in a row, away down below, Swam three tiny young tadpoles three, Now hither, now fro, fast as they could go, And they were as happy as she. Nimble Frog, so wise, was looking for flies, But a sleepy old frog was he. And his half-closed eyes caused him a surprise, For he swallowed a bumble-bee. Esquire Frog leaped down from his log, Just as sorry as he could be, And his wife Dame Frog, followed him kerchog, And she was as sorry as he, While each little tad felt ever so sad, And was just as sorry as she ; Nor was the bee glad ; she felt quite as bad As the frogs and the tadpoles three. WARNER WILLIS FRIES. In Browning's " Memorabilia " notice the intense ris- ing inflexions showing the fervid expectancy on meeting a man who has seen Shelley, and to whom _ the speaker has just been introduced. At the fourth line the speaker expresses his pleasure; but at ATTITUDE OF MIND AND INFLEXION 59 the seventh line he is interrupted by a sneer or laugh from the other. This causes a long pause and a change in pitch, and inflexions which become gradual, and more expressive of the disappointment of the speaker, " My starting moves your laughter." MEMORABILIA. Ah, did you once see Shelley plain, And did he stop and speak to you, And did you speak to him again? How strange it seems, and new 1 But you were living before that, And also you are living after ; And the memory I started at My starting moves your laughter I I crossed a moor, with a name of its own And a certain use in the world, no doubt, Yet a hand's-breadth of it shines alone 'Mid the blank miles round about: For there I picked up on the heather And there I put inside my breast A moulted feather, an eagle-feather I Well, I forget the rest. BROWNING. Browning or the speaker seems to turn away from this person who has seen Shelley, and who has sneered at his enthusiasm. He deals in a figure, calling English liter- ature, or poetry, a moor which he has crossed, " a moor with a name of its own " and important ; yet with more intensity he emphasizes the " hand's-breadth " which stands out in his memory, while " the rest " is blank, for there he picked up a feather, an allusion of course, to Shelley's poetry. Note the strong emphasis on " feather " and the still stronger on " eagle." The long falling inflexion expresses his own tribute and rebukes in a very poetic and suggestive way the flippancy of his interlocutor. What does the last line mean? Does it mean, that in the intensity of his realization of 6O FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION Shelley's poetry, he forgets the rest of the moor, or English literature ? Browning, when twelve years old, chanced upon a volume of Shelley's poetry, and it had a great influence on his life. In the intensity of the delight was all other poetry forgotten, or is the speaker so chilled by another sneer that he cuts off the rest he meant to say ? Render the following sentence as a quibble or joke, and then in contrast give it great seriousness, _ earnestness, or sincerity, and note the effect upon inflexions. All things I thought I knew; but now confess The more I know I know, I know the less. Works, Bk- VI. J. OWEN. Render some idea in your own words, first as a quibble or sarcastic remark; then give it with _. sympathy and earnestness of conviction. INFLEXION is a bend of the voice upward or downward : it is a change in the length of the sound waves during the emission of tone. DIRECTION OF INFLEXION is caused by the speaker's attitude of mind, his realization of the relation of the idea to other ideas, his purpose or degree of certainty. THE LENGTH OF AN INFLEXION is due to the degree of earnestness that prompts it. ABRUPTNESS is due to the sway of passion, the degree of excitement, the force of control, or the domination of one mind or will over another. INFLEXIONS are straight in proportion to the direct- ness, frankness, dignity, or weight of the speaker. They are circumflex, or crooked, in proportion to the lack of sincerity, the mischief, the sarcasm, the double meaning, or the quibbling attitude of the mind. V. RESPONSE OF THE ORGANISM. Natural expression through body or voice is a direct response of man's organism to the activity cf his being. We may distinguish two classes of responses to thinking or feeling. The first includes the expressive modulations, which may be illustrated by a nod of the head, a denial or rejection by the hand, a pause or in- flexion by the voice. The second comprises conditions favorable to expressive modulations and may be illus- trated by the retention of breath or the opening of the tone passage during reading or speaking, the expan- sion of the body in excitement, or the softening of the texture of the muscles by feeling. The modulations are more conscious and delibera- tive and are often, perhaps always, in part under the control of will. They are more directly linguistic and may be consciously used as a supplement to words. The second responses are normal conditions favorable to expression and may in general be termed conditional responses. They are less conscious, often involuntary and spontaneous. The modulations are analogous to playing upon a piano: the conditions to the tuning of the instrument. In the first the actions are a direct means of expression, each modulation having a distinct function ; the respon- sive conditions are necessary to the modulations. In relation to the voice the first may be named Vocal Expression, the second, Vocal Training. To improve expression, both conditional and linguistic responsive- ness must be developed. 6i 62 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION The conditions of man's body often become fixed through habit. They do not respond immediately to thinking and feeling unless the organism is perfectly normal and has not been constricted by neglect or abnormal use. Vocal training is the establishment of such normal conditions of body and voice that the response to thinking and feeling will be immediate, natural, and without interference from the abnormal effects of bad habits. Logically, training of the voice and body should be first. The instrument should be tuned before we play upon it. But practically, it is necessary first to study vocal expression. Man's organism is a part of him. He must be made conscious of the meaning of a pause, touch, change of pitch or inflexion of the voice in direct relation to his thought, before he can be awakened to a real conception of the rigidity or unresponsive con- dition of his organism. Training implies a sense of form and the careful application of such exercises as will remove constrictions and abnormal actions and restore every part of the organism to its natural condition. Vocal expression and vocal training are intimately connected for the condition is often established simul- taneously with the giving of the expressive modula- tion. Both should be responsive to the mind. The voice is not a machine to be adjusted mechanically and artificially. The term " voice building " is a misnomer. The voice must be trained according to the laws of growth and development by the use of exercises. Mere mechanical exercises either for the body or for the voice are of little use. The training of the body to be responsive to the mind demands psychic exercises as well as physical. Accordingly, while vocal expression may be care- fully distinguished and constantly discriminated from RESPONSE OF THE ORGANISM 63 vocal training, and while exercises for the two are often different they yet imply each other, and the same exer- cises with a different mental attitude and a slightly different mode of practice are necessary in many cases. In the same exercise the mind should establish the conditions as the basis of the modulations. The con- dition is a most vital part of the expression and the student must observe it. In all cases, however, the exercises for training need separate and long continued practice to correct bad habits and to establish right functioning. One of the first results of a true study of expression is the awakening to a sense of the possibilities of devel- opment. While the human organism cannot be built, it can be developed. Voice and body can be made normal and strong, and by patient practice of exercises can be brought to a high stage of perfection. The student must become inspired with the possibilities of his nature. The first step should be observation of the primary responses of his organism to the actions of the mind. In the following line, Brutus discovers the ghost of Julius Caesar; at the moment of the discovery, before his exclamation <4 Ha," what would Brutus __ naturally do ? His whole body would expand and become dominated by emotion, he would take breath, and his mouth and tone passage would open. How ill this taper burns 1 Ha! who comes here ? SHAKESPEARE. Possibly the simplest exercise for establishing these fundamental conditions of the voice is the practice of exclamations. Exclamations have been sneered at as not being lan- guage, and if by language is meant words directly 64 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION symbolizing ideas and conceptions, this view is correct ; but the exclamation for this reason is deeply expressive. It is always associated with pantomime. It belongs as much to action as to tone; in fact, exclamation is a crude undifferentiated expression of the activity of being. Accordingly, the exclamation of surprise affords a point for the study of the fundamental nature of expression. The student can easily see that these primary spon- taneous responses to imagination and feeling establish conditions of voice. Render, for example, Hamlet's words on the dis- covery of the ghost of his father. If these are given coldly there will be no expansion of the body, increase of breathing or openness of the tone passage, but with any genuine imaginative real- ization of the situation, these are not only the first responses, but the most necessary conditions for the variation of the tone to express Hamlet's feeling. Re- peat the word " angels " twenty times, until these primary actions simultaneously respond to the imagi- nation and feelingo Horatio. Look, my lord, it comes. Hamlet. Angels and ministers of grace defend us. (Hamlet discovering his father's ghost). SHAKESPEARE. The character of the expression of exclamations depends upon these preparatory actions or conditions. Without such responses the will and mind can never produce the right expression. In proportion as speakers have such phlegmatic minds and voices that these responses do not result from the imaginative realization of the situation, the expression is always poor. Accordingly, expression not only implies intense sus- ceptibility of the mind, but a certain plasticity of the voice and body. The imagination and sympathies must not only quickly respond to thinking, but the expansion RESPONSE OF THE ORGANISM 65 of the body, breathing, and the opening of the tone passage must respond to these. Observe the cold formality of Hamlet's words in the following, when he thinks he is answering some ordinary person about the court, and the great change which comes over his body, breathing, and voice when he turns and discovers that the speaker is Horatio. Express surprise with this single word as an exercise to develop the responsiveness of the organism to the mind. Horatio (entering). Hail to your lordship I Hamlet. 1 am glad to see you well: Horatio, or I do forget myself. Note also the surprise of Marcellus on discovering the ghost. The word " Peace " may be practised many times making sure that the action of the mind directly establishes the preparatory conditions for tone. Be sure also that the taking of breath and the opening of the tone passage are simultaneous. Marcellus. " Peace; break thee off; look where it comes again 1" Such extreme exclamations, full of fear, may indicate to the student the character of the responses, but in ordinary practice, positive emotions, exclamations full of joy and tenderness, should be the more emphasized not only to prevent any extreme contraction of the muscles but to establish the sympathetic vibrations of the voice. Note the effect of some sympathetic exclamation, such as " Hark " from the following, or " " from the second passage, or other exclamatory word or _. phrase. As sympathetically and directly as pos- sible, without any mechanical labor or constriction, read also passages establishing and accentuating the taking of the breath and the simultaneous opening of the tone passage before every phrase. 66 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION Harkl hark! From the elm-tree's topmost spray, As the sun's first spark o'erleaps the dark, He sings to the dawning day. "' To tht Robin. :> DORA READ GOODALE. O melancholy waters, softly flow ! O Stars, shine softly, dropping dewy balm 1 O Moon walk on in sandals white as snowl O Winds, be calm, be calm ! For he is tired with wandering to and fro, Yea, weary with unrest to see and know. O charmed sound that hoverest around ! O voices of the Night ! Sing low ! sing low ! sing low ! ROBERT BUCHANAN. If we render the following line with indifference or cold abstract realization, or doubt as to its meaning we shall observe the lack of these responses. But ft if we realize the meaning and enter into a sym- pathetic participation or animated application of each idea to ourselves, then these same conditions of the or- ganism are present and pronounced in proportion to the vividness and realization of the individual impressions. Creation's heir, the world, the world is mine ! Joy! Joy! see Freedom lead her bands Through western wilds, o'er desert lands. By struggles long and bitter throes The desert blossoms as the rose. Again in some animated passage receive a vivid impres- sion of each successive idea, and observe that any vivid or decided impression upon the mind tends to . cause these preparatory actions for speech. Practise all kinds of exclamations and exclamatory phrases and passages with vivid individual ideas, not only pausing and concentrating the mind intensely, but feeling the co-ordination of the breath, and the open- ing of the tone passage, and the expansion of the body with the mental and emotional actions. Be sure that action of the mind, as far as possible, directly causes the sympathetic response of the body and the voice. RESPONSE OF THE ORGANISM 67 Hark! from the hills, a moment mute, Came a clatter of hoofs in hot pursuit; And a cry from the foremost trooper said, " Halt ! or your blood be on your head; '' She heeded it not, and not in vain She lashed the horse with the bridle-rein. So into the night the gray horse strode; His shoes hewed fire from the rocky road: And the high-born courage that never dies Flashed from his rider's coal-black eyes. The pebbles flew from the fearful race; The rain-drops grasped at her glowing face. " On, on, brave beast ! " with loud appeal. Cried eager, resolute Jennie McNeal. JOHN BOYLE O'REILLY. Give some exultant exclamation such as " Hurrah," or a phrase such as " Give way," so accentuating the reception of each impression as to establish ex- pansion of the body and primary tone conditions. Then read the whole poem sustaining these conditions. THE FISHERMEN. Hurrah ! the seaward breezes Sweep down the bay amain; Heave up, my lads, the anchor I Run up the sail again ! Leave to the lubber landsmen The rail-car and the steed; The stars of heaven shall guide us, The breath of heaven shall speed. . . . Hurrah ! for the Red Island, With the white cross on its crown I Hurrah ! for Meccatina, And its mountains bare and brown] . . . Now, brothers, for the icebergs Of frozen Labrador, Floating spectral in the moonshine, Along the low, black shore 1 ... Though the mist upon our jackets In the bitter air congeals, And our lines wind stiff and slowly From off the frozen reels; Though the fog be dark around us, And the storm blow high and loud, We will whistle down the wild wind, And laugh beneath the cloud! 68 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION Hurrah ! hurrah ! the west wind Comes freshening down the bay, The rising sails are filling, Give way, my lads, give way ! . . . . In the darkness as in daylight, On the water as on land, God's eye is looking on us, And beneath us is his hand! .... WHITTIER. May the thousand years to come, The future ages wise and free, Still see her flag, and hear her drum Across the world, from sea to sea! Still find a symbol stern and grand, Her ancient eagle's wing unshorn; One eye to watch the western land, And one to guard the land of morn! BAYARD TAYLOR. The voice or the body is NORMAL in proportion to its correspondence with a universal or ideal type or with the intention of nature. Normal conditions are necessary to expression. ABNORMAL CONDITIONS are those resulting from wrong habits, weakness, perverted or inharmonious growth or development. They always hinder expression. The organic conditions of expression are established by train- ing. The expressive modulations depend upon them and right mental actions tend to produce them, but they must be developed primarily by specific studies, problems, or exercises. PHYSICAL TRAINING is chiefly concerned with growth and the securing of health and strength. EXPRESSIVE TRAINING requires the stimulation of both growth and development ; it implies health and strength, and requires a special development of flexibility. VI. CONDITIONS AND QUALITIES OF VOICE. Are these preparatory actions in extreme surprise or exclamations due to the fact that the mental action is extreme, or do they in any degree belong to all reading and speaking ? Careful study of any involuntary vocal action, or of all right use of the voice, will show us that these actions are not unusual but fundamental; that they must respond to the successive impressions as naturally as the successive modulations; and that these responsive conditions must be renewed and changed with every impression. Accordingly, it is necessary to give serious attention to the conditions of voice and body. As an instrument must be in tune before it can be properly played upon, so, it is necessary to correct perversions and establish normal conditions, for although voice and body are man's organism and responsive to his being, they have been perverted by bad habits. Hence, it is necessary to return again and again to organic conditions and systematically to practise exer- cises for the development of both voice and body. Many faults are due to rigidity, constriction, and abnor- mal use of man's organism. It is discouraging to the student to find that all his practice directly makes his faults worse, but haphazard, careless practice, or work without a principle in nearly every instance produces this effect. Vocal training, accordingly, cannot be left to accident or taught by imitation. The student must discover some funda- mental principle by which he will know what will 69 fo FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION bring strength and develop normal conditions and what will destroy them. Ordinary expression has such an incalculable num- ber of elements, every part of the body may seemingly move or not move, breath may or may not be taken, that we are apt to think that all actions, especially those before speech, are accidental and unimportant. Hence, in working, the student often accentuates some- thing not only accidental but that perverts nature's harmonious action. Among the many actions concerned in speaking a simple phrase we find a few underlying the rest. If these are correct, normal conditions will result; if per- verted, the whole expression will be wrong. Further study of the primary responses in excla- mations will prove that the taking of breath and the opening of the tone passage are not only natural and initiatory actions in expression, but that when rightly co-ordinated they establish fundamental conditions, and that in them a principle is involved concerning the right establishment of necessary conditions for good tone and the right use of the voice. If we experiment with ourselves and carefully observe our actions, how can we know which are right and which are wrong? Yet we feel always that among these there is a difference. If we cramp the face the tone is cramped, if we constrict the throat the tone is constricted. We find that certain actions at the start of a tone pervert its character. i. FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLE. If we make a further study of the primary responses in exclamations, we find that the taking of breath, and the opening of the tone passage are not only natural and initiatory actions in exclamations, but when normally produced are associated with the establishment of conditions that are fundamental to all right use of the voice. CONDITIONS AND QUALITIES OF VOICE 71 This is proved by the fact that these actions when rightly co-ordinated cause the tone to be made easily and freely, constrictions are removed, the tone is made more open, free, and pure. It becomes more elastic and flexible. On the contrary, where these are absent the qualities of voice are perverted; we have throati- ness, flatness, narrowness, or nasality. One great test of a truth is its applicability. If we have mastered these co-ordinated responses so that they take place with the reception of every impression, we find the faults of the voice eliminated. All abnormal qualities, in fact, are radically corrected, and normal qualities of the voice unfolded by the right practice of these exercises. If we observe some one who suffers with sore throat, who grows weary from the use of the voice, or whose voice seems permanently weak, we always find that his ideas are not individualized, his thinking not sufficiently imaginative and intense to cause activity in the middle of his body and simultaneous passivity in the tone passage before speaking each phrase or clause. He breathes seldom because his thinking is abstract and general, his pauses are not the agents of his attention, he stops to take breath merely because his lungs are exhausted ; silence is not due to the active realization of an impression and his breathing is not a sympathetic response to the rhythmic sequence of ideas. If we examine the causes of throatiness, nasality, flat- ness or a person suffering with sore throat we find vari- ous constrictions in his tone passage and some kind of perversion in his breathing. In short, all weakness and faults of voice are more or less associated with a perversion or lack of the primary responses of breath- ing and the tone passage to individual impressions. Here then we find our first step in vocal training. It seems exceedingly simple, and at first thought nearly J2 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION every one will exclaim: is it possible that the perver- sion of such a simple condition causes public school teachers to suffer so much from sore throats, and preachers and speakers to fail in their life work? Simple, however, as the principle seems, it is difficult to establish when lost. It implies co-ordination of the nerve centres. In little children this co-ordination is natural, but later in life, when lost, it is difficult to restore. The student must be prepared for patient and perseve'ring practice of a few simple exercises, and watchfulness even in conversation, until he has so thor- oughly established these primary conditions that they directly respond to every thought. Make, accordingly, a more careful study of surprises. Imagine that some one walking upon the top of a build- ing is about to step upon a board which you know will give way. What will you do? You will shout. But before you shout you do certain things or the shout will not be given. You take breath and your tone passage opens. These things seem to be done for you. They seem to be subconscious and involuntary responses, but without them you cannot shout. If you are a nervous, hysterical person your body will become cramped, your breathing will stop, you will choke, and you can utter no word to save your life. Normal responses produce a shout by establishing certain fundamental conditions. Perverted nervous conditions act in opposition to the normal responses. The taking of breath and the opening of the throat act together. They are co-ordinate. Strange to say, they cannot be done by will. The throat opens passively. You may take breath but the throat will respond only when there is a sympathetic feeling through the body. A spontaneous co-ordination, caused by the impression acting subconsciously, even involuntarily, upon the body, will cause the right condition. CONDITIONS AND QUALITIES OF VOICE 73 While these actions take place naturally and immedi- ately, they can be studied and accentuated. We can receive a stronger impression of an individual Idea, and practise some surprise over and over until these actions respond readily and spontaneously. We can become conscious of them, and they become co-ordinated in the voluntary use of the voice. The mastery of this fundamental co-ordination is the first technical step in the improvement of the voice. Without obedience to it the voice cannot be trained. The first step to improve this co-ordination should be the practice of exclamations as already indicated. Utter commands and short clauses, observing and accentu- ating the co-ordination of these preparatory conditions. Practise also vivid impressions with intense pictorial action of the mind and deep feeling. Render from the following lyric the word " Hark." Imagine you hear the lark early in the morning, and repeat the word with tenderness and joy many __ times. Then give the word "Arise." Picture in your mind the castle, and Imogen asleep, and in the spirit of the morning give the word with great admiration and tenderness. Persevere in this practice, repeating the word fifty or one hundred times even, until you are sure there is a sympathetic, spontaneous co-or- dination of the primary responses. Hark, hark! the lark at heaven's gate sings, And Phoebus 'gins arise, His steeds to water at those springs On chaliced flowers that lies; And winking Mary-buds begin To ope their golden eyes; With every thing that pretty bin, My lady sweet, arise ; Arise, arise! " Cymbelint." SHAKESPEARE. Render joyous lyrics, repeating a single exclamation or phrase as in the last exercise, and then give phrases 74 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION or the whole poem, making long pauses with extreme changes of pitch, and other modulations of the voice, and observe that distinct pictures in the mind establish the conditions of the tone. Note for example in rendering the following, that the more definite the realization of each successive idea, the greater the openness of the tone passage, and the retention of breath as well as expressive changes. O LARK OF THE SUMMER MORNING. 1 love to lie in the clover, With the lark like a speck in the sky, While its small, sweet throat runneth over With praise it sendeth on high. lark of the summer morning, Teach, teach me the song that you sing, 1 would learn without lightness or scorning, To give praise for every good thing. O lark of the summer morning 1 Give, give me of praying the key, And I'll learn without lightness or scorning As I did at my own mother's knee. From the Japanese. IN BLOSSOM TIME. It's O my heart, my heart, to be out in the sun and sLi, to sing and shout in the fields about in the balm and blossoming. Sing loud, O bird in the tree; O bird sing loud in the sky, and honey-bees blacken the clover seas ; there are none of you glad as I. The leaves laugh low in the wind, laugh low with the wind at play, and the odorous call of the flowers all entices my soul away. For O but the world is fair, and O but the world is sweet, I will out of the gold of the blossoming mold, and sit at the Master's feet. And the love my heart would speak, I will fold in the lily's rim, that the lips of the blossom, more pure and meek, may offer it up to him. Then sing in the hedgerow green, O thrush, O skylark, sing in the blue; sing loud, sing clear, that the King may hear, and my soul shall sing with you. INA DONNA COOLBRITH. Take some beautiful lyric, such as " Tipperary in the Spring," and after noting the love of na- fi _ ture, of home, and the joyous, tender lyric spirit that permeates it, render the first word " Ah " with CONDITIONS AND QUALITIES OF VOICE 75 the conditions of the whole poem, repeating it twenty to fifty times, observing that the breath is taken sympathetically and that the tone passage begins to open at the back of the tongue with sympathetic relaxation and without constriction or labor. Then render the whole, establishing the responsive con- ditions before every phrase. TIPPERARY IN THE SPRING. Ah, sweet is Tipperary in the springtime of the year, When the hawthorn's whiter than the snow, When the feathered folk assemble, and the air is all a-tremble With their singing and their winging to and fro ; When queenly Slievenamon puts her verdant vesture on, And smiles to hear the news the breezes bring, And the sun begins to glance on the rivulets that dance Ah, sweet is Tipperary in the Spring. Ah, sweet is Tipperary in the springtime of the year, When mists are rising from the lea, When the Golden Vale is smiling with a beauty all beguiling, And the Suir goes crooning to the sea; And the shadows and the showers only multiply the flowers That the lavish hand of May will fling; Where in unfrequented ways, fairy music softly plays Ah, sweet is Tipperary in the Spring! Ah, sweet is Tipperary in the springtime of the year, When life like the year is young, When the soul is just awaking like a lily blossom breaking, And love words linger on the tongue ; When the blue of Irish skies is the hue of Irish eyes, And love dreams cluster and cling Round the heart and round the brain, half of pleasure, half of pain Ah, sweet is Tipperary in the spring. DENIS A. MCCARTHY. Speak upon some animated topic realizing each impression so vividly and intensely that breath 66 is taken and the tone passage opens simul- taneously before each idea and phrase. Speak upon some exciting topic and be sure that the reception of every impression causes breathing fi - and passivity of the throat. Individualize and intensify each successive impression until the 76 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION rhythm of breathing responds to the rhythm of the ideas. CO-ORDINATION is the production of more or less diverse actions simultaneously from one nerve centre or from the subconscious union of several. 2. CORRECT METHOD OF BREATHING. Not only must we take breath and open the tone passage before speech, but the method of breathing and opening the tone passage must be correct. Bad habits have so dominated most persons that both these actions need attention. Breathing, while the most natural and necessary action of life, may be, and often is, so perverted that weak and imperfect tone results, and often sore throat and loss of health. Lie down and breathe as naturally and as easily as in sleep, and note that the predominant activity in natural breathing is in the middle of the body. In all normal respiratory action, the centre of its activity cor- responds with the centre of gravity. Observe laughter, and note that real laughter affects the middle of the body. It increases and centralizes breathing and opens the tone passage. Labored, con- stricted, or mock laughter has the opposite effect. After mastering the elements of genuine laughter start a tone with the very first initiations of a laugh, and then laugh out clauses and sentences. Many other unconscious and involuntary actions, such as sighing, sobbing, or groaning, will show that the predominant activity of breathing in all involun- tary use of the voice is found in the middle of the body. In practising the co-ordinations be sure to breathe in the middle of the body, and allow no motion of the shoulders and no constrictions of the tone passage. The voice can often be greatly improved by simply cen- CONDITIONS AND QUALITIES OF VOICE 77 tralizing the breathing and increasing the sympathetic and elastic retention of the breath during the produc- tion of a tone. Where the student can practise, with understanding, distinctly technical exercises, he may accomplish more rapid and more effective results. But such exercises must be carefully practised, and under the oversight of a teacher. In the following exercise give gently, " Ha, ha," for example, then laugh out the word " Come," and then render the closing lines over and over again with 6g all the openness, freedom and spontaneous con- ditions of genuine laughter. A LAUGHING SONG. When the green woods laugh with the voice of joy, And the dimpling stream runs laughing by; When the air does laugh with our merry wit, And the green hill laughs with the noise of it; When the meadows laugh with lively green, And the grasshopper laughs in the merry scene; When Mary, and Susan, and Emily, With their sweet round mouths sing, " Ha, ha, he! ' When the painted birds laugh in the shade, Where our table with cherries and nuts is spread; Come live, and be merry, and join with me To sing the sweet chorus of " Ha, ha, he ! " BLAKB MARCH. Oh, such a commotion under the ground When March called, " Ho, there! hoi " Such spreading of rootlets far and wide, Such whispering to and fro; And, " Are you ready? " the Snowdrop asked, Tis time to start, you know." " Almost, my dear," the Scilla replied; " I'll follow as soon as you go." Then, " Ha ! ha ! ha ! " a chorus came Of laughter soft and low, From the millions of flowers under the ground Yes, millions beginning to grow. 78 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION " 111 promise my blossoms," the Crocus said, " When I hear the bluebirds sing." And straight thereafter, Narcissus cried, " My silver and gold I'll bring." " And are they dulled," another spoke, " The hyacinth bells shall ring." And the violet only murmured, " I'm here," And sweet grew the air of spring. Then, " Ha! ha! ha! " a chorus came Of laughter soft and low, From the millions of flowers under the ground Yes, millions beginning to grow. Oh, the pretty, brave things ! through the coldest days, Imprisoned in walls of brown, They never lost heart though the blast shrieked loud, And the sleet and hail came down, But patiently each wrought her beautiful dress, Or fashioned her beautiful crown; And now they are coming to brighten the world, Still shadowed by Winter's frown; And well may they cheerily laugh, " Ha! ha! " In a chorus soft and low, The millions of flowers hid under the ground Yes, millions beginning to grow. NOT KNOWN. When daffodils begin to peer, With heigh ! the doxy over the dale, Why then comes in the sweet o' the year, For the red blood reigns in the winter's pale. SHAKESPEARE. Observe the effect of good nature and heartiness in increasing the amount of breath and its elastic and sym- pathetic retention by activity at the base of the fi( . lungs or of the inspiratory muscles. Then read with the greatest possible ease some hearty passage full of joy and kindliness. W'en you see a man in wo, Walk right up and say " hullo ! " Say " hullo " an' "how d'ye do ? " How's the world a-usin' you ? tt Slap the fellow on his back, Bring yer han' down with a whack; Waltz right up, an' don't go slow, Grin an' shake an' say " hullo 1 " Holto." 3. W. FOSS, CONDITIONS AND QUALITIES OF VOICE 79 One important test of the correctness of the breathing is the ease of tone production. Proper centrality and retention of the breath remove all constriction from the tone passage and cause a sense of restful ease to diffuse itself over the body. Centrality of the vibrations will always be hindered by faults of breathing such as wrong centre constrictions or one-sided labor. Ease is one of the essential qualities of the voice and it can be estab- lished only through right command of the breath. Express genuine joy or intense exultation with sympathetic ease, accentuating, especially, the _ ft central and harmonious retention of the breath. THE GOOD TIME COMING. There's a good time coming, boys, A good time coming: We may not live to see the day, But earth shall glisten in the ray Of the good time coming. Cannon-balls may aid the truth, But thought's a weapon stronger , We'll win our battle by its aid ; Wait a little longer. There's a good time coming, boys, A good time coming: The pen shall supersede the sword, And Right, not Might shall be the lord In the good time coming. Worth, not Birth, shall rule mankind, And be acknowledged stronger ; The proper impulse has been given; Wait a little longer There's a good time coming, boys, A good time coming: War in all men's eyes shall be A monster of iniquity In the good time coming. Nations shall not quarrel then, To prove which is the stronger; Nor slaughter men for glory's sake; Wait a little longer So FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION There's a good time coming, boys, A good time coming: The pe.jple shall be temperate, And shall! 0,7 instead of hate, In the good time coming. They shall use, and not abuse, And make all virtue stronger. The reformation has begun j Wait a little longer. There's a good time coming, boys, A g>od time coming: Let us rid it all we can, Every woman, every man, The good time coming. Smallest helps, if rightly given, MakC' the impulse stronger Twill bo strong en ;ugh one day ; Wait a little longer. CHARLES MACKAY. Heartiness with dignity and poise also tend to cen- tralize and to harmonize the respiratory action. Give the following words with the good-natured, royal attitude of the exiled duke as heartily and sym- pathetically as possible. Now my co-mates, and brothers in exile, Hath not old custom made this life more sweet Than that of painted pomp Are not these woods More free from peril than the envious court? , . . . And this our life, exempt from public haunt, Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, Sermons in stones, and good in everything. From " As You Likt It." SHAKESPEARE BIRD RAPTURES. The sunrise wakes the lark to sing, The moonrise wakes the nightingale. Come darkness, moonrise, everything That is so silent, sweet and pale: Come, so ye wake the nightingale. Make haste to mount, thou wistful moon, Make haste to wake the nightingale: Let silence set the world in tune To hearken to that wordless tale Which warbles from the nightingale. CONDITIONS AND QUALITIES OF VOICE fci O herald skylark, stay thy flight One moment, for a nightingale Floods us with sorrow and delight. To-morrow thou sh alt hoist the sail; Leave us to-night the nightingale. CHRISTINA GEORGINA ROSSETTI. One of the chief faults that may occur in the use of the breath in reading and speaking is breathing too sel- dom. To correct this we must establish a still deeper co-ordination, that between the mind and the voice. What is it determines the number of times we breathe? The thinking. One who thinks abstractly always breathes too seldom. Individualize ideas, concentrate attention on each successive idea and receive a definite impres- sion; then the rhythm of thinking will determine the rhythm of breathing. Take first a passage, and while giving it with long pauses and vivid ideas be sure that breathing responds to thinking. Take also the following spirited _ 2 poem and give it with great animation, but only suggest the rapid movement by decision of touch while picturing each idea as vividly as possible. Note that animation is due to the vividness of the successive ideas, and that the rhythm of breathing increases with the excitement in proportion to the animation of the thinking. THE SKATER'S SONG. Away! away I our fires stream bright along the frozen river; and their arrowy sparkles of frosty light on the forest branches quiver. Away I awayl for the stars are forth, and on the pure snows of the valley, in a giddy trance, the moonbeams dance come, let us our comrades rally! Let others choose more gentle sports by the side of the winter hearth ; or 'neath the lamps of the festal halls seek for their share of mirth; but as for me, awayl away! where the merry skaters be where the fresh wind blows and the smooth ice glows, there is the place for me! TEA BODY 83 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION In all work for vocal training, the student and teacher should especially note that there is activity in the expansion of the body, in breathing, and that othef conditions of voice immediately respond to the think- ing and feeling. These conditions must even precede the modulations of the voice. The student should render joyous lyrics, full of admir- ation of nature, heartiness, and animation, and observe that the living energies and actions of the mind, such as breathing and the expansion of the body and other direct signs of life, should be increased as part of the immediate preparation for speech. SAILOR'S SONG. The sea goes up, the sky comes down. Oh, can you spy the ancient town, The granite hills so hard and gray, That rib the land behind the bay? Oh ye ho, boys ! Spread her wings I Fair winds, boys: send her homel O ye ho I Three years? Is it so long that we Have lived upon the lonely sea? Oh, often I thought we'd see the town, When the sea went up, and the sky came down. O ye ho, boys I Spread her wings 1 Fair winds, boys : send her home 1 ye ho I Even the winter winds would rouse A memory of my father's house; For round his windows and his door They made the same deep, mouth less roar. O ye ho, boys ! Spread her wings I Fair winds, boys: send her home I O ye ho I Tie but a seeming ; swiftly rush The seas, beneath. I hear the crush Of foamy ridges 'gainst the prow. Longing outspeeds the breeze, I know. O ye ho, boys I Spread her wings I Fair winds, boys: send her homel ye hoi CONDITIONS AND QUALITIES OF VOICE 83 Patience, my mates I Though not this eve, We cast our anchor, yet believe, If but the wind holds, short the run: We'll sail in with to-morrow's sun. O ye ho, boys i Spread her wings I Fair winds, boys: tend her home 1 ye hoi LATHROF MAN AND NATURE. O steadfast trees that know Rain, hail, and sleet, and snow, And all the winds that blow; But when spring comes, can then So freshly bud again Forgetful of the wrong 1 Waters that deep below The stubborn ice can go With quiet underflow, Contented to be dumb Till spring herself shall come To listen to your song 1 Stars that the clouds pass o'er And stain not, but make more Alluring than before: How good it is for us That your lives are not thus Prevented, but made strong! ROBERT KELLEY WEEKS In speaking, breathe often, and center the breathing in the middle of the torso. Allow it to bring into sympathetic activity the whole chest. Breathe frequently and fully, but also as easily as possible. 3. FREEDOM OF TONE. Attention must not only be given to correctness of breathing but also to the right method of opening the mouth and tone passage. Man opens the mouth for food in a different manner than for tone. For food we open the lips and the teeth by pulling down the jaw; in doing this we simultaneously lift the back of the tongue and lower the soft palate shutting the back of the mouth. In tone production, on the con- 84 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION trary, the opening begins in the pharynx and at the back of the tongue, and the lips are the last to part. The opening of the passage for tone is passive, the opening of the mouth for food is active. The mouth can never be opened properly for tone by a pull, The whole tone passage must drop open by relaxation and must be co-ordinated with the simultaneous taking of the breath. If the tone passage starts to open at the back of the tongue, simultaneously with the taking of breath, the breath will pass naturally through the nose and the whole tone passage will relax and the lips part last. The attempt to shut the mouth and suck air through the nose constricts the voice, and violates the very object aimed at, namely, natural respiration through the nose. The pharynx, with the back of the tongue and soft palate, form the gate-way of the voice. When there is constriction at this point there will always be faults of tone. All defects of voice, especially such pharyn- geal faults as nasality, throatiness, flatness, must be eradicated by securing a sympathetic relaxation and openness of the tone passage. This passive opening of the tone passage cannot be secured except in direct co-ordination with the free, central, and harmonious taking of breath, and this co-ordination must come in direct response to the vivid impressions of the mind. The sympathetic co-ordination of centralized breath- ing and passive opening of the tone passage must be practised faithfully with individual vowels, - with single words, with phrases, and in con- nection with reading and speaking, until it is thoroughly mastered. Many persons who have had perverted habits will require longj persevering practice to attain this result, Ah 1 April, ah ! thou life of all the year, Adapted- WILLIAM MORBIS- CONDITIONS AND QUALITIES OF VOICK $5 Oh t joy to be out in June 'Neath the cloudless blue in the dawn and dew Mid the ruddy buds of clover I For life is a blessed boon When June wakes love in the heart anew And the cup of bliss runs overi Read animated passages and be sure to realize each successive centre of attention or idea so vividly __ as to establish voice conditions; co-ordinate the taking of the breath with activity in the centre of the body and the relaxation of the tone passage before speaking each phrase. MY THRUSH. All through the sultry hours of June, From morning blithe to golden noon, And till the star of evening climbs The gray -blue East, a world too soon, There sings a Thrush amid the limes. God's poet hid in foliage green Sings endless songs, himself unseen j Right seldom come his silent times. Linger, ye summer hours serene 1 Sing on, dear Thrush, amid the limes 1 May I not dream God sends thee there, Thou mellow angel of the air, Even to rebuke my earth her rhymes With music's soul, all praise and prayer? Is that thy lesson in the limes? Closer to God art thou than I: His minstrel thou, whose brown wings fly Through silent skies to sunnier climes.. Ah, never may thy music die) Sing on, dear Tnrush, amid the limes. MORTIMER COLLINS. Wobody looks at the clouds with a love that equals mine; I know them in their beauty, in the morn or the even shine 1 know them, and possess them, my castles in the air My palaces, cathedrals, and hanging gaidens fair. 86 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION Practise passages expressive of normal or ideal emo- tions, especially those which induce animation, such as patriotism, admiration of nature, love of _. home, and good-natured contentment. Realize the ideas so intensely as to cause, not only harmonious breathing, but the sympathetic openness and relaxa- tion of the whole tone passage, and give freedom of expression and richness of vibration. Ring, freedom's bells, across all lands ! Ring, happy bells, from shore to shore I Until your echoes from far strands Come back to us once more. Ring out a blood-bought country's worth; O joyful bells, ring high, ring low> To celebrate a nation's birth, One hundred years ago 1 Come from the hills where your hirsels are grazing, Come from the glen of the buck and the roe; Come to the crag where the beacon is blazing, Come with the buckler, the lance, and the bow, Trumpets are sounding, War-steeds are bounding, Stand to your arms, and march in good order, England shall many a day Tell of the bloody fray, When the Blue Bonnets came over the Border, SCOTT A SONG OF THE SEA A wet sheet and a flowing sea, a wind that follows fast And fills the white and rustling sail and bends the gallant mast; And bends the gallant mast, my boys, while like the eagle free Away the good ship flies, and leaves old England on the lee, for a soft and gentle wind, I heard a fair one cry; But give to me the snoring breeze and white waves heaving high ; And white waves heaving high, my lads, the good ship tight and free The world of waters is our home, and merry men are we,, There's tempest in yon horned moon, and lightning in yon cloud; But hark the music, mariners, the wind is piping loud ; The wind is piping loud, my boys, the lightning flashes free While the hollow oak our palace ii, our heritage the sea. A CUNNINGHAM. CONDITIONS AND QUALITIES OF VOICE 87 Those evening bells ! those evening bells ! How many a tale their music tells Of youth, and home, and that sweet time When last I heard their soothing chime I ' Thoe Evening Btlls." THOMAS MOORE. Lo I in a flash of crimson splendor, with blazing scarlet clouds, running before his chariot, and heralding his majestic approach, God's sun rises upon the world, and all Nature wakens and brightens. O, glorious spectacle of light and life! O, beatific symbol of Power, Love, Joy, and Beauty 1 Let us look at thee with humble wonder, and thankfully acknowledge and adore. What gracious forethought is it what generous and loving provision, that deigns to prepare for our eyes and to soothe our hearts with such a splendid morning festival! For these mag- nificent bounties of Heaven to us, let us be thankful that even we can feel thankful (for thanks surely is the noblest effort, as it is the greatest delight, of the gentle soul), and so a grace for this feast, let all say who partake of it. THACKERAY. Our hearts, our hopes, are all with thee: Our hearts, our hopes, our prayers, our tears, Our faith, victorious o'er our fears, Are all with Thee, are all with Thee ! LONGFELLOW HOMEWARD BOUND. Into the west of the waters on the living ocean's foam, Into the west of the sunset where the young adventurers* roam, Into the west of the shining star, I am sailing, sailing, home: Home from the lonely cities, time's wreck, and .he nak d woe, Home through the clean, great waters wher^ freemen's pennants blow, Home to the land men dream of, where all the nations go; 'Tis home but to be on the waters, 'tis home already here, Through the weird red-billowing sunset into the west to steer, To fall asleep in the rocking dark with home a day more near. By morning light the ship holds on, alive with happy freight, A thousand hearts witn one still joy, and with one hope elate, To reach the land that mothered them and sweetly guides their fate; Whether the purple furrow heaps the bows with dazzling spray, Or buried in the green-based masses they dip the storm-swept day, Or the white flag ribbons o'er them, the strong ship holds her way; And when another day is done, by the star of love we steer To the land of all that we love best and all that we hold dear; We are sailing westward, homeward; our western home is near. GEORGE EDWARD WOODBERRY $ FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION The splendor falls on castle walls, And snowy summits old in story; The long light shakes across the lakes, And the wild cataract leaps hi glory. "Bogle Song." TENNYSON. In conversation or speaking keep the chest sym- pathetically expanded, the lungs full, by breathing __ frequently: but keep also the tone passage re- laxed, using large, not loud vowels. Keep the tone as open and free as possible. A FAULT OF VOICE is some abnormal action due to constriction or misuse of some part, and is usually caused by misuse or lack of control over thinking and feeling. THROATINESS is a constriction of tone in the pharynx and back of the tongue. NASALITY is constriction in the back of the tongue and in the soft palate. FLATNESS is due to constriction, chiefly of the pillars of the soft palate. MUSCULAR TONE is due to too much activity in the muscles, especially of the pharynx and tongue, during tone production. EASE IN TONE PRODUCTION is due to the central sympathetic or normal use of the breath. FREEDOM OF TONE is due chiefly to the openness of the tone passage and its harmonious relationship with the retention of breath. PURITY OF TONE is due to the regularity of the vibra- tions. It implies no waste of breath or constriction of any part, but the sympathetic and normal co-ordi- nation, not only of the pharynx, but of the vocal bands with the diaphragm or the parts controlling the breath. The centre in a CORRECT METHOD OF BREATHING corresponds more or less with the centre of gravity. vn. VOICE AND BODY. If, while laughing genuinely, we pucker or constrict the mouth, the tone is completely changed. We can in this way change the quality of the tone without changing the vowel. If we constrict the whole face and endeavor to make a soft, gentle tone we find it difficult ; in fact, we discover that the whole body serves as the vibratory agent of the tone and any constric- tion or abnormal action at once affects it. Accordingly, it is necessary to train the body and develop responsive conditions of the muscles for gen- uine improvement of the voice. In observing exclamations, we found that there was not only the taking of breath and opening of the tone passage to be considered, but expansion of the whole body as a part of the preparatory actions for tone. So influential is the whole body over tone that bad breathing is often caused by bad poise. Hard, nasal tones are often caused also by constriction of the bod r In general, accordingly, in all exercises for tone and in all reading, students must, as far as possible, think the thought and feel the emotion through the whole organism. As soon as imagination is awakened there will be a tendency to improve the bodily conditions. The body, however, like the voice, may have con- strictions and other perversions as a result of habit which must necessarily be corrected. The student should study the normal intentions of his body, and endeavor, as far as possible, to proceed step by step from that which is most fundamental to the 89 go FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION development of the normal and ideal conditions of the whole organism, not only to improve his voice, but his expression and bearing. If the body does not respond, the vocal organism will also fail to have the right conditions. The body is the whole, the voice a part. Accordingly, there should be careful training not merely for health or strength, as in organic gymnastics, but a study of the body in relation to being and voice. All true training in delivery must bring mind, body, and voice into greater unity. A few steps are here indicated which demand careful attention. i. EXPANSION OF THE BODY. If we observe others or ourselves in an attitude of indifference, we shall perceive that the chest tends downward, but that any excitement causes it to rise ; not, however, by bending the back, but by an expansion in all directions. This expresses cour- age, self-assertion, and life in the individual, sets free the lungs, and establishes the fundamental condition, not only for voice, but for all expression. It must be noted that the expansion of the chest, while at the start simultaneous with the act of breathing and the opening of the tone passage, is not changeable like these, but is more sustained, being often kept expanded through sentences and paragraphs. It is a condition which does not change with the tak- ing of each breath ; indeed it is more a pantomimic than a vocal condition. Accordingly, chest expansion should never be caused by the action of the respiratory muscles, but by that of the intercostal muscles. The expansion of the torso is a fundamental pantomimic expression. It is not a part of the breathing or vocal actions but precedes and estab- lishes conditions favorable to voice. The other pre- paratory conditions can hardly be co-ordinated without this. VOICE AND BODY gt A simple exercise for developing sympathetic and expressive expansion of the chest, consists in placing one hand upon the back, at the point where there is the greatest curvature inward, and the other hand high upon the chest, then carry the hands apart by sympathetic expansion and easily sustain it for a time. The most important exercise, however, for expansion of the chest, is not a mere physical movement, but the sympathetic practice of exultant or inspiring passages, animated lyrics, and the like. The expansion of the chest must express self-asser- tion, self-respect, genuine animation, heartiness, sym- pathy, or courage. Mere physical exercises are helpful, but genuine expression of noble thoughts and feelings are better because they stimulate the psychic and spirit- ual cause of the normal action. Feel the animation and excitement of the following so intensely as to cause the taking of breath and the openness of the tone passage, making a free _ R and open tone with sudden variations of touch, inflexions, pitch and range. Sympathetically expand the whole body. Hounds are in their couples yelling, Hawks are whistling, horns are knelling, Merrily, merrily mingle they, " Waken, lords and ladies gay." " Huntiag Song." SCOTT. Come fill up my cup, come fill up my can; Come saddle your horses, and call up your men; Come open the Westport, and let us gang free, And it's room for the bonnets of bonnie Dundee! SCOTT. Leap out, leap out, my masters; leap out and lay on load! Let's forge a goodly anchor, a bower, thick and broad! " Forging of the Anchor." FERGUSON. 2. ELEVATION AND CENTRALITY OF THE BODY. In the absence of thought or aspiration the body sinks towards the earth; but under the dominion of noble 92 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION ideas it becomes elevated and the weight tends to pass to one foot. When there is absence of feeling and ani- mation, the base widens, the weight tends to pass to both feet, and they are far apart. This attitude expresses familiar ease, vulgar repose, impudence, indifference, insolence. Animation, regard for others, excitement, courage, sympathy, and endeavor, lift the body and bring the weight upon one foot. The teacher who understands the principles of train- ing can, at this point, endeavor to establish stable equili- brium, and introduce the student to that important step, possibly, the most difficult work for the improvement of expression that can be undertaken, the development of a sense of poise. It is a rare attainment, however, and should not be attempted with the thoughtless or indifferent. In all cases begin with the practice of such short lines as will establish the response of the body to being. Feel ideas, situation, and points of view so intensely that the whole body becomes sympathetically elevated and the weight passes to one foot. Howe'er it be, it seems to me, 'Tis only noble to be good. Kind hearts are more than coronets, And simple faith than Norman blood. ALFRED TENNYSON. Attempt to speak upon some subject with indiffer- ence and observe the tendency to stand upon both feet. Increase the earnestness or desire to per- suade, and note the tendency of the animation to expand and lift the body, causing you to stand on one foot. Up, up with thy praise-breathing anthem! alone The drowsyhead, man, on his bed slumbers prone; .... Let the least in creation the greatest despise Then up to heaven's threshold, blithe skylark, arise I "Skylark." DAVID M. MOIR. VOICE AND BODY 93 Higher, higher will we climb, up to the mount of glory, That our names may live through time in our country's story. Oh, and proudly stood she up! Her heart within her did not fail: She looked into Lord Ronald's eyes, And told him all her nurse's tale. TENNYSON. DUTY. I slept and dreamed that life was Beauty: I woke and found that life was Duty: Was then thy dream a shadowy lie? Toil on, sad heart, courageously, And thou shalt find thy dream to be A noonday light and truth to thee. ELLEN STURG1S HOOPER, See the noble fellow's face As the big ship with a bound, Clears the entry like a hound, Keeps the passage as its inch of way were the wide sea's profound 'Herv^Reil." BROWNING. INVICTUS. Out of the night that covers me, Black as the pit from pole to pole, I thank whatever Gods may be For my unconquerable soul. In the fell clutch of circumstance I have not winced nor cried aloud; Under the bludgeonings of chance My head is bloody, but unbowed. Beyond this place of wrath and tears Looms but the Horror of the shade, And yet the menace of the years Finds and shall find me unafraid. It matters not how strait the gate, How charged with punishments the scroll, I am the master of my fate; I am the captain of my soul. WILLIAM ERNEST HENLEY. 94 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION See thou bring not to field or stone, the fancies found in books; Leave authors' eyes, and fetch your own, to brave the landscape's looks. Be noble ! and the nobleness that lies In other men, sleeping, but never dead, Will rise in majesty to meet thine own; Then wilt thou see it gleam in many eyes, Then will pure light around thy path be shed, And thou wilt nevermore be sad and lone. JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL. Speak upon a subject first taking an intellectual attitude; then increase the fervor and intensity and observe the tendency in the gravitation of pas- gl sion, to pass the weight from the rear foot to the forward foot. THE PROBLEM. Not from a vain or shallow thought His awful Jove young t'hidias brought, Never from lips of cunning, fell The thrilling Delphic oracle; Out from the heart of nature rolled The burdens of the Bible old ; The litanies of nations came, Like the volcano's tongue of flame, Up from the burning core below, The canticles of love and woe ; The hand that rounded Peter's dome, And groined the aisles of Christian Rome, Wrought in a sad sincerity; Himself from God he could not free; He builded better than he knew; The conscious stone to beauty grew. Knowest thou what wove yon woodbird's nest Of leaves, and feathers from her breast? Or how the fish outbuilt her shell, Painting with morn each annual cell? Or how the sacred pine-tree adds To her old leaves new myriads? Such and so grew these holy piles, Whilst love and terror laid the tiles. Earth proudly wears the Parthenon As the best gem upon her zone ; And morning opes with haste her lids, To gaze upon the Pyramids; O'er England's abbeys bends the sky, As on its friends, with kindred eye ; VOICE AND BODY Q For out of thought's interior sphere, These wonders rose to upper air ; And nature gladly gave them place, Adopted them into her race, And granted them an equal date With Andes and with Ararat. These temples grew as grows the grass; Art might obey, but not surpass. The passive Master lent his hand To the vast soul that o'er him planned; And the same power that reared the shrine Bestrode the tribes that knelt within. Ever the fiery Pentecost Girds with one flame the countless host, Trances the heart through chanting choirs, And through the priest the mind inspires. The word unto the prophet spoken Was writ on tables yet unbroken; The word by seers or sibyls told, In groves of oak, or fanes of gold, Still floats upon the morning wind, Still whispers to the willing mind. One accent of the Holy Ghost The heedless world hath never lost. (Eighteen lines omitted.) EMERSON. Speak with such earnestness and intensity thai the whole body relaxes and changes its texture with feeling. And did those feet in ancient time Walk upon England's mountain green? And was the holy Lamb of God On England's pleasant pastures seen? And did the countenance divine Shine forth upon our clouded hills? And was Jerusalem builded here Among these dark Satanic mills? Bring me my bow of burning gold ! Bring me my arrows of desire ! Bring me my spear; O clouds, unfold I Bring me my chariot of fire I I will not cease from mental fight, Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand, Till we have built Jerusalem In England's green and pleasant land. WILLIAM BLAKR, g6 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION He that has light within his own clear breast, May sit in darkness and enjoy bright day ; But he that hides a dark soul and foul thoughts, Benighted walks under the mid-day sun. JOHN MILTON, They gave their lives for their country, and gained for them- selves a glory that can never fade, a tomb that shall stand as a mark forever c I do not meaii that in which their bodies lie, but in which their renown lives after them, to be remembered forever on every occasion of speech or action which calls it to mind. For the whole earth is the grave and monument of heroes. It is not the mere graving upon marble in their native land which sets forth their deeds; but even in lands where they were strangers there lives an unwritten record in every heart felt, though never embodied. " Funeral Oration." PERICLES. THE PRIMARY ACTIONS OF THE BODY are expan- sion or activity of the extensor muscles expressive of life or the spontaneous exuberance of force, and con- traction or action of the flexor muscles caused by con- trol, regulation, suppression, resolution, or struggle. For normal expression, through the body or voice, the sympathetic expansion of the body must always transcend the contraction. The diffusion of emotion implies a certain sympa- thetic elevation of the whole body, but especially the harmonious expansion of the torso, manifest prima- rily at the chest. The domination of emotion over the body causes not only expansion, but elevation, centrality, or the passing of the weight of the body to one foot; and an extreme emotion causes gravitation, or the passing of the weight to the forward foot. vm. LOGICAL RELATIONS OF IDEAS. Thus far attention has been called to the individual impression. This causes pause, touch, and change of pitch. The specific impression also establishes the responses or conditions of the organism. It is now necessary to study thought or the relations of ideas or impressions to each other. The right rela- tion or sequence of ideas is called method, and is deter- mined by a kind of rational or logical insight. As the mind in thinking passes from one idea to another, in addition to other actions enumerated, we find that certain ideas receive paramount degrees of attention. A whole series may be related to some one idea. One centre of attention is made unusually salient and others are subordinated to this. Successive ideas vary in importance, and whatever the mind conceives to be of most value the voice introduces with greater salience or suggests by greater prominence. The suggestion, through the voice, of the relative value of ideas causes a modulation of inflexions and inter- vals which may be called form, but the usual name applied to it is emphasis. Emphasis is the accentua- tion or increase of some one modulation for the pur- pose of making some one idea more prominent. It directly expresses the logical method of the mind. i. RELATIVE VALUE OF IDEAS. Possibly the sim- plest way to recognize and to develop the logical actions of the mind and the vocal form expressing them, is to speak or read some passage and introduce certain important ideas or unfamiliar objects as we introduce people. An important idea is so presented by the reader as to carry the mind of the listener in the right 97 Q8 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION direction. One word is usually given a long inflexion from a higher pitch, and is thus held up like a sign- board where many roads meet to indicate the particular one that is to be taken. This word or phrase is made salient in proportion to the danger at such a point of the mind wandering in the wrong direction, or in accordance with the speaker's desire to make his thought clear and forcible. Introduce forcibly and pointedly the successive centres of attention in the following lines from Whittier's "Barefoot Boy." for boyhood's time of June, Crowding years in one brief moon. . . 1 was rich in flowers and trees, Humming-birds and honey-bees ; For my sport the squirrel played; Plied the snouted mole his spade; For my taste the blackberry cone Purpled over hedge and stone; Laughed the brook for my delight Through the day and through the night, Whispering at the garden wall, Talked with me from fall to fall; Mine the sand-rimmed pickerel pond; Mine the walnut slopes beyond ; Mine, on bending orchard trees, Apples of Hesperides 1 WHITTIER. Notice that the mind uses the voice to introduce as objects of interest " flowers and trees," " humming- birds and honey-bees," " squirrel," " mole," the " black- berry," " brook," " apples," " world." There is less saliency upon " sport " than " squirrel," upon " spade " than "mole." "Brook" is made salient: "day and night," " garden wall," " fall to fall " are centres of attention but less important than " brook," which they describe. " Pickerel " is more important than "pond," " walnut " than " slopes," " apples " than " trees >y or " Hesperides." LOGICAL RELATIONS OF IDEAS 99 The presence of another mind, the endeavor to make ideas clear and forcible may be regarded as the chief cause of this relative valuation, and yet if we observe any one of Shakespeare's soliloquies, we find that though the person is thinking for himself and not dominating the attention of anyone else, the mental action is accurately interpreted by Shakespeare. Render Bassanio's words over the caskets, noting the salient introduction of each central idea and new _ . topic. So may the outward shows be least themselves : The world is still deceived with ornament. In law, what plea so tainted and corrupt, But, being seasoned with a gracious voice, Obscures the show of evil? In religion, What damned error, but some sober brow Will bless it, and approve it with a text, Hiding the grossness with fair ornament? There is no vice so simple, but assumes Some mark of virtue on its outward parts. How many cowards, whose hearts are all as false As stairs of sand, wear yet upon their chins The beards of Hercules and frowning Mars ; Who, inward search'd, have livers white as milk! Look on beauty, And you shall see 'tis purchased by the weight; Which therein works a miracle in nature, Making them lightest that wear most of it; So are those crisp'd and snaky golden locks, Which make such wanton gambols with the wind, Upon supposed fairness, often known To be the dowry of a second head, The skull that bred them in the sepulchre. Thus ornament is but the guiled shore To a most dangerous sea; the beauteous scarf Veiling an Indian beauty ; in a word The seeming truth which cunning times put on To entrap the wisest. From " Merchant of Venice." SHAKESPEARE. The mind rests with increased attention upon certain ideas. " Outward shows " are not really " themselves.'* They do not indicate a real truth. As illustrations, the IOO FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION poet touches upon " law " and " religion " and other topics which are made salient because the mind turns in a new direction. Emphasis is not merely the domination of the atten- tion of others. It is the revelation of the centres of the mind's thinking and accentuates our method of thinking in proportion to our earnestness in conveying a truth to others ; it suggests also the degree of attention and seri- ousness in our own thinking. In conversation, emphasis is so natural that even little children emphasize properly in expressing their wishes; yet in reading it is frequently absent. This is because the reader does not genuinely think his ideas before speaking them. To illustrate how carelessly we read passages, take some simple and most familiar hymn and note R _ how mechanically the ideas follow each other. BETHEL. Nearer, my God, to thee, nearer to thee I E'en though it be a cross that raiseth me; still all my song shall be, nearer, my God, to thee, nearer to thee. Though, like the wanderer, the sun gone down, darkness be over me, my rest a stone ; yet in my dreams I'd be nearer, my God, to thee, nearer to thee. There let the way appear steps unto heaven; all that thou sendest me in mercy given; angels to beckon me nearer, my God, to thee, nearer to thee. Then with my waking thoughts, bright with thy praise, out of my stony griefs Bethel I'll raise ; so by my woes to be nearer, my God, to thee, nearer to thee. Or, if on joyful wing cleaving the sky, sun, moon, and stars forgot, upward I fly; still all my song shall be, nearer, my God, to thee, nearer to thee. ADAMS. In this hymn the word " cross " is fundamental to the first stanza. All other centres of attention are sub- ordinated to this, or the thought of the poem is not intro- duced either to our own attention or to that of others. In the second stanza, " wanderer " must be so saliently LOGICAL RELATIONS OF IDEAS IOI given as to suggest Jacob ; " sun," " darkness," " stone," " dreams " are centres of attention, brought in to com- plete the picture of Jacob at Bethel. The word, " heaven," reminds us of his dream and is strongly emphatic, as is also " mercy," because interpreting not only Jacob's life but our own. " Angels " is strongly emphatic and a figurative interpretation of " mercy." In the fourth stanza the word " Bethel " is the first word of importance, but " woes " is also strongly emphatic. Through all these stanzas, " nearer " is of course emphasized in the first, subordinated in the second and third, but emphasized anew in the fourth on account of its interpretation. In the last stanza the word " joyful " is strongly emphatic because antithetic to " cross " and " woes," and in fact it introduces a thought antithetic to all the other stanzas. "Sky," "sun," "moon," " stars " are also accentuated. The word " all " is given to include both the " woes " and " joys." Such familiar poems should be carefully studied as prose to note not only the length of line and rhyme but the deep thought of the passage and the necessity of revealing this by the voice. Though this need not in any way interfere with metre, it must, in a sense, greatly subordinate such accidental elements as rhyme or length of line. Bassanio. Sweet Portia, If you did know to whom I gave the ring, If you did know for whom I gave the ring, And would conceive for what I gave the ring, And how unwillingly I left the ring, When naught would be accepted but the ring, You would abate the strength of your displeasure. Portia. If you had known the virtue of the ring, Or half her worthiness that gave the ring, Or your own honor to contain the ring, You would not then have parted with the ring. Merchant of Venice." Act V. SHAKESPEARE. IO2 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION The relative value of ideas causes, of course, a cor- responding relative value of words. Emphasis cannot be explained by grammar. Some declare that all emphasis should be upon nouns, but a little study will show that a logical synonym is often a phrase or clause. Emphasize each centre of attention in the preced- ftg ing dialogue between Portia and Bassanio. In the first two lines, as Bassanio's mind is centred on the young lawyer, he emphasizes " whom " which stands for the little lawyer, Portia herself, though he failed to recognize her. The centre of attention in the fourth line is " what " ; in the fifth " unwillingly," in the sixth "accepted" or "but;" in Portia's answer, it is " virtue," " gave " and " honor." In the third line of Bassanio's speech, " for " turns the attention to Antonio. It may be thought that here the repetition of the same words causes this emphasis; but this is not so, because in the next line " would conceive " might be, " if you did know," without altering the sense. In fact, this repetition of the identical words forcibly reveals the fact that in natural conversation whole clauses and phrases are often purely synonymous from the logical point of view. The study of the logical actions of the mind reveals the fundamental import- ance of certain words and the subordinate value of others. A common fault in reading and speaking is the emphasizing of too many words. As a rule, five- sixths, if not nine-tenths of the words in the most effec- tive conversation are subordinate. They are assumed. Only an idea here and there is asserted as necessary to carry the mind forward. In general, those words are emphatic which express ideas additional to what has been said, and suggest some progressive transition of the thought. Words containing nothing new, and simply brought in as a LOGICAL RELATIONS OF IDEAS 103 pronominal means of carrying on the thought, are subordinated. In contrast to those which are acci- dental or synonymous, and accordingly subordinate, words standing for ideas necessary to the sense are emphatic. Think out a subject carefully, and place upon a small card an outline of this, giving a few of the most impor- tant words. Then, after speaking upon the topic, _ compare what you said with the outline and note whether you had insight into those points which were fundamental to the whole speech. Did you emphasize the important words that you had placed upon your card? Give the fundamental facts of some journey, some beautiful view, some picture, or the argument of fi _ some novel or play, and study critically your insight into those which are most important, and your power to give saliency to them. 2. CENTRALITY OF IDEAS. In all well written para- graphs some one clause or word serves as the centre whence all the others radiate. The same is true of any good story or well written book. As a good piece of music has many variations around one central theme, so one central idea can be found which may be stated in a few words. In the vocal interpretation of any passage of good literature we find not only successive centres of attention but that one idea or word will be found to be most important, and indicate the fundamental point or thought of the whole passage. In the following poem by Longfellow, observe that " arrow" is the key word of the first stanza and " song " of the second. In the last one, " oak " and fiq " heart of a friend " are both emphatic, but as the reference to the arrow is figurative, the word " friend " is given greater saliency as being the climax of the poem. IO4 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION Read the poem giving such saliency to central ideas as will show the organic unity of the whole. ARROW AND SONG. I shot an arrow into the air, It fell to earth, I know not where; For, so swiftly it flew, the sight Could not follow it in its flight. I breathed a song into the air, It fell to earth, I know not where; For who has sight so keen and strong That it can follow the flight of song? Long, long afterward, in an oak I found the arrow, still unbroke; And the song from beginning to end I found again in the heart of a friend. LONGFELLOW. What points in the following poem are climactic? Attention centres upon " day," " wave," and " star," and these words are emphatic, but the word _ Q " soul " is of far more importance than these, since it introduces the real thought of which the others are but illustrations. Note the climactic force and emphasis of " gladness." The gloomiest day hath gleams of light; The darkest wave hath white foam near iti And twinkles through the cloudiest night Some solitary star to cheer it. The gloomiest soul is not all gloom, The saddest heart is not all sadness; And sweetly o'er the darkest gloom There shines some lingering beam of gladness. PREJUDICE. Prejudice? What wrongs, what injuries, what mischiefs, what lamentable consequences, have resulted at all times from nothing but this perversity of the intellect! Of all the ob- stacles to the advancement of truth and human progress, in every department in science, in art, in government, and in religion in all ages and climes, not one on the list is more formidable, more difficult to overcome and subdue, than this horrible distortion of the moral as well as intellectual faculties. It is a host of evils within itself. LOGICAL RELATIONS OF IDEAS 105 I could enjoin no greater duty upon my countrymen now North and South than the exercise of that degree of forbear- ance which would enable them to conquer their prejudices. One of the highest exhibitions of the moral sublime the world ever witnessed was that of Daniel Webster, when, in an open barouche in the streets of Boston, he proclaimed in substance, to a vast assembly of his constituents unwilling hearers that " they had conquered an uncongenial clime; they had con- quered a sterile soil; they had conquered the winds and currents of the ocean ; they had conquered most of the elements of nature ; but they must yet learn to conquer their prejudices! " I know of no more fitting incident or scene in the life of that wonderful man, for perpetuating the memory of the true great- ness of his character, on canvas or in marble, than a represen- tation of him as he then and there stood and spoke. It was an exhibition of moral grandeur surpassing that of Aristides when he said, " O Athenians, what Themistocles recommends would be greatly to your interest, but it would be unjust." ALEXANDER H. STEPHENS. LIGHT. The night has a thousand eyes, And the day but one, Yet the light of the bright world dies With the dying sun. The mind has a thousand eyes, And the heart but one, Yet the light of a whole life dies When love is done. FRANCIS W. P.OURDILLON IF ALL THE SKIES. If all the skies were sunshine, Our faces would be fain To feel once more upon them, The cooling splash of rain. If all the world were music, Our hearts would often long For one sweet strain of silence To break the endless song. If life were always merry, Our souls would seek relief And rest from merry laughter In the quiet arms of grief. VAN DYKfc IO6 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION The summer brook flows in the bed The winter torrent tore asunder ; The skylark's gentle wings are spread Where walk the lightning and the thunder; And thus you'll find the sternest soul The gayest tenderness concealing, And minds, that seem to mock control, Are ordered by some fairy feeling. THOMAS DAVTS. Speak a strong paragraph upon some subject, and be careful to make some word or words so salient and others so subordinate as to give unity to the Q1 whole paragraph. Give the argument of some play or book in as few words as possible, and criticize your insight into the points which are fundamental and most important. 3. ANTITHESIS. In all earnest thinking there is a ten- dency to place one idea over against another. Contrast is " the soul of oratory." The force of antithesis may be realized by taking some simple sentence and giving each word successively as the centre of attention. Note, for example, how many ideas may be suggested to a hearer's mind by such a rendering of the sentence, " He never said that." While emphasis upon " he " indicates that somebody else might have said it, empha- sis upon " never " indicates a strong denial of the asser- tion. Emphasis upon " said " may be simply a polite denial; it is the natural centre, but emphasis with a long inflexion may imply that he wrote it. A circumflex inflexion may imply that he looked it. Emphasis upon " that " may imply that he said something, but that it has not been correctly stated. These examples show that there is a natural centre in each clause or sentence, but that antithesis may totally change this. We find also that there are two kinds of antithesis. LOGICAL RELATIONS OF IDEAS io"J First, where contrast is expressed, and second, where it is implied. The latter calls for the strongest degree of emphasis. Give the preceding antitheses implied to suggest something different in each case. In the following passage give the antitheses which are directly expressed. Have little care that Life is brief, And less that Art is long. Success is in the silences Though fame is in the song. "Envoy." BLISS CARMAN. The student should study the writings of great authors and orators, noting meanwhile that one of the important elements of clearness and force is an- tithesis, and render passages accentuating the antithet- ical elements of vocal expression. Two went to pray? O, rather say, One to brag, the other to pray; One stands up close and treads on high, Where the other dares not lift his eye; One near to God's altar trod, The other to the altar's God. "Two Went up to the Temple to Pray." RICHARD CRASHAW Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as the rest of men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week; I give tithes of all that I get. But the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote his breast, saying, God, be thou merciful to me a sinner i I say unto you, This man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be humbled; but he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. I died for beauty, but was scarce adjusted in the tomb, When one who died for truth was lain in an adjoining room. He questioned, softly, why I failed? " For beauty," I replied. " And I for truth the two are one ; we brethren are ; " he said. And so as kinsmen met at night, we talked between the rooms, Until the moss had reached our lips, and covered up our names. EMILY DICKINSON 108 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION Students should study thoughtfully and render pass- ages which are considered the best, such as Q . the speech on mercy which Shakespeare puts into the mouth of Portia. The quality of mercy is not strain 'd ; It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven Upon the place beneath ; it is twice bless'd; It blesseth him that gives, and him that takes: 'T is mightiest in the mightiest; it becomes The throned monarch better than his crown; His sceptre shows the force of temporal power, The attribute to awe and majesty, Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings: But mercy is above this sceptred sway; It is enthroned in the hearts of kings : It is an attribute of God himself: And earthly power doth then show likest God's, When mercy seasons justice. Therefore, Jew, Though justice be thy plea, consider this, That in the course of justice, none of us Should see salvation ; we do pray for mercy ; And that same prayer doth teach us all to render The deeds of mercy. "Merchant of Venice." Act IV. SHAKESPEARE. Portia has said to the Court, " Then must the Jew be merciful," to which Shylock replies : " On what com- pulsion must I ? " Portia accordingly accentuates the word " strain'd " with something of a circumflex inflex- ion indicating her surprise; then in direct antithesis, " rain " and possibly "heaven." " Twice " means that it is doubly blest. " Takes " is implied in the acceptance of mercy. Her special point is to emphasize " gives," a fact often overlooked. The first " mightiest " is implied ; the second is emphatic, as introducing a new point. " Monarch " is emphatic because a specific example of " mightiest " ; " sceptre " also is given a ris- ing inflexion as practically the same as " crown." The word " temporal " has a strong falling inflexion as anti- thetic to mercy which is spiritual. " Awe," " majesty," " dread," and " fear " are all emphatic because particu- LOGICAL RELATIONS OF IDEAS 1 09 lars explaining the idea of " crown." " Kings " must not be emphatic because it is only a synonym of " mon- arch " ; it must be completely subordinated. " Mercy " is emphasized because antithetic to " crown " and " sceptre." Then the word " heart " is strongly empha- tic because this shows the real difference between " crown " and " mercy ; " it is antithetic to " temporal " and the characteristics of the crown. The word " God " is strongly emphatic because the climax of the emphasis of the spiritual nature of mercy. " Earthly " is empha- tic because antithetical to " God," and carries on or sustains the antithesis. " Likest " and " seasons " keep up the antithesis for the same reason. Portia's aim is to show the real nature of mercy, and this general aim is the chief cause of the centering of the attention. " Be " puts her argument above the justice or injustice of his plea. " Mercy " is strongly emphatic because of its direct antithesis to " justice." CHARLES AND HIS DEFENDERS. The advocates of Charles, like the advocates of other male- factors against whom overwhelming evidence is produced, generally decline all controversy about the facts, and content themselves with calling testimony to character. He had so many private virtues 1 And had James the Second no private virtues? Was Oliver Cromwell, his bitterest enemies themselves being judges, destitute of private virtues? And what, after all, are the virtues ascribed to Charles? A religious zeal, not more sincere than that of his son, and fully as weak and narrow- minded, and a few of the ordinary household decencies which half the tombstones in England claim for those who lie beneath them. A good father! A good husband I Ample apologies indeed for fifteen years of persecution, tyranny and falsehood ! We charge him with having broken his coronation oath ; and we are told that he kept his marriage vow! We accuse him of having given up his people to the merciless inflictions of the most hot-headed and hard-hearted of prelates; and the defence is, that he took his little son on his knee and kissed him ! We censure him for having violated the articles of the Petition of Right, after having, for good and valuable consideration, promised to observe them; and we are informed that he was accustomed HO FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION to hear prayers at six o'clock in the morning! It is to such considerations as these, together with his Vandyke dress, his handsome face, and his peaked beard, that he owes, we verily believe, most of his popularity with the present generation. From the " Essay on Milton." MACAULAY. I lived first in a little house, and lived there very well, I thought the world was small and round, and made of pale blue shell. I lived next in a little nest, nor needed any other, I thought the world was made of straw, and brooded to my mother. One day I fluttered from the nest to see what I could find. I said: " The world is made of leaves, I have been very blind." At length I flew beyond the tree, quite fit for grown up labors, I don't know how the world is made, and neither do my neighbors 1 " Bird Thoughts." AUTHOR NOT KNOWN. Speak upon some subject and give the greatest pos- sible number of contrasts or antitheses, accentuat- q _ ing these as much as possible with the voice, and observe the importance of antitheses in speaking. Take some important subject upon which men are divided, and arrange the strongest points and -_ arguments on each side. Debate with some friend and observe whether you emphasize the specific points or reasons for your -_ convictions. METHOD is the arrangement of successive ideas or impressions into the proper order according to their relative value in relation to a purpose. The expression of logical insight into the relative values of successive ideas and words through the voice has usually been called EMPHASIS. CENTRALIZATION is the expressing of the unity of a paragraph by accentuation of the central point, and the bringing of the other ideas into subordination to this. SUBORDINATION is the realizing of an idea or ideas as secondary to a central one, and the expression of this by the modulations of the voice, especially by the length and direction of inflexions and by changes in pitch. IX. MODES OF EMPHASIS. How does the voice, in uttering words, show their relative value, or indicate the central idea upon which the meaning of a sentence or paragraph depends? In what way does it exhibit various degrees of earnestness? That the voice 'an do all this is easily recognized. Emphasis has been too often regarded as the first, if not the only element in delivery. Yet the nature of empha- sis, its mental cause, the principles governing it, and especially the methods by which the voice suggests centrality of meaning, have received little attention. i. INFLEXION AND FORM. Study of conversation reveals the fact that the voice indicates the centre of attention chiefly by length of inflexion. The rising or the falling inflexions upon the important words are much longer than the inflexions upon the unimportant ones. In emphasis by the falling inflexion, which is the most important, there is a change also in direction of inflexion at the emphatic word. For example, "I met your friend last night." The words before " friend " have short rising inflexions, but there is a long fall from a higher pitch upon " friend," as " friend " is the emphatic word, and all the words following it have a short fall on a lower pitch ; or the reverse if " friend " has an emphatic rise. An emphatic rising inflexion begins on a lower pitch ; a long, emphatic falling inflexion, on a higher one. The central falling or rising inflexion can be greatly lengthened according to the degree of emphasis, but that there should be long inflexions upon the emphatic words is an essential element of all naturalness. Inflexion, as has been shown, discharges more intel- lectual functions than any other voice modulation, and in 112 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION as emphasis is most commonly the manifestation of the intellectual centres of attention, it is natural that the lengthening of inflexion on the important word should form the leading method. Whenever it is desired to make the meaning clearer, more forcible or pointed, cultivated persons qft accentuate the form that is they lengthen and make more definite the chief inflexions and simul- taneously extend the interval. One of the illusions is, that the present hour is not the criti- cal, decisive hour. Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year. No man has learned anything rightly, until he knows that every day is Doomsday. EMERSON. The last clause of the above, " every day is Dooms- day," may be practised to illustrate this conversational form. " Every day " and " is " have each a short rise on a lower pitch. " Dooms " has a long falling inflex- ion from a higher pitch, while the last " day " has a short fall on a lower pitch. Give this colloquially or indifferently and then with various degrees of empha- sis, by prolonging the inflexions and intervals ~ q or extending the vocal form and range but with- out increasing loudness. Such a method accentuates the meaning and suggests at the same time greater dignity of character. Archbishop. The king is full of grace and fair regard. . . . Hear him but reason in divinity, And all-admiring with an inward wish You would desire the king were made a prelate: Hear him debate of commonwealth affairs, You would say it hath been all in all his study: List his discourse of war, and you shall hear A fearful battle render 'd you in music: Turn him to any cause of policy, The Gordian knot of it he will unloose, Familiar as his garter: . . . Which is wonder how his grace should glean it, Since his addiction was to courses vain, His companies unlettered, rude and shallow, MODES OF EMPHASIS II J His hours filled up with riots, banquets, sports, And never noted in him any study, Any retirement, any sequestration From open haunts and popularity. " Henry V." Act I. Scene I. SHAKESPEARE. 2. CHANGE OF KEY AND RANGE. Intervals between words and phrases are necessarily associated with inflex- ions, and where the length of each interval corresponds usually with the length of the inflexion upon the follow- ing word have been fully discussed. Emphatic intervals are longer changes in pitch before and after the em- phatic falling inflexion. In addition there are occasionally found more ex- treme changes in pitch or key. These express great changes in situation and feeling. Such unusual changes are found also between paragraphs and the main divisions of a speech, poem, or story. Any extreme change in thought, feeling, or situation tends, in digni- fied self-control, to cause an unusual change of pitch. The extent of the variation is in proportion to the degree of change in thought and feeling, its definite- ness, and the control over it. Observe in rendering these lines the extreme changes in expr ssion and especially the variations of pitch between them. " father I I see a gleaming light; O say, what may it be? " But the father answered never a word, a frozen corpse was he. " Wreck of the Hesperus.' 1 LONGFELLOW. The extent of the interval is proportional to the clearness and force of the emphasis, the degree of subordination, and the self-command of the speaker. Change of pitch is the chief element in subordination. The placing of unemphatic words in the background is of great importance and requires earnest study. Em- phasis without subordination can hardly be dignified and noble and is one of the chief causes of unnaturalness in reading. 114 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION Read the following and carefully subordinate unimpor- tant words or clauses. Note especially xhe subordination of the third line. GUILIELMUS REX. The folk who lived in Shakespeare's day And saw that gentle figure pass By London Bridge, his frequent way They little knew what man he was. The pointed beard, the courteous mien, The equal port to high and low, All this they saw or might have seen But not the light behind the brow I The doublet's modest gray or brown, The slender sword-hilt's plain device, What sign had these for prince or clown? Few turned, or none, to scan him twice. Yet 't was the king of England's kings ! The rest with all their pomps and trains Are mouldered, half-remembered things 'T is he alone that lives and reigns I THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICK. One of the greatest faults to be avoided is a dropping downward upon the emphatic word, rather than using a rising interval. This always interferes with the length and saliency of falling inflexions. It is well, in the development of the union of inter- vals and inflexions, to practise an emphatic sentence accentuating its form. An interval may, of itself, be made a means of emphasis by giving successive clauses in entirely dif- ferent parts of the voice. This indicates unusual dis- crimination, excitement, and earnestness. Observe in some excited or eloquent passage, or great oration, the necessity of greatly extending the range of the voice. Perceive that not only are the pauses lengthened, the touches intensified, and the emphatic inflexions pro- longed, but that wide intervals are especially necessary MODES OF EMPHASIS 115 for greater subordination of unemphatic words, and even for parts of unemphatic clauses. Render the following extract, realizing its earn- estness and intensity. No man can accomplish that which benefits the ages and not suffer. Discoverers do not reap the fruit of what they discover. Reformers are pelted and beaten. Men who think in advance of their time are persecuted. They who lead the flock must fight the wolf. BEECHER. Inspiring auspices, this day, surround us and cheer us. It is the anniversary of the birth of Washington. We should know this, even if we had lost our calendars, for we should be reminded of it by the shouts of joy and gladness. The whole atmosphere is redolent of his name ; hills and forests, rocks and rivers, echo and re-echo his praises. All the good, whether learned, or unlearned, high or low, rich or poor, feel, this day, that there is one treasure common to them all, and that is the fame and character of Washington. They recount his deeds, ponder over his principles and teachings, and resolve to be more and more guided by them in the future. To the old and the young, to all born in the land, and to all whose love of liberty has brought them from foreign shores to make this the home of their adoption, the name of Washington is this day an exhilarating theme. Americans by birth are proud of his character, and exiles from foreign shores are eager to participate in admiration of him; and it is true that he is, this day, here, everywhere, all the world over, more an object of love and regard than on any day since his birth. WEBSTER. 3. RHYTHMIC EMPHASIS. Inflexion is the most in- tellectual or logical agent of delivery. Change of pitch expresses discriminative action of the mind. The combination of inflexion and change of pitch form the chief element in appealing to the thought of another mind, or in making a passage clear by accentuating its fundamental or central ideas. There may be distinguished, however, another method of emphasis, consisting in the greater prolongation of pause and the consequent increase of the touch. This is an accentuation of rhythm and may be termed Rhythmic Emphasis. Il6 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION Rhythmic emphasis implies great intensity of feeling. It suggests the movement of vivid impressions which are intensely felt. To increase the length of the inflexion and the con- versational form in rendering the following would make the lines coldly logical. Express the deep intensity and throb of passion by prolonging the pauses and increasing the vigor of the successive touches. Ride on, ride on, triumph antly, Thou glorious will, ride on! Faith's pilgrim sons behind thee take The road that thou hast gone. Ride on! ride on in majesty! In lowly pomp ride on to die. FREDERICK WILLIAM FABER. Emphasis by means of inflexion and intervals, or the extension of form, accentuates the logical relations of ideas. Rhythmic emphasis expresses the intense fervor and deep continuous flow of passion. Contrast the two methods by rendering the following passages. Which should have the most rhythm _ emphasis? Which needs most the emphasis of form and range? Which most needs both? In His will is our peace. DANTE. Though the enemy seem far away, though the wave be still and clear, the good warrior is ever on the watch, the faithful pilot sleeps not; even in peace and in calm he prepares his arms, trims his sail, ready to sustain the shock of battle, the fury of the storm. METASTASIO I go to prove my soul I I see my way as birds their trackless way. I shall arrive ! What time, what circuit first, I ask not ; but unless God send His hail Or blinding fireballs, sleet or stifling snow, In some time, His good time, I shall arrive; He guides me and the bird. In His good time. BROWNTNtt. MODES OF EMPHASIS 1 17 Speak to Him them, for He hears, and Spirit with Spirit can meet Closer is He than breathing, and nearer than hands and feet. TENNYSON. WILLIAM BLAKE. He came to the desert of London Town, Grey miles long; He wandered up and he wandered down, Singing a quiet song. He came to the desert of London Town, Mirk miles broad; He wandered up and he wandered down, Ever alone with God. There were thousands and thousands of human kind In that desert of brick and stone; But some were deaf and some were blind, And he was there alone. At length the good hour came ; he died As he had lived, alone ; He was not missed from the desert wide, Perhaps he was found at the Throne. THOMPSON. Speak upon some important subject and accentuate the rhythmic pulsation of the ideas. Speak upon the same subject or paraphrase the following, and emphasize by the extension of conversational form. THE LARCH AND THE OAK. " What is the use of thee, thou gnarled sapling? " said a young larch-tree to a young oak. " I grow three feet in a year, thou scarcely so many inches; I am straight and taper as a reed, thou straggling and twisted as a loosened withe.' 1 - "And ihy duration," answered the oak, "is some third part of a man's life and I am appointed to flourish for a thousand years. Thou art felled and sawed into paling, where thou rottest and art burned with a single summer ; of me are fashioned battle- ships, and I carry mariners and heroes into unknown seas." The richer a nature, the harder and slower its development. Two boys were once of a class in the Edinburgh grammar school. John ever trim, precise, and dux; Walter ever slovenly, con- fused and dolt. In due time, John became Baillie John of Hunter-Square, and Walter became Sir Walter Scott of the Universe. The quickest and completest of all vegetables is the cabbage. THOMAS CAKJ.YLE. Il8 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION 4. EMPHATIC PAUSE. While inflexional and rhythmic emphasis are different in meaning they are not antagon- istic, but may be united. The chief means of co-ordinat- ing them is the emphatic pause. This generally follows the emphatic word, though it may precede it, and may also occur in the very middle of a phrase. The emphatic pause differs from the regular pause preparatory to speech, which in alternation with touch constitutes the chief element of rhythm, in that it denotes the staying of attention. It seems to hold an idea a long time for the sake of its realization, not so much by the speaker as by the listener. The emphatic pause is considered the strongest method of emphasis. It does not interfere with inflexion or form. In fact, it extends the form, coming as it does, immed- iately after the emphatic inflexion in direct union with the emphatic intervals, and thus adds greatly to the intensity of the emphasis. It also accentuates rhythm ; in fact, it increases and brings into unity both form and rhythm. The highest and sublimest emphasis must be such a co-ordination of rhythm and form. Form gives intellectual clearness; rhythm expresses intensity; and the co-ordination of both expresses the greatest weight and dignity. The student should render some very emphatic passage and intensify both the thought and feeling, and increase both the rhythm and the range. Give the follow- ing lines from Lowell, observing carefully the ex- treme antithesis and intense earnestness of the passage. Observe that the word " heaven " needs stronger empha- sis than all that precedes. At this point the intensity must gradually increase, the rhythm become much slower, the inflexions longer, and both form and rhythm more stately and dignified. Observe the strong empha- sis upon " God," which makes all clear, with a long emphatic pause after it. The two lines where these MODES OF EMPHASIS IIQ words occur must be given sufficient weight to over- balance the preceding lines. At the devil's booth all things are sold, Each ounce of dross costs its ounce of gold; For a cap and bells our lives we pay, Bubbles we buy with a whole soul's tasking; Tis heaven alone that is given away, Tis only God may be had for the asking. 14 Vision of Sir Launfal." JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL Speak upon some important topic and emphasize the important points both by long inflexions and emphatic pauses. Speak upon some subject and emphasize in different ways, by loudness, by range and form, by variation and by co-ordination of all the ele- ments of expression. THE VICTORY. Strong Son of God, immortal Love, Whom we, that have not seen thy face, By faith, and faith alone, embrace, Believing where we cannot prove; Thine are these orbs of light and shade; Thou madest life in man and brute; Thou madest Death ; and lo, thy foot Is on the skull which thou hast made. Thou wilt not leave us in the dust: Thou madest man, he knows not why; He thinks he was not made to die; And thou hast made him: thou art just. Thou seemest human and divine, The highest, holiest manhood, thou; Our wills are ours, we know not how; Our wills are ours, to make them thine, Our little systems have their day; They have their day and cease to be; They are but broken lights of thee, And thou, O Lord, art more than they I3O FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION We have but faith: we cannot know; For knowledge is of things we see; And yet we trust it comes from thee, A beam in darkness: let it grow. Let knowledge grow from more to more, But more of reverence in us dwell ; That mind and soul according well, May make one music as before, But vaster. We are fools and slight; We mock thee when we do not fear: But help thy foolish ones to bear; Help thy vain worlds to bear thy light. Introduction to " In Memoriam." TENNYSON. Give strong passages with great earnestness, intensi- fying both the thought and the feeling and accentuat- ing all the natural modulations of the voice. Lengthen the inflexions upon the central words; use great changes of pitch ; lengthen the pauses ; increase the vigor of each successive touch ; and accentuate by form and rhythm. THE BACK-GROUND OF MYSTERY. Our conception of what is true may not be so large as the whole truth and not so fine as the highest truth, but it differs from the conception of truth in its fullest and most perfect form only as the taper differs from the sun. The difference is not in quality but in degree or extent. No man would hold a candle out of the window and say that it was sunrise; nevertheless, the fire in the candle and the fire in the sun are the same in their essential nature, though they are not the same in magnitude nor the same in power of heat or illumination. The same is true in regard to the divine nature. Here is the foundation, and the only foundation for understanding the teaching of God in man or human life. This, of course, is sub- ject to the perpetual correction which lies in a thought, and while we have the elementary faculties and feelings which define for us the divine nature, these same feelings and faculties exist in God in such variety, such scope, such combination, and they act after methods that so transcend their action when limited to an organization of the flesh that there is always a vast background of mystery beyond them. We know, as it were, the alphabet of the divine nature, but the library, the learning, the literature, of the divine nature we do not know. We strike the elemental MODES OF EMPHASIS 121 forms of the nature of God and gain some definite conception of what is mercy, of what is gentleness, what is love. When we have gained this conception we have only gained so large a con- ception as is possible to the limited operation of these elements in human conditions ; but God is free from such conditions. He stands above them and beyond them, and in Him these qualities take on form so large and so intense that after all, the background of every one of our thoughts in respect to the nature of God, and the divine moral government, is simply untraceable by human imagination or thought. " Background of Mystery." B EEC HER THE VANDALS. Down beyond the garden wall, They have cut down the maple-tree; But they who cut it cannot know The loss to you and me. They think to build themselves a house Where long our tree has stood, Our tree that was a house of leaves, Fairer than house of wood. Will they see the wondrous sights we saw, From their windows made of glass? The winged clouds, the marching sun, The shadow-ships that pass? We saw the Spring come up the land, The Autumn's flags flung; out; We felt the South Wind kLs our hair, And answered the West Wind's shout. Their house of wood will higher be Than our tree-house in the air; Yet they will not live so near the sky, Nor see what we saw there ! From Sr. Ntcholat. LUCY L CABLR HISTORY. First one cause and then another has interfered from the beginning of time with a correct and authentic chronicling of events and actions. Superstition, hero-worship, ignorance of the laws of probability, religious, political, or speculative prej- udice, one or other of these has tended from the beginning to give us distorted pictures. The most perfect English history which exists is to be found, in my opinion, in the historical plays of Shakespeare. In these plays, rich as they are in fancy and imagination, the main bearings of the national story are scrupulously adhered to, and, vhenever attainable, with verbal correctness. Shakespeare's 122 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION object was to exhibit as faithfully as he possibly could the exact character of the great actors in the national drama, the circum- stances which attended them, and the motives, internal and external, by which they were influenced. Shakespeare's attitude towards human life will become again attainable to us only when intelligent people can return to an agreement on first principles ; when the common sense of the wisest and best among us has superseded the theorizing of parties and factions; when the few but all-important truths of our moral condition, which can be certainly known, have become the exclusive rule of our judgments and actions. FROUDE. There is May in books forever; May will part from Spenser never ; May's in Milton, May's in Prior, May's in Chaucer, Thomson, Dyer; May's in all the Italian books : She has old and modern nooks, Where she sleeps with nymphs and elves, In happy places they call shelves, And will rise and dress your rooms With a drapery thick with blooms. Come, ye rains, then if ye will, May's at home, and with me still; But come rather, thou, good weather, And find us in the fields together. LEIGH HUNT. CONVERSATIONAL FORM is the method adopted in common speech of making salient the central idea and subordinating the secondary ideas. EMPHASIS OF FORM OR MELODY is intellectual and logical, and reveals the central ideas by modulations of inflexion and change of pitch. EMPHASIS BY PULSATIONS OR RHYTHM is caused by the increase of the vigor of the touches upon the successive centres of attention. THE EMPHATIC PAUSE is a period of silence usually introduced after the emphatic word, but occasionally before it, without interfering with the conversational form. It is the chief means of accentuating the inten- sity and force of passion expressed by rhythmic pulsa- tions, and the logical relation of successive impressions as revealed by conversational form. X, AGILITY OF VOICE. If the voice is to suggest the central idea in each phrase, and the relative value of ideas in the whole para- graph together with various degrees of emphasis, its normal range and greatest possible agility must be developed. The constant changes of pitch, the perpet- ual variation, not only in the direction, but in the length and the abruptness of inflexion, require a flexible voice. One of the worst faults in the use of the voice is mono- tony, and while this is primarily caused by a lack of definite discrimination between ideas and of genuine conviction, still, the voice is often rigid and unrespon- sive from other causes; and even though this inflexible condition may be caused by faulty thinking, yet with this fault corrected, the voice may not immediately respond, because there remain the effects of long habits, of years of constriction and misuse, so that especial work is needed to give the right agility to the voice itself. There are two kinds of flexibility: one of which refers to skill in giving all the expressive modulations. This is agility in execution. " Every art must be pre- ceded," said Goethe, " by a certain mechanical expert- ness." The voice must be trained to expertness in mak- ing an inflexion, in giving a decided touch, in changing the pitch, and in producing all the expressive modula- tions of the voice. This implies that the voice, as an organ, is itself normal and capable of great variability. The second form of flexibility is akin to this, but more organic. It is concerned in developing the flexibility of the voice itself, in removing constrictions, correcting its faults, especially rigidity or stiffness, and in preparing it for the production of the modulations. The first kind 124 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION of flexibility is like learning to play on a piano ; the second is analogous to the tuning of the instrument itself. While these must be distinguished from each other, still they are acquired more or less together, and fre- quently the best exercise for developing the organic agil- ity of the voice is the mastery of some such technical modulation as touch or inflexion. The training of the voice must necessarily be connected with the mastery of its expressive modulations. Where a voice, however, is abnormal, constricted, and muscular, certain funda- mental training is needful before technical modulations can be improved. i. THE TRAINING OF THE EAR. Skill in the use of the voice demands a good ear. The ear must be trained to detect quickly every variation. Speakers with poor inflexions and little change of pitch, will be found in nearly every instance to have dull ears. Many think that a good ear is born with one and can- not be developed. This is a mistake. Every sense can be improved by education, and the sense of hearing is possibly more capable of education than any other. A few simple exercises, a little persevering practice, will direct the mind so that it will use the ear to detect the slightest change in pitch or other voice modulation. The training, of course, is a mental one ; the ear may be all right, but since attention has not been trained to use the auditory nerve, the mind may be unaware of changes in the modulations of the voice. Exercises are needed to call forth attention through the ear. Make a long mark, gradually sloping upward, across a blackboard or sheet of paper, repre- senting a rising inflexion. Begin then at the upper portion of the board and slope gradually down- ward in opposition to the other mark. The student should follow the marks with his voice, first giving a long, slow rise, and in contrast, a long, slow falling AGILITY OK VO1CK 125 inflexion. The poorest ear may be led in this way to dis- tinguish between a rising and a falling inflexion. The inflexions should be made gradually shorter and more abrupt in order to drill the ear in detecting the slightest change. Other marks indicating different degrees of length, abruptness or straightness of inflexion or even change of pitch can also be used. As the next step, let the teacher give a great variety of inflexions and different pitches, and let the student instantly repeat them. As a third step the student may mark upon slips of paper various changes in the inflexions and intervals of his own voice and those of others. This exercise may be made extremely difficult or very easy. It should be adapted to the advancement of the student, but should constantly be made more difficult, as progress will gen- erally be rapid. Another step is through music and singing, or exer- cises with a musical instrument. A good ear, however, in song, does not always imply a good ear in speech. The ear needs to be trained for both speech and song. Can you render a poem or listen to someone else giving it and recognize at the same time the ** + chief changes made by the voice? A LITTLE PARABLE. I made the cross myself, whose weight Was later laid on me. This thought is torture as I toil Up life's steep Calvary. To think mine own hands drove the nails 1 I sang a merry song, And chose the heaviest wood I had To build it firm and strong. If I had guessed if I had dreamed Its weight was meant for me, I should have made a lighter cross To bear up Calvary I ANNE REEVE ALDRICH 126 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION It is strange that education of the senses, which should be one of the first steps in the education of the child, is so often overlooked, especially the training of the ear. A lack of ear causes a great loss of pleasure to many people. No one who perseveres need have a poor ear. An animal without an ear is voiceless. Deaf mutes often have beautiful tones ; it is lack of ear that prevents the inflexional and other modulations of their voices. Ear training should never be regarded as drudgery, or something aside from the development of expression. It may be made a pleasure. 2. INTERVALLIC AGILITY. The first thing to secure is agility in change of pitch. Intervals are definite and fixed in song and music. They are free in speech, yet no less wide. Intervallic agility in speech is dependent upon a certain mental flexibility. Vividly picture indi- vidual ideas and discriminate decidedly in passing from one to another, and the intervals will at once increase in number and grow wider in extent. Practise simple lyrics separating each idea and phrase as far from the preceding as possible. This will not decrease, but rather increase the nat- uralness; inflexions may be very long, and changes of pitch very wide yet not chaotic. What ho, my jovial mates ! come on! we'll frolic it Like fairies frisking in the merry moonshine ! SCOTT. Jog on, jog on, the foot-path way And merrily hent the stile-a ; A merry heart goes all the day, Your sad tires in a mile-a. * Wintwr'z Tale " It was a lover and his lass, With a hey and a ho, and a hey-nonino! That o'er the green cornfield did pass In the spring-time, the only pretty ring time, When birds do sing hey-ding-a-ding ; Sweet lovers love the spring. SHAKESPEARE AGILITY OF VOICE Bow dear to this heart are the scenes of my childhood, When fond recollection presents them to view 1 The orchard, the meadow, the deep-tangled wildwood, And every loved spot that my infancy knew; The wide-spreading pond, and the mill which stood foy it, The bridge, and the rock where the cataract ieljj The cot of my father, the dairy-house nigh it, And e'en the rude bucket which hung in the well. The old oaken bucket, the iron-bound bucket, The moss-covered bucket which hung in the well. ^OJd Oaken Bucket." WOODWORTH. There's one great bunch of stars in heaven That shines so sturdily, Where good Saint Peter's sinewy hand Holds up the dull gold-wroughten key. And also there's a little star So white, a virgin's it must be Perhaps the lamp my love in heaven Hangs out to light the way for me. THEOPHILE MARZIALS. 3. INFLEXIONAL AGILITY. An inflexion is a concrete interval, that is, a change of pitch during the emission of a vowel. The various modulations of inflexion and their meaning have already been explained. The best exercise for the development of agility in inflexion is the practice of a great variety of passages, accentuating both intervals and inflexions, endeavoring especially to make the latter as long and as easy as pos- sible. The practice of inflexions as a means of estab- lishing the primary conditions of voice is very essential, No amount of voice exercise in singing will improve inflexions. Inflexion is never found in song. It is peculiar to speech, in fact the most fundamental char- acteristic of speech as distinguished from song, and so- called " unnaturalness " will nearly always be found to be a fault of inflexion. There are many forms of weakness indicated by inflex- ions, such as minor inflexions, caused by lack of courage, lack of support and freedom. 128 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION Intervallic and inflexional agility should be developed together. They are always found together in speech, and tb* chief exercises should be in connection with vocal expression or the rendering of important, though short passages of literature. Practise vowels accentuating the fundamental con- ditions with the greatest possible variety of in- flexions and all possible pitches with all degrees of length and abruptness, definitely rising and falling, but as straight as possible. To develop inflexional agility, arrange a list of very short extracts in great variety and practise these with the primary tone conditions. Make every inflexion as definite and straight as possible. What right have you, passer by the way, to call any flower a weed? Do you know its merits? its virtues? its healing qualities? Because a thing is common, shall you despise it? If so, you might despise the sunshine for the same reason. " Halt ! " the dust-brown ranks stood fast ; " Fire 1 out blazed the rifle-blast. WHITTIER. Where there is love in the heart there are rainbows in the eyes which cover every black cloud with gorgeous hues. BEECHER Who is it will not dare himself to trust? Who is it hath not strength to stand alone? Who is it thwarts and bilks the inward must? He and his works, like sand, from earth are blown. LOWELL. What a man is irresistibly urged to say, helps him and us. In explaining his thought to others, he explains it to himself; but when he opens it for show, it corrupts him. " Essay on Behavior." EMERSON Hence 1 home, you idle creatures 1 get you home ! Truth is always congruous, and agrees with itself; every truth in the universe agrees with every other truth in the uni- verse; whereas falsehoods not only disagree with truth but usually quarrel among themselves. DANIEL WEBSTER AGILITY OF VOICE 129 If ye are brutes, then stand here like fat oxen waiting for the butcher's knife ; if ye are men, follow me ! strike down yon sentinel, and gain the mountain-passes, and there do bloody work as did your sires at old Thermopylae! We are awkward for want of thought. The inspiration is canty, and does not arrive at the extremities. EMERSON Brutus. Go to ; you are not Cassius. Cassius. I am. Brutus. I say you are not. Cassius. Urge me no more, I shall forget myself, Have mind upon your health, tempt me no further. Brutus. Away, slight man I Cassius. Is't possible? Brutus. Hear me, for I will speak. Must I give way and room to your rash choler? Shall I be frighted when a madman stares? . . . Cassius. When Caesar liv'd he durst not thus have mov'd me. Brutus. Peace, peace 1 you durst not so have tempted him. Cassius. I durst not? Brutus. No. Cassius. What I durst not tempt him? Brutus. For your life you durst not. " Julius Czsar." SHAKESPEARE. THE CONVENTION OF FRANCE, 1789. I hear much said of patriotism, appeals to patriotism, trans- ports of patriotism. Gentlemen, why prostitute this noble word? Is it so very magnanimous to give up a part of your income in order to save your whole property ? This is very simple arithmetic; and he that hesitates, deserves contempt rather than indignation. Yes, gentlemen, it is to your immediate self-interest, to your most familiar notions of prudence and policy, that I now appeal. I say not to you now, as heretofore, beware how you give the world the first example of an assembled nation untrue to the public faith. I ask you not, as heretofore, what right you have to freedom, or what means of maintaining it, if, at your first step in administration, you outdo in baseness all the old and corrupt governments. I tell you, that unless you prevent this catastrophe, you will all be involved in the general ruin; and that you are yourselves the persons most deeply interested in making the sacrifices which the government demands of you. I exhort you, then, most earnestly, to vote these extraordinary supplies; and God grant they may prove sufficient! Vote them, I beseech you; for, even if you doubt the expediency of the 130 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION means, you know perfectly well that the supplies are necessary, and that you are incapable of raising them in any other way. Vote them at once, for the crisis does not admit of delay j and, if it occurs, we must be responsible for the consequences. Beware of asking for time. Misfortune accords it never. While you are lingering, the evil day will come upon you. Why, gentlemen, it is but a few days since, that upon occasion of some foolish bustle in the Palais Royal, some ridiculous insur- rection that existed nowhere but in the heads of a few weak or designing individuals, we were told with emphasis, " Catiline is at the gates of Rome, and yet we deliberate." We know, gentlemen, that this was all imagination. We are far from being at Rome ; nor is there any Catiline at the gates of Paris. But now are we threatened with a real danger: bankruptcy, national bankruptcy, is before you; it threatens to swallow up your persons, your property, your honor, and yet you deliberate. MIRABEAU. UNEXPRESSED. He had words or smiles for them all, His friends, his foes and the rest; But for one that he loved, no word, No smile, not a cool hand pressed, Nor a sigh : but an empty jest. Yet there at the hearth of his heart The fire burned, warm and wide, While the welcome upon his lips, For the guest who did not abide, Stammered, and sobbed, and died. LOUISE MORGAN SILL. 4. RANGE OF VOICE. Change of pitch and inflexion are most intimately connected. They constitute form. Their union also constitutes range of voice. The wide intervals between phrases and clauses and the length of the inflexions are the chief elements in range. One of the abnormal tendencies of energy and earnest- ness is to get upon a high pitch. The real fault is same- ness of pitch, and the remedy is not to speak on a lower pitch but on the greatest number of pitches. Range is the true language of earnestness. It indicates freedom and the right use of the voice, self-control, reason, and earnestness. A high or monotonous pitch on the con- AGILITY OF VOICE 13! trary, with a push or swell to express force, indicates weakness. Render passages with every degree of emphasis, and in as wide a range as possible, by giving long inflexions, and accentuating all the elements of natural vocal form, but especially by making extreme intervals between clauses. Give us, O give us, the man who sings at his work! He will do more in the same time, he will do it better, he will perse- vere longer. One is scarcely sensible of fatigue whilst he marches to music. The very stars are said to make harmony as they re- volve in their spheres. Wondrous is the strength of cheerfulness, altogether past calculation its powers of endurance. Efforts, to be permanently useful, must be uniformly joyous, a spirit all sunshine, graceful from very gladness, beautiful because bright. CARLYLE. BEFORE SUNRISE IN WINTER. A purple cloud hangs half-way down A sky all gold below ; The naked trees, beyond the town, Like masts against it show, Before masts and spars of our earth-ship, With shining snow-sails furled, And through the sea of space we slip, That flows all round the world. EDWARD R SILL. Let our object be our country, our whole country, and nothing but our country. And, by the blessing of God, may that country itself become a vast and splendid monument, not of oppression and terror, but of wisdom, of peace, and of liberty, upon which the world may gaze with admiration forever I DANIEL WEBSTER. Came the relief, " What, sentry, ho I How passed the night through thy long waking? " " Cold, cheerless, dark, as may befit The hour before the dawn is breaking.'* " No sight? no sound? " " No; nothing save The plover from the marshes calling. And in yon western sky, about An hour ago, a star was falling." " A star? There's nothing strange in that." " No, nothing; but, above the thicket, Somehow it seemed to me that God Somewhere had just relieved a picket." BRET HARTfc 132 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION Antony. O pardon me, thou bleeding piece of earth, That I am meek and gentle with these butchers 1 Thou art the rums of the noblest man That ever lived in the tide of times. Woe to the hand that shed this costly blood I Over thy wounds now do I prophesy, Which, like dumb mouths, do ope their ruby lips, To beg the voice and utterance of my tongue, A curse shall light upon the limbs of men ; Domestic fury and fierce civil strife Shall cumber all the parts of Italy ; Blood and destruction shall be so in use, And dreadful objects so familiar, That mothers shall but smile when they behold Their infants quarter'd with the hands of war ; All pity choked with custom of fell deeds : And Caesar's spirit, ranging for revenge, With Ate by his side come hot from hell, Shall in these confines with a monarch's voice Cry " Havoc," and let slip the dogs of war; That this foul deed shall smell above the earth With carrion men, groaning for burial. " Julius Caesar." SHAKESPEARE. In the last lines of the following, each clause may be given on very different keys in order to emphasize Brutus' passion and excitement. " I'd rather be 11R a dog," may be given in the middle, the next clause in the highest part of the voice, and the last in the lowest. The order, however, is immaterial, pro- vided each clause is given in a different part of the voice. Brutus, Remember March, the ides of March remember: Did not great Julius bleed for justice' sake? What villain touch 'd his body, that did stab, And not for justice? What, shall one of us, That struck the foremost man of all this world But for supporting robbers, shall we now Contaminate our fingers with base bribes, And sell the mighty space of our large honors For so much trash as may be grasped thus? I had rather be a dog, and bay the moon, Than such a Roman " Juliui C*sar." SHAKESPEARE. AGILITY OF VOICE 133 This variation gives great weight to the character of Brutus. The wider the changes of pitch and range, the greater the self-control. Lack of control over passion is shown by loudness, hurry, or a high, unnatural key. The range of the voice or emphasis by great intervals between clauses, makes the thought far more forceful. Greater passion is also suggested than can be intimated by loudness, and with it great dignity and self-command. This passage affords an illustration of the necessity of wide changes of pitch between clauses of a dignified character, especially when the person speaking is much ezcited, but possesses great self-control. The inflex- ions are straight and long, and the touch decided. But the intervals may be apt to be slighted. If the passage be read with loudness, with long inflexions, with great stress, and then with variation in pitch, the skeptic will at once be convinced that extreme changes of pitch emphasize excited thought and great freedom of the mind with self-control. With dignified touch and straight inflexions, intervals are the most helpful exercises to secure control over the voice, as they relieve the constant strain and cause recovery of the breath and a variation in the length of the vocal bands. LIFE. Life is not living Just for to-day ; Life is not dreaming All the short way. To live is to do What must be done; To work and be true, For work is soon done. Tis living for others, To lighten their load; Tis helping our brothers And trusting in God. JAMES H. HOADLEY 134 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION I do not mean to be disrespectful, but the attempt of the Lords to stop the progress of reform reminds me very forcibly of the great storm of Sidmouth, and of the conduct of the excellent Mrs. Partington on that occasion. In the winter of 1824 there set in a great flood upon that town the tide rose to an incredible height the waves rushed in upon the houses and every- thing was threatened with destruction. In the midst of this sublime storm, Dame Partington, who lived upon the beach, was seen at the door of her house with mop and pattens, trundling her mop, and squeezing out the sea-water, and vigorously pushing away the Atlantic. The Atlantic was roused. Mrs. Partington's spirit was up, but I need not tell you that the con- test was unequal. The Altantic Ocean beat Mrs. Partington. She was excellent at a slop or a puddle, but she should not have meddled with a tempest. Be patient, gentlemen! Rest in confidence : you will beat Mrs. Partington, SYDNEY SMITH. Tell a humorous story in a few words, suggesting as much as possible by long pauses and great -.., changes of pitch. Give a description, tell a story, or speak upon some animated subject, accentuating, as much as possible, inflexions and changes of pitch. There is nothing like fun, is there? I haven't any myself, but I do like it in others. O, we need it! We need all the counterweights we can muster to balance the sad relations of life. God has made sunny spots in the heart; why should we exclude the light from them? Emphasize in some short speech as few points as possible. Subordinate all accidental parts and accentuate the opposition between that which is made salient and that made subordinate. AGILITY is the power of the voice to produce instantly and easily all variations of pitch and inflexion, or to change the length of the vocal bands and the sound waves. INTERVALLIC AGILITY is facility in making intervals or changes of pitch between words or phrases. INFLEXIONAL AGILITY is facility in producing inflex- ions or changes of pitch during the emission of a vowel. XI. SPONTANEOUS ACTIONS OF THE MIND AND MODULATIONS OF THE VOICE. In the study of the mind's action, and also in observ- ing voice modulation and expression, we meet with cer- tain actions which are deliberative, conscious, and volun- tary, and others which are spontaneous or involuntary, and at times unconscious. For example, if we think of a flower, the mind may be left free to picture the kind of flower; and even if the color or size is mentioned, the mind will still add other elements spontaneously. The spontaneous activities of the mind can hardly be enumerated, and they are often necessarily subcon- scious, yet to improve the deeper elements of expression a careful study of them is necessary. Not only do the conscious and deliberative elements of the mind usually receive too much attention and exercise, but the spon- taneous and subconscious energies are frequently sup- pressed. Repression is one of the greatest dangers of all education, and work in expression must primarily remove all repression and give freedom to the life of the mind. When we observe expressive modulations of the voice, we find that some of these are more deliberative than others. Touch, for example, is volitional ; we can easily direct our energies. We can give a touch by direct action of the will. The same is true of inflexion, but change of pitch is necessarily more spontaneous. While we can make ourselves change pitch, and while it may be necessary to increase voluntarily such a change in the act of expression, still in general, change of pitch must be free. Even the direction of the interval must be more free than the direction of the inflexion. We are us 136 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION less conscious of change of pitch than of either touch or inflexion. This discrimination must not be overlooked. The degree of consciousness and the degree of delibera- tion may be increased, but those actions primarily intended to be subconscious and involuntary should remain relatively spontaneous as a result of training. Otherwise expression will be mechanical. Other elements of delivery, such as modulations of the overtones of the voice, are still more spontaneous, and it v/ill be found in every case that the more spontaneous modulations of the voice express the more spontaneous actions of the mind. The first step in developing spontaneity is to recognize the difference between it and impulsiveness. Impul- siveness is simply a giving-up to any tendency, no matter what. There is a genuine abandon necessary in all true, artistic endeavor. Even in the practice of an exercise, while the will is constantly directed to the performance of a single action, there are yet united with this necessary co-ordinations. With the little we do there is united a great deal that is done for us. These spontaneous co- ordinations are fundamentally necessary ; without them, training of any kind becomes narrow and perfunctory. We must genuinely live each idea, and give up to those hidden forces of life which are deeper than will or consciousness. Render a variety of passages, especially those full of animation, and live each idea before giving it. Be sure that the realization of each impression is complete and full, and that expression is its direct effect. Be sure to feel not the whole passage but rather each specific idea in succession. Genuinely think and let feeling be the direct response. Now we come to chant our lay, "Waken, lords and ladies gay." " Hunter's Song.' ' SCOTT. SPONTANEOUS ACTIONS 137 Insects generally must lead a jovial life. Think what it must b to lodge in a lily. Imagine a palace of ivory and pearl, with pillars of silver and capitols 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 summer air, nothing to do when you awake but to wash yourself in a dew-drop, and fall to eating your bedclothes. NOT KNOWN NATURE: THE ARTIST. Such hints as untaught Nature yields ! The calm disorder of the sea, The straggling splendor of the fields, The wind's gay incivility. O workman with your conscious plan, Compass and square are little worth ; Copy nay, only poets can The artless masonry of earth. Go watch the windy spring's carouse, And mark the winter wonders grow, The graceful gracelessness of boughs, The careless carpentry of snow ! FREDERICK LAWRENCE KNOWLES. Freedom's secret wilt thou know ? Counsel not with flesh and blood ; Loiter not for cloak or food ; Right thou feelest, rush to go. Who knows himself before he has been thrilled with indig- nation at an outrage, or has heard an eloquent tongue, or has shared the throb of thousands in a national exultation or alarm? EMERSON. Ye sons of freedom, wake to glory J Hark! hark! what myriads bid ye rise! Your children, wives, and grandsires hoary, Behold their tears and hear their cries. "The Marseillaise." ROUGET DE LISLE. VOLUNTARY ACTIONS are those produced by will; Involuntary, those that result independently of will. CONSCIOUS ACTIONS are those elements of expression recognized by the mind. Unconscious, subconscious, or superconscious actions are those not recognized in the 138 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION field of attention. An action may be involuntary and yet be conscious. SPONTANEITY is the operation of involuntary action. ARTISTIC SPONTANEITY is the harmonious union of involuntary action with voluntary and conscious actions. Spontaneous actions may be regulated or awakened and consciously united to voluntary elements without interfering with their spontaneous upspringing. Upon this fact is based all free development of naturalness. 1. VISION. One important action of the mind is the response of the mental activities in forming a mental conception. The mind may perceive through the senses a part of something, a sign or a word standing for it, while out of its own storehouse it furnishes the material for the complete image or concept. The action of the senses is called perception. The action of the mind in supplying additional materials stored up by previous experience is called apperception. A conception results from every act of perception and awakens spontaneously a mental image. These actions of the mind depend greatly upon observation and interest. The best method of devel- oping them is to cultivate admiration for the simple objects about us and the habit of close observation. In reading, we too often consider the words as words only. Frequently the spontaneous activities are re- pressed, because the whole attention is placed upon the words. Read for example, the following lyric. Many would take the word " gorse " as a mere word. Others may think of it as the cowslip or daffodil. Few will look up its definition carefully and find that furze is meant and then find out what furze is and get the information necessary to form a definite picture of what the poet meant. The same is true of " speedwell." SPONTANEOUS ACTIONS 139 The words " banks," " oaks," and " heather," being familiar, may arouse more definite pictures. Some will think of the " swallow " as a mere bird, while others will make a very clear picture of the bird and her nest of clay. THE FIRST SWALLOW. The gorse is yellow on the heath, The banks with speedwell flowers are gay, The oaks are budding, and, beneath, The hawthorn soon will bear the wreath, The silver wreath, of May. The welcome guest of settled Spring, The swallow, too, has come at last; Just at sunset, when thrushes sing, I saw her dash with rapid wing, And hail'd her as she past. Come, summer visitant, attach To my reed roof your nest of clay, And let my ear your music catch, Low twittering underneath the thatch At the gray dawn of day. C SMITH. Again, the apperceptive actions are free. In the pre- ceding poem, for example, some will see the wood- thrush, others the hermit-thrush, others the veery or some other species. Yet others will not see the thrush at all but will hear the beautiful notes of one of these rich singers. It matters little when the word " bird " is used what especial bird is pictured, so that the mind has a conception sufficiently definite to awaken its life. This spontaneous formation of conception in the mind is of vital moment to delivery It is the very beginning of the reception of an impression. Upon it depends all true feeling. It can be developed, and after the habit of careful observation and interest in nature is formed, vocal expression is the chief means to stim- ulate a distinct spontaneous action, a responsive readi- ness on the part of the mind. 140 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION One danger must be guarded against from the very outset ; a tendency to interfere with spontaneous mental energy. The student overestimates, in nearly every case, the voluntary actions of his mind. He tries to make a literal picture of objects. Teachers sometimes direct all the energies of the student to " making pictures." These are formed too deliberately and dominate the spontaneous energies, so far as to in- terfere with expression. This eliminates feeling and imagination. In the act of reading, the student must give his definite attention to an idea, and accentuate voluntary attention on the fundamental centres as much as pos- sible ; but simultaneously, and co-ordinate with this he must give his mind great freedom to enjoy, and to create what pictures he pleases, and in his own way, making them vivid or only dimly suggestive. In the acceptance of a truth the mind builds up a mental world which it realizes more or less in corre- spondence with the senses. When deeply aroused, we perceive a mental image as vividly as the eye could see it in the real world. We hear sounds, not only in the outer world but also in the mind. We touch surfaces, feel resistances, and even conceive odors and tastes. Minds differ in their conceptual power. Some turn almost every idea or mental conception into a picture. Others are more apt to hear sounds. In reading these lines, for example, some will hear the voice of the maiden and the song of the cuckoo and the very silence of the seas. Others will see the cuckoo, the ocean, and the farthest islands of the Hebrides. Still others will realize both. No sweeter voice was ever heard in spring-time from the cuckoo- bird, Breaking the silence of the seas, among the farthest Hebrides. " The Reaper." WORDSWOA 1 H. SPONTANEOUS ACTIONS 14! Others feel muscular resistances and surfaces. In the following, some minds will see the soft, sweet " moss " ; some will feel the surface of the moss as they lie down upon it ; others may perceive the sweet odor of the woods. The soft, sweet moss shall be thy bed, With crawling woodbine overspread, By which the silver-shedding streams Shall gently melt thee into dreams. HERRICK. There is a tendency in minds for one conceptual action to be more responsive than any other, and in some persons almost entirely to subordinate all others. Read a passage and endeavor to accentuate the most intense attention and concentration and at the same time allow the greatest freedom of the creative activities. Co-ordinate as much as possible both the deliberative and spontaneous actions of the mind. TRUE POSSESSIONS. Lord, I am small, and yet so great, The whole world stands to my estate, And in thine image I create. The sea is mine ; and the broad sky Is mine in its immensity: The river and the river's gold: The earth's treasures manifold; The love of creatures small and great, Save where I reap a previous hate ; The noontide sun with tot caress, The night with quiet loneliness; The wind that bends the pliant trees, The whisper of the summer breeze; The kiss of snow and rain ; the star That shines a greeting from afar ; All, all are mine ; and yet so small Am I, that lo ! I needs must call, Great King, upon the Babe in Thee, And crave that Thou wouldst give to me The grace of Thy humility. MICHAEL FAIRLESS. In general, this conceptual action must be trained and harmonized in the development of vocal expression. 142 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION By sympathetic study of nature, by genuine realization and reading of simple lines of poetry, the spontaneous, creative, or apperceptive actions of the mind may be greatly stimulated and developed. Impressions are vivid in proportion to the realization of the meaning of a passage. The power to realize ideas quickly and intensely is at the basis of all eloquence and all true vocal expression. Render a variety of passages, pausing before each phrase and allowing the mind to receive such a vivid impression as will directly determine the voice modulations. It is not, however, the picture that causes expression. The image may be vivid, but unless it awakens feeling the voice will be cold. The student must give himself up to the pictures in his mind, and the impression caused by them. The west is broken into bars Of orange, gold, and gray; Gone is the sun, come are the stars, And night infolds the day. " Songs of the Summer Nights." GEORGE MACDONALD. Cannon to right of them, cannon to left of them, cannon in front of them volleyed and thundered: stormed at with shot and shell, boldly they rode and well; into the jaws of death, into the mouth of Hell, rode the six hundred. TENNYSON. THE SEA-WEED. The flying sea-bird mocked the floating dulse: " Poor wandering water-weed, where dost thou go, Astray upon the ocean's restless pulse? " It said: " I do not know. " At a cliff's foot I clung and was content, Swayed to and fro by warm and shallow waves; Along the coast the storm-wind raging went, And tore me from my caves. " I am the bitter herbage of that plain Where no flocks pasture, and no man shall have Homestead, nor any tenure there may gain But only for a grave. SPONTANEOUS ACTIONS 143 " A worthless weed, a drifting, broken weed, What can I do in all this boundless sea? No creature of the universe has need Or any thought of me." Hither and yonder, as the winds might blow, The sea-weed floated. Then a refluent tide Swept it along to meet a galleon's prow " Land ho I " Columbus cried. ELIZABETH PULLEN. Of a sudden the sun shone large and bright, As if he were staying away the night, And the rain on the river fell as sweet As the pitying tread of an angel's feet. CAREY. The Sun's rim dips ; the stars rush out ; At one stride comes the dark ; With far-heard whisper, o'er the sea, Off shot the spectre bark. " The Ancient Mariner." COLERIDGE. A CONCEPTION of the mind is usually the result of the union of PERCEPTION and APPERCEPTION. PERCEP- TION is that part of an impression or conception received through the senses. APPERCEPTION is that part of every conception spontaneously furnished by the mind itself. VISION, as here used, is the free and right use of the apperceptive energies in reading and speaking. 2. IMAGINATION. In rendering the following lines we note a change at the beginning of the third line. The words become pictorial and deeper feeling is aroused. Everything is made more ideal and lifted to a higher plane into an atmosphere of sympathy. The voice also becomes richer in its vibra- tions and more pleasing. I know not what the future hath of marvel or surprise, Assured alone that life and death his mercy underlies. And so beside the Silent Sea I wait the muffled oar ; No harm from Him can come to me on ocean or on shore. I know not where his islands lift their fronded palms in air; I only know I cannot drift beyond his love and care. * Th Eternal GoodneM." WH1TTIKR. 144 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION The second sentence of the following expresses the same thought as the first, but what a different impression it produces! The mental action is different. In the first sentence each idea is put literally; in the second there is a delicate allusion, a strange union of mental and emotional actions. In a valiant suffering for others, not in a slothful making of others suffer for us, did nobleness ever lie. Every noble crown is, and on earth will ever be, a crown of thorns. CARLYLE. In the following passage observe that the first line may be given with many kinds of situation, each situation causing a different feeling. Then observe that the situ- ation of danger of Roushan Beg must be pictured by the imagination before there can be any true feeling. Suddenly the pathway ends, Sheer the precipice descends, Loud the torrent roars unseen ; Thirty feet from side to side Yawns the chasm ; c u air must ride He who crosses this ravine. LONGFELLOW. The study of any passage of deep significance reveals, not only the fact that we receive vivid impressions of each successive idea, and logically relate these to each other, but that we also conceive a certain ideal situation or background. This faculty of sympathetic insight, the faculty which enables man to perceive by the creative power of being, has been named Imagination. Its power is spontaneous, direct, immediate, sympa- thetic mental activity or energy. It is a faculty which lies at the basis of all insight and sympathy, and of all poetic, creative, or dramatic instinct, and is of funda- mental importance in developing power in expression. The imagination acts in its own way, without rule, or external domination. It cannot be forced or driven. It implies a sympathetic attitude toward an object, and is associated with, if it does not consist in, the spontaneous SPONTANEOUS ACTIONS 14^ creative energies of the mind. It places every idea in some kind of a situation or relationship to life. It brings all elements into a higher and more sympathetic unity. One function of the imagination is insight. It is the faculty that sees. Out of material stored in the mind it creates a living world. By its power the Parthenon is no longer a ruin and the Greeks yet live. The imagination gives atmosphere and stimulates individual ideas. Mere facts may make a wrong impression but imagination clothes facts with living scenes and situations and pre- sents the hidden truth. Imagination is the basis of all figurative language. It compares object with object; identifies the unknown and the known, and creates a new whole. To give expression to thought implies realization. The artist must have vision. His heart must be moved before he can move others. The best method of developing the imagination is the interpretation of the sublimest literature. The imagina- tion must be trained by observation of beautiful things in nature and by sympathetic reading and vocal interpre- tation of the best poetry. Anything may be commonplace; anything may be poetic; anything may be sublime. It all depends upon the degree of imagination in realizing the fact. Every- thing is an index finger pointing to something beyond. The smallest leaf or flower may serve as a window through which the human spirit penetrates the hidden mystery. The imagination indicates the degree of realization or exaltation of whatever poem or thought is being expressed. If we take a beautiful poem and read it on the com- monplace plane, only the discursive intellect acts. But when we perceive its beauty the imagination and feel- ing are active and we have a higher conception and 146 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION expression. Finally, we can so deeply realize a truth that it is exalted above us, and becomes sublime. Flower in the crannied wall, I pluck you out of the crannies ; Hold you here, root and all, in my hand, Little flower ; but if I could understand What you are, root and all, and all in all, I should know what God and man is. TENNYSON. Give the following words first as mere words, facts or thoughts; then give them beauty or a higher poetic relationship; lastly, become so permeated with their meaning as to throb in sympathy with the ancient heroes. Passer-by, say at Lacedsemon we lie here in obedience to her laws. Inscription at Thermopylae. SIMONIDES. Rise, oh I ever rise, Rise, like a cloud of incense, from the earth I Thou kingly spirit throned among the hills, Thou dread ambassador from earth to heaven, Great hierarch ! tell thou the silent sky, And tell the stars, and tell yon rising sun, Earth, with her thousand voices, praises God! " Mont Blanc." COLERIDGE. These passages are really on the plane of sublimity; but some lines may be appropriately rendered on almost any plane. It is the characteristic of good taste that it realizes an idea on its true plane. Give the following many degrees of exaltation and note the one most appropriate, and why? Roll on, thou deep and dark blue Ocean roll ! Ten thousand fleets sweep over thee in vain, Oh, rose, out of the heart of brier and thorn All thy sweet loveliness was born. Vocal expression definitely reveals the attitude of man toward a truth. We may express a truth and in the way it is said indicate that it is something com- SPONTANEOUS ACTIONS 147 pletely grasped by us. Or, on the other hand, we may have an attitude of wonder, a sense of the transcend- ence of the idea above us. This is the case in all sublime expression. Men generally feel that they cannot express any- thing without having complete grasp of it. To con- fine expression to any adequate and perfect intellectual conception is to limit man to the commonplace plane and to eliminate all imagination. Suggestion is the law of expression, and we are drawn closer to each other in our endeavors to realize and express ideas transcending our intellectual comprehensions. It is this that makes human art necessary. It is the en- deavor that is expressed, and the will is taken for the deed. Without artistic and poetic expression each mind would be isolated from the deeper life and expe- riences of the race. We not only share ideas but ideals ; not only mutually understand facts, but we come in touch with each other in our highest aspirations. We should not, for example, express the thought of Deity as something easily and completely compre- hended; this is irreverent as well as totally inadequate. But if we express endeavor to grasp the idea we shall awaken similar endeavor on the part of another and bring speaker and hearer into communion, which is the only possible aim of all expression. Lord of the Universe I shield us and guide us, Trusting Thee always, through shadow and sun , Thou hast united us, who shall divide us? Keep us, O keep us, the Many in Onel HOLMES. Immortal Love, forever full, forever flowing free, Forever shared, forever whole, a never-ebbing sea! We may not climb the heavenly steeps to bring the Lord Christ down; In vain we search the lowest deeps, for Him no depths can drown. But warm, sweet, tender, even yet a present help is He; And faith has still its Olivet, and love its Galilee. 148 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION The healing of the seamless dress is by our beds of pain ; We touch Him in life's throng and press, and we are whole again. Through Him the first fond prayers are said our lips of childhood frame, The last low whispers of our dead, are burdened with His name. O Lord, and Master of us all ! Whate'er our name or sign, We own Thy sway, we hear Thy call, we test our lives by Thine. From " Our Master." WHITTIER. Observe in Realf's "Indirection " the long pauses, the effort of the mind to realize transcendence of spirit over material things, and the delicate sugges- tion of this by the modulations of the voice, such as tone-color, and delicate decision of the touch. Changes of pitch and a quicker movement suggest the external facts, while slower movement and other changes suggest the hidden meaning. INDIRECTION. Fair are the flowers and the children But their subtle suggestion is fairer; Rare is the rose-burst of dawn But the secret that clasps it is rarer; Sweet the exultance of song But the strain that precedes it is sweeter; And never was poem yet writ But the meaning out-mastered the metre. Never a daisy that grows But a mystery guideth the growing; Never a river that flows But a majesty sceptres the flowing; Never a Shakespeare that soared But a stronger than he did enfold him ; Nor ever a prophet foretells But a mightier seer hath foretold him. Back of the canvas that throbs, The painter is hinted and hidden; Into the statue that breathes, The soul of the sculptor is bidden; Under the joy that is felt, Lie the infinite issues of feeling; Crowning the glory revealed, Is the glory that crowns the revealing. SPONTANEOUS ACTIONS 149 Great are the symbols of being But that which is symboled is greater j Vast the create and beheld But vaster the inward Creator; Back of the sound broods the silence, Back of the gift stands the giving; Back of the hand that receives, Thrill the sensitive nerves of receiving. Space is as nothing to spirit The deed is outdone by the doing; The heart of the wooer is warm But warmer the heart of the wooing. And up from the pits where these shiver, And up from the heights where those shine, Twin voices and shadows swim starward, And the essence of life is divine. RICHARD REALF; 3. EMOTION. Another spontaneous action of being is feeling. Thinking awakens, but will cannot domi- nate emotion as it can attention or thought. A man may control his attention, forcing it into given direc- tions and centering his mind upon certain ideas, but emotion must always be spontaneous. Many, perhaps most, faults in expression are associated with expression of feeling, and the peculiar nature and action of feeling should, on this account, be carefully observed. All genuine thinking awakens feeling. To deepen and intensify emotion we stay the attention. While emotion cannot be directly driven, yet by concentrating the mind on certain images deep feeling may be awak- ened. Feeling is often eliminated by abstract thinking, but it can always be aroused by sympathetic, contem- plative, imaginative thought. A close study of feeling reveals two distinct classes of emotion which have opposite effects upon body and voice. Joy, affection, sympathy, and courage are positive. They expand and exhilarate the whole body. They not only elevate and ennoble it, but make the tone pure and rich in sympathetic vibrations. Fear, sadness, despondency, antagonism, hate, envy, or jeal- 11,0 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION ousy, however, have an opposite effect. They not only constrict the body, and make the tone harsh and dis- agreeable, but they are injurious to health. In developing expression it is very important that the student should exercise the normal or positive feel- ings. These afford the best means of co-ordinating mind, body, and voice in sympathetic union. It is, accordingly, essential that the student should learn to love the best literature. This educates his feelings and his power of enjoyment, as well as in- creases the strength and richness of hie voice and the grace of his body. Short lyrics, beautiful and ideal passages should be memorized and recited. It is not wise for the student to give many stilted, declamatory selections. He should rather learn to express the natural, the simple, the imaginative ; to feel the deeper and truer energies of his being, and to give everything as simply and intensely as possible. The training of the voice and the development of expression are inseparably connected with a develop- ment of right habits of life, with joy and confidence, purity and nobility of thought. The development of the voice is not a mechanical or merely local matter. It depends upon health and strength, upon normal, sympathetic actions, and upon right motives and feelings. In order that expression be genuine, the student should observe his own thoughts and feelings, and become conscious of his real power. He must give himself up to truth, and sympathetically identify him- self with the highest and most exalted experience. A study of the positive emotions affords also a means of helping one to feel the unity of mind, body, and voice. The best foundation for the genuine culture of imag- ination and feeling is probably the simple and natural admiration of nature, and the study of poets like Words- SPONTANEOUS ACTIONS 151 worth, who are full of healthful and deep insight into the simplest objects about us. Cultivate feeling; be always natural, simple and childlike; study beautiful and sublime poetry; observe nature and art sympathetically. In rendering the following, allow all the parts of a sunset or any beautiful scene to blend into unity. See things, not in isolation, but in relation to others, .._ for imagination is especially the faculty that sees the kinship of things, and feeling is a response to such recognition. Give up to noble ideas; allow feeling to awaken and be expressed by the modulations of the voice. Pause long and concentrate the whole being in meditative realization of each idea. I hide in the solar glory, I am dumb in the pealing song, I rest on the pitch of the torrent, in slumber I am strong. No numbers have counted my tallies, no tribes my house can fill, I sit by the shining Fount of Life, and pour the deluge still ; . . . No ray is dimmed, no atom worn, my oldest force is good as new, And the fresh rose on yonder thorn gives back the bending heavens in dew. " Song of Nature." EMERSON. TO THE CUCKOO. O Blithe new-comer 1 1 have heard, I hear thee and rejoice : O Cuckoo ! shall I call thee bird, or but a wandering Voice? While I am lying on the grass, thy twofold shout I hear: From hill to hill it seems to pass, at once far off and near. Though babbling only to the vale of sunshine and of flowers, Thou bringest unto me a tale of visionary hours. Thrice welcome, darling of the Spring I even yet thou art to me No bird, but an invisible thing, a voice, a mystery. The same whom in my school-boy days I listen'd to ; that Cry Which made me look a thousand ways, in bush, and tree, and sky. To seek thee did I often rove through woods, and on the green; And thou wert still a hope, a love; still long'd for, never seen I And I can listen to thee yet, can lie upon the plain And listen, till I do beget that golden time again. O blessed bird I the earth we pace again appears to be An unsubstantial, fairy place, that is fit home for Thee I WORDSWORTH 152 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION EMOTION is the sympathetic awakening of man's subconscious and spiritual sensibilities. Poetry is the intense imaginative and emotional realization, and its expression in artistic form, of any idea or fact. SUBLIMITY is the sense of the transcendence of idea over form, of mind over matter. Expression is com- monplace when mere statements predominate; poetic, when truth is expressed with human realization; sub- lime, when man suggests his effort to grasp what cannot be conceived in finite form. POSITIVE EMOTIONS are those which are normal and tend to develop health and strength, and cause the voice to be pure, and develop tone-color. NEGATIVE EMOTIONS are those which depress the human body, lessen the purity and resonance of the voice, and tend to make the human being, and conse- quently all his expression through the modulations of his tone, ignoble and perverted. 4. DEVELOPMENT OF SPONTANEOUS ACTION. The importance of spontaneous action in expression can hardly be overestimated. It is the basis of all natural- ness, and unless the spontaneous energies are awakened, expression will lack completeness. True expression not only comes from within outward but many of its activities are subconscious. The life of the mind is deeper than consciousness. As has been shown, we do not know the process by which feeling awakens. For the most part in expression we are conscious of results only. But if we endeavor to produce results mechanically we work from without inward and thus eliminate imagination, feeling, and the higher spontaneous actions of the mind. The development, therefore, of spontaneous energies is not only an important problem, but a difficult one. SPONTANEOUS ACTIONS 153 11 How," exclaim many, " can you stimulate what is spontaneous? " Here we find again the importance of fundamentals. A man may direct consciousness and will toward fun- damentals without becoming self-conscious or mechan- ical. When these are right the spontaneous energies awaken of themselves. The spontaneous energies constitute the funda- mental element in all art. Art has been defined as " order in play ; " that is, all the spontaneous actions are brought into co-ordinate union with those delib- erative and voluntary. An artist is one whose whole nature, conscious and subconscious, voluntary and involuntary is harmoniously awakened. In the school or educational life of every one much time should be given to expression. No matter what a man's work may be great attention should be given to the free play of his faculties and powers. No one knows what is in him, what he is capable of, unless he accepts and obeys the spontaneous energies of his being. It is especially the spontaneous energies that modulate the resonance of the voice, and the develop- ment of resonance is, therefore, the best method of stimulating and studying these activities. Render the folio wing words observing that the principle expressed in them applies to a speaker more than to a writer. Then give animated passages or 1 speak upon an interesting subject and deeply live every idea and yield to the spontaneous energies of your own being. Every writer is a skater, and must go partly where he would, and partly where the skates carry him; or a sailor, who can only land where sails can be blown. "Poetry and the Imagination." EMERSON. One of the best exercises for this at first is the practice of fables. These need not be frivolous, but full of meaning. FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION Render fables, allegoric passages, playful selections, dialogues, lyrics, and poetic passages of all kinds. ._. Give intense attention; allow free play to the spontaneous energies. Not only think, but feel and enjoy every idea. TOWN AND COUNTRY. "I'm only in the country for a stay," Said he, a little town bird, To her, a little brown bird, In course of conversation, one fine day. " I think a country life is very slow, There's really no variety, You never see society, You might as well be buried, don't you know. " In town, there are so many things to do; You cut a thousand capers, You see the daily papers I think I'd live in town if I were you." Said she, " I do not envy you town life; The village children love me, The blue sky is above me, And every day is free from care and strife. I think," said she, " it is a thousand pities, That little birds should live in great big cities." NOT KNOWN. THE FIELD MOUSE AND THE TOWN MOUSE. A Town Mouse was asked by a Field Mouse to dine with him, and he went out and sat down to a meal of corn and wheat. " Do you know, my friend," said he, " that you live a mere ant's life out here? Why, I have all kinds of things at home ; come and enjoy them." So the two set off for town, and there the Town Mouse showed his beans and meal, his dates too, his cheese and fruit and honey. And as the Field Mouse ate, drank and was merry, he said to himself, " How rich my friend is and how poor am 1." But as they ate, all at once a man opened the door. The mice, in great fear ran into a crack. Then, when they started to eat some nice figs, in came a maid to get a pot of honey or a bit of cheese; quickly they hid in a hole. SPONTANEOUS ACTIONS '55 Then the Field Mouse would eat no more, but said to tha Town Mouse: u Rejoice my good friend in your wealth; eat all you want, have your fill of good things, and be always in fear of your life. As for me, I will live on at home with only corn and wheat, in no fear of anyone." THE WIND AND THE MOON. Said the Wind to the Moon, " I will blow you ouf 1 You stare in the air Like a ghost in a chair, Always looking what I am about. I hate to be watched ; I will blow you out.** The Wind blew hard, and out went the Moon. So, deep on a heap Of clouds, to sleep Down lay the Wind, and slumbered soon Muttering low, " I've done for that Moon." He turned in his bed: she was there again. On high in the sky, With her one ghost eye, The Moon shone white and alive and plain. Said the Wind, " I will blow you out again." The Wind blew hard, and the Moon grew dim. " With my sledge and my wedge I have knocked off her edge. If only I blow right fierce and grim, The creature will soon be dimmer than dim." He blew and he blew, and she thinned to a thread. " One puff more's enough To blow her to snuff 1 One good puff more where the last was bred, And glimmer, glimmer, glum will go the thread." He blew a great blast, and the thread was gone; In the air nowhere Was a moonbeam bare ; Far off and harmless the shy stars shone: Sure and certain the Moon was gone 1 The Wind he took to his revels once more; On down, in town, Like a merry-mad clown, He leaped and holloed with whistle and roar " What's that? " The glimmering thread once more fg6 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION He flew in a rage he danced and blew; But in vain was the pain Of his bursting brain ; For still the broader the moon-scrap grew, The broader he swelled his big cheeks and blew. Slowly she grew till she filled the night, And shone on her throne In the sky alone, A matchless, wonderful, silvery light, Radiant and lovely, the queen of the night. Said the Wind, " What a marvel of power am 1 1 With my breath, good faith, I blew her to death First blew her away right out of the sky Then blew her in ; what a strength am I ! " But the Moon she knew nothing about the affair, For, high in the sky, With her one white eye, Motionless, miles above the air, She had never heard the great Wind blare. GEORGE MACDONALD. Discuss a subject first on the commonplace plane, second, on the plane of poetry or beauty, and - third, on that of sublimity. WANDERER'S SONG. There will be, when I come home, through the hill-gap in the west, The friendly smile of the sun on the fields that I love best ; The red-topped clover here, and the white-whorled daisy there, And the bloom of the wilding briar that attars the upland air ; There will be bird-mirth sweet (mellower none may knowl) The flute of the wild wood-thrush, the call of the vireo; Pleasant gossip of the leaves, and from the dawn to the gloam The lyric laughter of brooks there will be when I come home. There will be, when I come home, the kindliness of the earth Ah, how I love it all, bounteous breadth and girth ! The very sod will say tendril, fibre, and root " Here is our foster-child, he of the wandering foot. Welcome ! welcome ! " And, lo ! I shall pause at a gate ajar That the leaning lilacs shade, where the honeysuckles are; I shall see the open door O farer over the foam, The ease of this hunger of heart there will be when I come home I CLINTON SCOLLARD SPONTANEOUS ACTIONS 157 For the development of imagination and spontaneous energies, the chief dependence must be placed upon the study and rendition of the best poetry. Meditate and contemplate nature, and poetic expres- sion of every form. Develop depth of feeling, taste, and creative intensity by studying the best poems of authors as different in spirit as possible. Here sparrows build upon the trees, The stockdove hides her nest ; And leaves are winnowed by the breeze Into a calmer rest ; The black-cap's song was very sweet That used the rose to kiss; It made the paradise complete ; My early home was this . . . The old house stooped just like a cave, Thatched o'er with mosses green; Winter round the walls would rave, But all was calm within. The trees are here all green again, Here bees the flowers still kiss; But flowers and trees seemed sweeter then My early home was this. ' My Early Home." JOHN CLARE ODE TO THE WEST WIND. O wild West Wind, thou breath of Autumn's being, thou, from whose unseen presence the leaves dead are driven, like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing, yellow, and black, and pale, and hectic red, pestilence-stricken multitudes: O thou who chariotest to their dark wintry bed the winged seeds, where they lie cold and low, each like a corpse within its grave, until thine azure sister of the spring shall blow her clarion o'er the dreaming earth, and fill (driving sweet buds like flocks to feed in air) with living hues and odours plain and hill: wild Spirit, which art mov- ing everywhere; destroyer and preserver; hear, oh, hear I Thou on whose stream, 'mid the steep sky's commotion, loose clouds like earth's decaying leaves are shed, shook from the tangled boughs of Heaven and Ocean, angels of rain and lightning, there are spread on the blue surface of thine airy surge, like the bright hair uplifted from the head of some fierce Maenad, ev'n from the dim verge of the horizon to the zenith's height the locks of the approaching storm. Thou dirge of the dying year, to which this closing night will be the dome of a vast sepulchre, vaulted 158 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION with all thy congregated might of vapours, from whose solid atmosphere black rain, and fire, and hail, will burst: Oh, hear. Thou who didst waken from his summer dreams the blue Med- iterranean, where he lay, lulled by the coil of his crystalline streams, beside a pumice isle in Baise's bay, and saw in sleep old palaces and towers quivering within the wave's intenser day, all overgrown with azure moss and flowers so sweet, the sense faults picturing theml Thou for whose path the Atlantic's level powers cleave themselves hi to chasms, while far below the sea-blooms and the oozy wood which wear the sapless foliage of the ocean, know thy voice, and suddenly grow gray with fear, and tremble and despoil themselves: Oh, hear I If I were a dead leaf thou mightest bear ; if I were a swift cloud to fly with thee; a wave to pant beneath thy power, and share the impulse of thy strength, only less free than Thou, O uncon- trollable! If even I were as in my boyhood, and could be the comrade of thy wanderings over heaven, as then, when to out- strip the skyey speed scarce seem'd a vision, I would ne'er have striven as thus with thee in prayer in my sore need. O lift me as a wave, a leaf, a cloud ! I fall upon the thorns of life ! I bleed ! A heavy weight of hours has chain'd and bow'd one too like thee: tameless, and swift, and proud. Make me thy lyre, ev'n as the forest is : what if my leaves are falling like its own ! the tumult of thy mighty harmonies will take from both a deep autumnal tone, sweet though in sadness. Be thou, Spirit fierce, my spirit ! be thou me, impetuous one ! Drive my dead thoughts over the universe like wither'd leaves to quicken a new birth ; and by the incantation of this verse, scatter, as from an unextinguish'd hearth ashes and sparks, my words among mankind! Be through my lips to unawaken'd earth the trumpet of a prophecy I O Wind, if Whiter comes, can Spring be far behind? SHELLEY LUCY. She dwelt among the untrodden ways Beside the springs of Dove, A maid whom there were none to praise And very few to love. A violet by a mossy stone Half hidden from the eye ; Fair as a star when only one Is shining in the sky. She lived unknown, and few could know When Lucy ceased to be ; But she is in her grave, and, oh, The diff erence to me I WORDSWORTH. xn. TONE-COLOR. Tone-color is the modulation of the overtones of the human voice by imagination and feeling. The variation of the resonance or overtones is the chief cause of the difference between any two voices, or of the change of any voice in expressing different emotions. When we study the relations of the spontaneous actions of the mind and the modulations of the voice, we perceive perfect correspondence. As there are some actions of the mind of which we are more conscious, there are also certain modulations of voice, such as touch or direction of inflexion, which are more delib- erative and voluntary, and certain others which are less conscious and more spontaneous, such as change of pitch and length or abruptness of inflexion. All of these may be performed consciously, and it is a helpful exercise deliberately to make ourselves change the pitch, lengthen the inflexions or give them more abruptly, and to do these with great accentuation. Tone-color is the modulation of the voice most directly expressive of imagination and feeling. As these qualities are less conscious and deliberative, in the same way tone-color is the result of certain condi- tions and can be only indirectly stimulated. To discover the presence of tone-color, read over two passages very different in spirit and feeling, one didactic, the other imaginative and sympathetic. Note that the inflexions, changes of pitch, pauses and touches are very similar, but that the two readings are quite different; and observe that this difference is due to the change in the quality of the voice. '59 l6o FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION Ah, well! for us all some sweet hope lies Deeply buried from human eyes ; And, in the hereafter, angels may Roll the stone from its grave away. From " Maud Mailer " WHITTIER. MEN ARE FOUR. He who knows, and knows he knows, He is wise follow him. He who knows, and knows not he knows, He is asleep wake him. He who knows not, and knows not he knows not, He is a fool shun him. He who knows not, and knows he knows not, He is a child teach him. ARABIAN PROVERB. Render some sublime passage, and observe that the effort to realize it accentuates the retention of breath, the conditions of tone, and the modulations of ... the voice, brings these into greater harmony, and especially modulates the sympathetic vibrations of the voice. Oh, at the eagle's height, To lie in the sweet of the sun, While veil after veil takes flight, And God and the world are one. Oh, the night on the steep ! All that his eyes saw dim Grows light in the dusky deep, And God is alone with him. A. E A serious and very common fault, which must be corrected by the study and development of imagina- tion and feeling, and their expression through tone- color, is a coldness and neutrality of vocal expression in the interpretation of higher literature. Entire absence of tone-color, because of the suppression of imagination and feeling, is the first condition to be corrected. Many able speakers have hardly any expression of emotion. The modern preacher often seems to think TONE-COLOR l6l that any expression of emotion is wrong. Men read sublime poems, songs, and scripture, and are even heard to pray in a commonplace tone. As the voice gives no indication of spiritual communion, the higher faculties seem entirely asleep. There is no better method of developing feeling, of getting control of the higher spiritual emotions, and recognizing the spirit of the best literature, than a sympathetic vocal expression of poetry. Work upon the language of a faculty always strengthens the faculty. Few, if any, helps to arouse feeling are given in ordi- nary education. True vocal development requires a study of self, a manifestation of emotions, and the awakening of a language dormant in most people. If the student will endeavor to express lines from different poems he will discover the narrowness of his gamut of feeling, and by the same practice can cxtend it. By studying and contrasting many short passages, expressing widely different emotions, he can, by persevering practice in thinking and feeling definitely each situation, develop his imagination and sensibilities until he is able to express an almost in- finite variety of emotions. There is practically no limit to the number which can be expressed by the modulations of the voice. O blessed bird I the earth we pace again appears to be An unsubstantial fairy place, that is fit home for thee. " To the Cuckoo." WORDSWORTH. Books give to all who faithfully use them the society, the presence of the best and greatest of our race. A silvery brook comes stealing From the shadow of its trees, Where slender herbs of the forest stoop Before the entering breeze. "Th Unknown Way." WIU.IAM CULLEN BRYANT. Hurrah I hurrah I the west wind comes freshening down the bayl The rising sails are filling, give way, my lads, give way. WHITTIER. 1 62 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION Tis the star-spangled banner, oh 1 long may it wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave. KEY. Love had he found in huts where poor men lie ; His daily teachers had been woods and rills, The silence that is in the starry sky, The sleep that is among the lonely hills. " Brougham Castle." WORDSWORTH. All, all are gone, the old familiar faces. See the noble fellow's face As the big ship, with a bound, Clears the entry like a hound, Keeps the passage as its inch of way were the wide sea's profound J " Herve Kiel." BROWNING. Holy! holy! holy! Lord God of Sabaothl Pray you, tread softly, that the blind mole may not Hear a foot fall; we are now near his cell. trusted and trustworthy guard, if thou hadst life like me, What pleasures would thy toils reward beneath the deep green sea 1 * Forging the Anchor." FERGUSON. God and Nature are altogether sincere. A song, oh a song for the merry May ! The cows in the meadow, the lambs at play, A chorus of birds in the maple-tree And a world in blossom for you and me. Maid of my Love, sweet Genevieve ! In Beauty's light you glide along; Your eye is like the star of eve, And sweet your voice as Seraph's song. COLERIDGE. All in a hot and copper sky the bloody Sun, at noon, Right up above the mast did stand, no bigger than the moon. COLERIDGE. Merrily, merrily goes the bark On a breeze from the northward free ; So shoots through the morning sky the lark, Or the swan through the summer sea. SCOTT. TONE-COLOR 163 So nigh is grandeur to our dust, so near is God to man, When Duty whispers low, Thou must, the youth replies, / tan. EMERSON Come one, come all I this rock shall fly From its firm base as soon as I. Pale, trembling coward! there I throw my gage. Of old hast Thou laid the foundation of the earth ; and the heavens are the work of Thy hands. They shall perish, but thou shalt endure; yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same ; and thy years shall have no end. Hence ! home, you idle creatures, get you home 1 " Julius Czsar." SHAKESPEARE Wake ! oh, wake ! and utter praise 1 Who sank thy sunless pillars deep in earth? Who filled thy countenance with rosy light? Who made thee parent of perpetual streams? COLERIDGE Ah I that lady of the villa and I loved her so Near the city of Sevilla years and years ago. WALLER. Tears, idle tears, I know not what they mean, Tears from the depth of some divine despair Rise in the heart, and gather to the eyes, In looking on the happy Autumn-fields And thinking of the days that are no more. TENNYSON. Ye sons of Freedom, wake to glory I Hark! hark! what myriads bid ye rise! Your children, wives, and grandsires hoary. Behold their tears and hear their cries. Stone walls do not a prison make, nor iron bars a cage; Minds innocent and quiet take that for an heritage : If I have freedom in my love, and in my soul am free, Angels alone, that soar above, enjoy such liberty. LOVELACE. Careless seems the great avenger; history's pages but record One death-grapple in the darkness 'twixt old systems and the Word; Truth forever on the scaffold, Wrong forever on the throne, Yet that scaffold sways the future, and, behind the dim unknown, Standeth God within the shadow, keeping watch above his own. LOWELL 164 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the two shall meet, Till Earth and Sky stand presently at God's great Judgment Seat; But there is neither East nor West, Border, nor Breed, nor Birth, When two strong men stand face to face, tho' they come from the ends of the earth. KIPLING. O Love Divine, that stoops to share Our sharpest pang, our bitterest tear, On Thee we cast each earth-born care, We smile at pain while Thou art near! " Hymn of Trust." HOLMES. MOUNT RAINIER. Long hours we toiled up through the solemn wood Beneath moss-banners stretched from tree to tree; At last upon a barren hill we stood And, lo, above loomed Majesty. HERBERT BASH FORD. Sometimes failure to express imagination and feel- ing ensues from fear of some false or wrong emotional expression such as the " ministerial tune." This fault is a manifestation of feeling by the degradation of inflexions and form. But a genuine expression of emotion interferes in no way with form and thought. Form and color should co-ordinate as much as thought and feeling. Inflexion, change of pitch, and conversational form are like drawing; while the expression of feeling and imagination through modulation of overtones is like color. Good drawing does not interfere with the color, nor color with the drawing. Good drawing cannot compensate for lack of color nor good coloring for lack of drawing. Both are essential. Among other effects of imagination are the multi- plication, accentuation, and higher unity of the modu- lations of the voice. On the commonplace plane we have little more than inflexion, change of pitch, pause and touch, but imagination not only emphasizes and harmonizes these but adds tone-color and movement; and all the modulations become more sympathetically united. TONE-COLOR 165 Take some short sentence, and give it with situa- tions varying from the purely mechanical to the ex- tremely pathetic ; or give some variation or con- trast, and note that each attitude of the mind and emotion modulates the resonance of the voice without destroying vocal form or changing inflexions. I saw him fall. O, Mona's waters are blue and bright When the sun shines out like a gay young lover; But Mona's waves are dark as night When the face of heaven is clouded over. Modest and shy as a nun is she; one weak chirp is her only note; Braggart and prince of braggarts is he, pouring boasts from his little throat. " The Bobolink." BRYANT. They fought like brave men, long and well, They piled the ground with Moslem slain, They conquered but Bozzaris fell, Bleeding at every vein. " Marco Bozzaris " HALLECK. Observe how carelessly poems are read. Study and truly render the emotions of the following. Can you give every part its own distinct emotion and tone-color? All hail the power of Jesus' name! Let angels prostrate fall; bring forth the royal diadem, and crown Him Lord of all! Crown Him, ye morning stars of light, Who fixed this floating ball; now hail the strength of Israel's might, and crown Him Lord of all ! Crown Him, ye martyrs of your God who from His altar call; extol the stem of Jesse's rod, and crown Him Lord of all I Ye seed of Israel's chosen race, ye ransomed of the fall, hail him who saves you by His grace, and crown Him Lord of all ! ... Sinners, whose love can ne'er forget the wormwood and the gall, go spread your trophies at His feet, and crown Him Lord of all! Let every kindred, every tribe, on this terrestrial ball, to Him all majesty ascribe, and crown Him Lord of all ! Oh, that with yonder sacred throng we at His feet may fall, join in the everlasting song, and crown Him Lord of all ! E. PERRONET. 1 66 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION While tone-color is perhaps the most difficult ele- ment of vocal expression there is nothing more impor- tant; without it, it is impossible to express imagina- tion and feeling truthfully and not degenerate into some kind of weakness such as a false tune. The nature and importance of tone-color are per- ceived when observing certain abnormal or weak expressions of feeling. Uncontrolled emotion, for example, will modify inflexions. A passive expression of reverence or awe may, as the elocutionists contend, modify the stress, and make what is known as the " median stress," but any modulation of touch or inflexional form expresses weakness. The legitimate language of imagination and emotion is the modula- tion of the resonance of the voice, and true vocal art can be developed only by attention to this. If expres- sion is to be dignified, form and color must be carefully distinguished and co-ordinated. Practise passages full of reverence or grief and deep feeling, and instead of employing a weaker touch, or the so-called " median stress," or " semi-tonic 1 ._ melody," make every touch and inflexion as definite as possible, and express feeling by tone-color, co-ordinating thought and feeling, form and color. THE ADMIRAL'S GRAVE. There is in the lone, lone sea A spot unmarked but holy; For there the gallant and the free In his ocean bed lies lowly. Down, down, beneath the deep That oft in triumph bore him, He sleeps a sound and peaceful sleep With the wild waves dashing o'er him. He sleeps ! he sleeps 1 serene and safe From tempests and from billow, Where storms that high above him chafe Scarce rock his peaceful pillow, TONE -COLOR 167 The sea and him in death They did not dare to sever : It was his home when he had breath; Tis now his home forever I Sleep on, sleep on, thou mighty deadl A glorious tomb they've found thee; The broad blue sky above thee spread, The boundless ocean round thee. I'm a bird that's free of the land and sea, I wander whither I will; but oft on the wing, I falter and sing, Oh, fluttering heart, be still, be still, oh, fluttering heart, be still! I'm wild as the wind, but soft and kind, and wander whither I may; the eyebright sighs, and says with its eyes, thou wandering wind, oh stay, oh stay, thou wandering wind, oh stay! " A Sicilian Summer. SIR HENRY TAYLOR. Being above all beings ! Mighty One, Whom none can comprehend, and none explore Who fill'st existence with Thyself alone, Embracing all, supporting, ruling o'er, Being whom we call God, and know no more ! NOEL. Star-dust and vaporous light, The mist of worlds unborn, A shuddering in the awful night Of winds that bring the morn. Now comes the dawn: the circling earth; Creatures that fly and crawl ; And Man, that last, imperial birth ; And Christ, the flower of all. RICHARD WATSON GILDER. WANDERLIED. O west of all the westward roads that woo ye to their winding, O south of all the southward ways that call ye to the sea, There's a little lonely garden that would pay ye for the finding With a fairy-ring within it and an old thorn tree. O there upon the brink of morn the thrushes would be calling, And the little lilting linnets, sure they'd wake me from the dead With the lime-trees all in blossom and the soft leaf-shadows falling O there I'd have a place at last to lay my head. O would I had a swallow's wings, for then I'd fly and find it, O would I had a swallow's heart, for then I'd love to roam. With an orchard on the hillside and an old, old man to mind it, It's there I'd lift my lodge at last, and make my homt. 1 68 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION O there I'd see the tide come in along the whispering reaches, O there I'd lie and watch the sails go shining to the west, And where the firwood follows on the wide unswerving beaches, O there I'd lay me down at last and take my rest. The American Magazine. MARJORIE L- PICKTHALL NATHAN HALE. To drum-beat and heart-beat, a soldier marches by: There is color in his cheek, there is courage in his eye, Yet to drum-beat and heart-beat in a moment he must die. By starlight and moonlight, he seeks the Briton's camp ; He hears the rustling flag, and the armed sentry's tramp ; And the starlight and moonlight his silent wanderings lamp. With slow tread and still tread he scans the tented line, And he counts the battery guns by the gaunt and shadowy pine; And his slow tread and still tread gives no warning sign. The dark wave, the plumed wave, it meets his eager glance; And it sparkles 'neath the stars, like the glimmer of a lance, A dark wave, a plumed wave, on an emerald expanse. A sharp clang, a steel clang, and terror in the sound! For the sentry, falcon-eyed, in the camp a spy hath found ; With a sharp clang, a steel clang, the patriot is bound. With calm brow, steady brow, he listens to his doom; In his look there is no fear, nor a shadow-trace of gloom; But with calm brow, steady brow, he robes him for the tomb. In the long night, the still night, he kneels upon the sod ; And the brutal guards withhold e'en the solemn Word of God I In the long night, the still night, he walks where Christ hath trod. 'Neath the blue morn, the sunny morn, he dies upon the tree ; And he mourns that he can lose but one life for Liberty; And in the blue morn, the sunny morn, his spirit-wings are free. But his last words, his message-words, they burn, lest friendly eye Should read how proud and calm a patriot could die, With his last words, his dying words, a soldier's battle-cry, From Fame-leaf and Angel-leaf, from monument and urn, The sad of earth, the glad of heaven his tragic fate shall learn; And on Fame-leaf and Angel-leaf the name of Hale shall burn I FRANCIS M. FINCH TONE-COLOR, or the emotional modulation of pure tone, is the direct language of imagination and feeling. NEUTRALITY is the attitude of mind in which emo- tions are inhibited or suppressed, which causes the absence of color, and makes the voice cold and hard, xm. SECONDARY VIBRATIONS OF TONE. Having found that the language of imagination and feeling is tone-color, and noted the relation of this to vocal form, the question now arises how we can develop conditions of voice favorable to tone-color. This diffi- cult and entirely overlooked subject which may meet with scepticism on the part of many, demands serious attention. Voice consists of what may be termed primary vibrations, produced and modified into inflexions or changes in pitch by the vocal bands; and secondary, or sympathetic vibrations. The string of the violin causes the fundamental pitch of the tone, but the body of the instrument furnishes the resonance or sympathetic vibrations. Sound waves vary in length, short waves giving high pitch and long waves low pitch ; in height, causing degrees of loudness, and in shape. The last is the most difficult element in sound. The shape of sound waves is caused by the secondary vibrations, and gives rise to overtones, or resonance. The overtones of a piano can be distinguished by most persons when a low tone is struck, as the higher overtones are the last to die away. The difference between two musical instruments or between two voices is mainly due to difference in the number or relation of overtones. A flute is said to have fourteen overtones; a violin twenty-one. This accounts for the peculiar richness of the tone of a violin. A normal human voice is rich in overtones, and can vary them more than can any musical instrument. They directly respond to feeling. FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION Modulations of the length of sound waves, or pitch, give rise to inflexions and intervals, the two constitut- ing range. Facility in producing these modulations, that is, in changing the length of sound waves, has been briefly discussed under the head of Agility. Ease in varying the height of sound waves, or volume, is called Flexibility. The power to vary the shape of waves, or to enrich the overtones is now to be considered, and for convenience the work may be named Resonance. Resonance of the voice implies the development of the overtones as the material or the condition for tone- color. Tone-color, the natural language of imagina- tion and feeling, is a modulation of resonance. Qualities of voice include all possible characteristics of tone, discordant and accordant, and are chiefly due to overtones. Nasality is caused by the prominence of certain discordant overtones, by the elimination of others that are harmonious, or by some false rela- tionship among the overtones. The same is true of throatiness, flatness, and all abnormal qualities of voice. A pure tone is one whose vibrations, primary and secondary, are normal. Qualities may be normal or abnormal, but tone-color is the emotional modula- tion of normal quality or pure tone. Hence, to develop resonance, first establish purity of tone and normal conditions of the vibrations by secur- ing retention of breath and a sympathetic openness of the tone passage. The fundamental qualities, such as ease, freedom, and openness must be secured before beginning to develop the overtones. A faulty quality, such as nasality or throatiness, cannot be colored by emotion because the overtones are perverted. Tone can be colored by emotion only when the overtones are normal. A tone must be pure and produced nor- mally before the sympathetic modulation of the body by feeling will affect its overtones. SECONDARY VIBRATIONS OF TONE 171 Not only do conditions of openness, freedom, ease, and the right retention of breath affect the primary vibrations, but constrictions of the voice are removed, faults corrected, the tone becomes pure, and the sec- ondary vibrations or overtones naturally follow when imagination and feeling are present in vocal expres- sion. Hence, all the steps in vocal training thus far taken, if mastered, have indirectly but effectively begun the work of developing resonance. The exercises given in V. and VI. were to establish fundamental conditions of tone by developing ease and freedom. We find, however, a deeper co-ordination between the retention of the breath and the action of the vocal bands. Upon this depends the purity or the primary vibrations of the voice. Not only must we eliminate nasality, throatiness, and flatness, and secure ease, freedom, and purity, but there must be no waste of breath or faults of vibration in the vocal bands. All purity depends upon the economy of breath. Breath is economized by its sympathetic retention. It is at the beginning of a tone that breath is usually wasted. Voices are husky because of a sluggish action of the vocal bands; they do not meet exactly, are cov- ered with mucus, or swollen; or for some reason the vibration is not instantly initiated. Accordingly, some exercise is needed to bring them together instantly, and in co-ordination with the action of the diaphragm. Give an after dinner speech, a tribute to some friend who has died; speak upon many different ..... occasions, and note whether the emotion and the tone-color differs on each occasion according to the subject. Take " " from the first line or " come " or " ah " from the last stanza of " April " and make it *.* open and free as possible. Repeat it many times with the emotion of the whole poem. Give it many 172 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION times with different inflexions, then render the whole poem and endeavor to apply this principle in every successive phrase. Repeat certain phrases with the primary co-ordinations. APRIL. O fair midspring, besung so oft and oft, How can I praise thy loveliness enow? Thy sun that burns not, and thy breezes soft That o'er the blossoms of the orchard blow, The thousand things that 'neath the young leaves grow, The hopes and chances of the growing year, Winter forgotten long, and summer near. When summer brings the lily and the rose, She brings us fear ; her very death she brings Hid in her anxious heart, the forge of woes ; And, dull with fear, no more the mavis sings. But thou ! thou diest not, but thy fresh life clings About the fainting autumn's sweet decay, When in the earth the hopeful seed they lay. Ah ! life of all the year, why yet do I Amid thy snowy blossoms' fragrant drift, Still long for that which never draweth nigh, Striving my pleasure from my pain to sift, Some weight from off my fluttering mirth to lift? Now, when far bells are ringing, " Come again, Come back, past years ! why will ye pass in vain? " WILLIAM MORRIS. Another exercise for developing purity is a sympa- thetic retention of the breath and a more delicate mastery of the conditions of laughter. In simple laughter, especially at its initiation, there is always activity in the middle of the body caused by sympathetic retention of the breath and openness of the throat. In mock laughter there i an exhausted condition of the lungs which has a degrading effect upon tone. Genuine laughter, however, when care- fully practised without waste of breath at the start, tends to purify the tone and to exorcise the inspiratory muscles, especially those of the diaphragm, in properly reserving the breath. SECONDARY VIBRATIONS OF TONE 173 The part of a laugh which needs study and exercise for purity and mellowness is its initiation. Observe carefully a laugh, and then practise the shortest laugh with a vowel, taking breath, opening the tone passage and starting it at once. Give 1 . the tone the very slightest possible initiation. Be sure that it is free and open and full of genuine joy. Give the following with the simple joy of a little child. Be sure there is no affectation of tenderness, but gen- uine feeling. Jack Frost is a roguish little fellow, When the wintry winds begin to bellow He flies like a little bird through the air, And steals through the little cracks everywhere. He makes little girls say, Oh, oh, ohl He makes little boys say, Ho, ho, ho I Give the following with the greatest possible deli- cacy, expressing the fairies' tenderness and joy. Exag- gerate the conditions of voice, retention of * breath, and openness of the tone passage, but lessen the volume. Study the fairy laughter and render the whole poem with joy. Be sure to avoid affectation. FAIRY SONG. We dance along, with joyous song, By murmuring brook in meadow green; While moonbeams glance, we gayly dance Before our fairy king and queen. We glide before the silent door, Of those we love, while wrapped in sleep; Through starlight gleams, we bring them dreams, Or quiet stand and vigils keep. But when the lark sings o'er the dark, And clouds are touched with morning's glow; With full hearts gay, we trip away, All gaily laughing " Ho, ho, ho." &.S.C. The more delicate the laughter the better. Avoid waste of breath, jerks, labor, or constrictions. FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION Take two or three stanzas of some joyous or tender lyric, and speak the whole upon one pitch, giving the vowels their proper quality, and the syllables their right quantity, and sustaining the co-or- dination of the pharynx and larynx with the sympa- thetic retention of the breath. After this chanting, the poem should be read with the same conditions. THE BROOK. I come from haunts of coot and hern, I make a sudden sally, and sparkle out among the fern, to bicker down a valley. By thirty hills I hurry down, or slip between the ridges ; by twenty thorps, a little town, and half a hundred bridges. ... I chatter over stony ways, in little sharps and trebles, I bubble into eddy- ing bays, I babble on the pebbles. With many a curve my banks I fret, by many a field and fallow, and many a fairy fore- land set with willow-weed and mallow. I chatter, chatter, as I flow to join the brimming river ; for men may come and men may go, but I go on for ever. I wind about, and in and out, with here a blossom sailing, and here and there a lusty trout, and here and there a grayling. And here and there a foamy flake upon me, as I travel, with many a silvery water-break above the golden gravel, and draw them all along, and flow to join the brimming river, for men may come and men may go, but I go on for ever. I steal by lawns and grassy plots, i slide by hazel covers, I move the sweet forget-me-nots that grow for happy lovers. I slip, I slide, I gloom, I glance, among my skimming swallows; I make the netted sunbeam dance against my sandy shallows. I murmur under moon and stars in brambly wildernesses, I linger by my shingly bars, I loiter round my cresses. And out again I curve and flow to join the brimming river; for men may come and men may go, but 1 go on for ever. ALFRED TENNYSON. Then render the whole poem or other lyrics full of intense admiration of nature or other joyous feeling, accentuating the conditions of joy and laughter. One direct and technical means of improving the overtones is to practise the vowels with the sympa- thetic, continuous voice consonants, relaxing the tone passage and the organs of articulation as much as possible, while accentuating and harmonizing the fun- SECONDARY VIBRATIONS OF TONE 175 damental conditions of voice. There should be a still more careful observation and elimination of all con- strictions. The tone must be made as sympathetic and unmechanical as possible, and imagination and feeling should be exercised even in the practice of such a technical exercise. Exercises for developing the sympathetic vibrations, or resonance of the voice, should follow the mastery of the primary qualities. Exclamations, laughter, and other exercises for ease, freedom, and purity should be practised with great relaxation of the tone passage and a sympathetic and harmonious diffusion of activity through the respiratory muscles in retaining the breath. All exercises may thus be given progressive advance- ment. Each should be founded upon one preceding. The voice is not like a building to be constructed and to admit of new and sudden mechanical changes and treatment, but it demands stimulation and growth. One most important fact in connection with reso- nance of the voice is the impossibility of coloring loud tones; that is, in proportion to the force used to make a sound wave high, there is a loss of power to change its shape. By taking something which is very delicate and sympathetic, however, and accentuating the condi- tions as much as possible, while giving a very delicate tone, the resonance will at once begin to improve and the overtones to multiply. This is a most important discovery, and has made possible the improvement of resonance as never before. Take the following passages calling for the most delicate tone possible. Select one word or phrase such as, " hark " from the first, or " Ding-dong " from the second, increasing the amount of re- tained breath, opening and relaxing the tone passage; in short, accentuate the conditions of tone, and give the smallest tone possible. Retain a great amount of 176 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION breath, keep the tone passage wide open, and all parts relaxed, and give a rich, sympathetic tone. O hark ! O hear ! how thin and clear, And thinner, clearer, farther going! O sweet and far, from cliff and scar, The horns of Elfland faintly blowing ! Blow! let us hear the purple glens replying: Blow, bugle; answer, echoes, dying, dying, dying! TENNYSON. Full fathom five thy father lies ; Of his bones are coral made ; Those are pearls that were his eyes; Nothing of him that doth fade But doth suffer a sea-change Into something rich and strange. Sea-nymphs hourly ring his knell ; Ding-dong. Hark! now I hear them ding, dong, bell! "The Tempest." SHAKESPEARE. The practice of these exercises requires very careful oversight on the part of the teacher. After they are mastered the student should exercise imagination and feeling, and endeavor to express them through tone- color. In all exercises and practice for resonance the stu- dent should give himself up as much as possible to his imagination and feeling, and while accentuating reten- tion of breath should do this more sympathetically than usual. He must relax the tone passage and practise positive emotions, or accentuate the positive aspects of all emotions. The chief dependence in developing resonance must rest upon stimulation and exercise through the expres- sion of imagination and feeling. For the highest re- sults, both the method of technical exercises and that of expression are necessary. But technical exercises are very subtle and difficult, and should not be under- taken with careless students who have little interest in the improvement of the voice. SECONDARY VIBRATIONS OF TONE 177 Review the group of contrasted lines, p. 161, with special reference to the conditions and sympathetic vibrations of the voice, or arrange a new list with still more definite contrasts. Use such simple contrasts, with true imagination and feeling, as an introduction to the following studies of tone-color and sympathetic vibrations in relation to single words. Take the word " home " or " moon " or " safe " from the following passage, and " home " from the second, and third, or " name " from the fourth and give them with all possible tenderness and sympathy. Let there be perfect relaxation of all the organs of voice and body, while the breath is sym- pathetically retained. After rendering the single word many times, read the poem and express the feeling with each successive phrase. Moon on the field and the foam, Moon on the mount and the wold, Moon, bring him home! bring him home! Safe from the dark and the c Id, Home, sweet moon bring him home, Home, with the flock to the fold, Safe from the wolf! NOT KNOWN. Home, home, away, and leave your play I No, no, play on till daylight's gone. HOME, SWEET HOME. Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam, Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home: A charm from the sky seems to hallow us there, Which, go through the world, you'll not meet with elsewhere. Home, home, sweet, sweet home! Be it ever so humble, there's no place like homei An exile from home, pleasure dazzles in vain; Oh 1 give me my lowly thatch 'd cottage again; The birds singing sweetly, that came to my call Give me them, and that peace of minrt dearer than all. Home, sweet, sweet, sweet home ! Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home! PAINE. I 78 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION Hame, hame, hame, hame fain wad I be, O hame, hame, hame, to my ain countrie I When the flower is i' the bud, and the leaf is on the tree, The lark shall sing me hame in my ain countrie; Hame, Hame, hame, hame fain wad I be, O hame, hame, hame, to my ain countrie 1 " Hame, Hame, Hame." JAMES HOGG. Some exercises for the development of tone-color may be delayed until now after some understanding and mastery of resonance has been acquired. The student need not always make a distinction between the organic conditions of resonance and the expression of feeling through its modulation, tone-color. In fact he cannot do so, because the mind must be centred upon the situation and the feeling; and resonance depends upon the diffusion of genuine emotion and cannot be made and developed mechanically. Even the exercises here suggested must be temporary. They must be immediately followed by practice in expressing fjnaginativej emotional, and sublime literature. Give each of the following " oh's " in the spirit of the poem, and then render the clauses with the dis- ^ .~ tinct emotional coloring of each, and note the contrast. Oh, Brignall banks are mild and fair, and Greta woods are green, And you may gather garlands there would grace a summer-queen. SCOTT O Tiber! Father Tiber! to whom the Romans pray, A Roman's life, a Roman's arms, take them in charge this day! O for boyhood's time of June, Crowding years in one brief moon. WHITTIER, O God Almighty ! . . . aid me, give me strength Not to tell her, never to let her knoWc TENNYSON There groups of merry children played; there youths and maidens, dreaming, strayed. O precious hours ! O golden prime, and affluence of love and time I Even as a miser counts his gold, those hours the ancient time-piece told: "Forever never I Never forever ! " LONGFELLOW SECONDARY VIBRATIONS OF TONE 179 O! how our hearts were beating, when, at the dawn of day, We saw the army of the League drawn out in long array. MACAULAY. O Thou Eternal One I my Maria 1 Alas I she married another. They frequently do. I hope she is happy because I am. Some people are not happy. I have noticed that. BROWNE (Artemus Ward). O, the little birds sang east, And the little birds sang west. MRS. BROWNING. O Caledonia 1 stern and wild, meet nurse for a poetic child! land of brown heath and shaggy wood, land of the mountain and the flood, land of my sires 1 what mortal hand can e'er untie the filial band that knits me to my rugged strand? SCOTT. Cordelia. O thou good Kent, how shall I live and work, To match thy goodness? O glorious youth, that once was mine! O high ideal! all in vain ye enter at this ruined shrine whence worship ne'er shall rise again ; the bat and ow' inhabit here, the snake nests in the altar-stone, the sacred vessels moulder near, the image of thy God is gone. LOWELL. Take the word " come " from the following extracts and isolate it from the other words, but give it the emotion of the poem in which it occurs. Ob- serve that in proportion as we can command the sympathetic vibrations of the voice on some one word, we secure power to express by definite tone-color a great variety of emotions. Come, O Swallows, and stir the air, For the buds are all bursting unaware. GOSSE. Come, and trip it as ye go On the light, fantastic toe 1 MILTON. Come, brothers I let me name a spell shall rouse your souls again, Rise, hill and glen! rise, crag and wood! rise up on either handi Again upon the Garry's banks, on Scottish soil we stand ! Stayed we behind, that glorious day, for roaring flood or linn? The soul of Graeme is with us still now, brothers I will ye in. l8o FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION Come from the hills where your hirsela are grazing, Come from the glen of the buck and the roe ; Come to the crag where the beacon is blazing, Come with the buckler, the lance, and the bow. O come in life, or come in death ! O lost; my love, Elizabeth. JEAN INGELOW, " Come back, come back, Horatius ! " loud cried the fathers all. " Back, Lartius ! back, Herminius 1 back, ere the ruin fall ! " MACAULAY Come live with me and be my Love. MARLOWE. Come, my friends, 'Tis not too late to seek a newer world. - Ulysses." TENNYSON. Come, let us go a-Maying as in the Long-Ago. HENLEY. Come, all ye jolly shepherds, that whistle down the glen I I'll tell ye of a secret that courtiers dinna ken: What is the greatest bliss that the tongue o' man can name? 'Tis to woo a bonnie lassie when the kye comes hame. HOGG. Come one, come all, this rock shall fly From its firm base as soon as I. ' Lady of the Lake." SCOTT Come unto me, all ye that are weary and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. COME HOME. Come home. Would I could send my spirit o'er the deep, Would I could wing it like a bird to thee, To commune with thy thoughts, to fill thy sleep With these unwearying words of melody, Brother, come home. Come home. Come to the hearth-stone of thy earlier days, Come to the ark, like the o'erwearied dove, Come with the sunlight of thy heart's warm rays, Come to the fire-side circle of thy love. Brother^ come home. SECONDARY VIBRATIONS OF TONE l8l Come home. Would I could send my spirit o'er the deep, Would I could wing it like a bird to thee, To commune with thy thoughts, to fill thy sleep With these unwearying words of melody. Brother, come home. MRS. HEMANS Come, come o'er the sea, Maiden, with me, Come wherever the wild wind blows; Seasons may roll, But the true soul Burns the same, where'er it goes. A great help in the development of resonance of voice, as also in getting command of emotion and its expression, is the practice of extreme transitions *.- in the same poem or passage. There should be not only contrast in color but changes in key and movement., Every possible variation of voice should be adopted that will express the transition. From that chamber, clothed in white, The bride came forth on her wedding night; There, in that silent room below, The dead lay, in his shroud of snow; And, in the hush that followed the prayer, Was heard the old clock on the stair, " Forever never I Never forever J " LONGFELLOW. How do admiration of nature, love and tenderness soften the voice? Note that intensely tender emotion diffuses itself through the body, and that firm, resolute, muscular action expresses anger and antagonism, while gentleness and tenderness relax and cause sym- pathetic expansion. Render joyous lyrics and those expressing admira- tion of nature or deep feeling, intensely realiz- 1 .. ing the imaginative situation, and giving up the whole breathing and body to the sympathetic domina- tion of emotion. Oh, the bells of Shandon sound far more grand on The pleasant waters oi the tiver Lee. 1 82 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION Ah. 1 'tis like a tale of olden time, long, long ago, When the world was in its golden prime, and Love was lord below. Every vein of earth was dancing with spring's new wine ; Twas the pleasant time of flowers, when I met you, love mine. Ah I some spirit sure was staying out of heaven, that day, When I met you, love, a-Maying in that merry, merry May. Little heart it shyly opened its red leaves, love lore ; Like a rose that must be ripened to the dainty, dainty core ; But its beauties daily brighten, and it blooms so dear, Though a many winters whiten, I go Maying all the year. And my proud heart will be praying blessings on the day When I met you, sweet, a-Maying, in the merry, merry May. A Love Lyric." GERALD MASSEY, THE LIGHT OF OTHER DAYS. Oft in the stilly night ere slumber's chain has bound me, fond Memory brings the light of other days around me: the smiles, the tears of boyhood's years, the words of love then spoken! The eyes that shone, now dimm'd and gone, the cheerful hearts now broken ! Thus in the stilly night ere slumber's chain has bound me, sad Memory brings the light of other days around me* When I remember all the friends so link'd together I've seen around me fall like leaves in wintry weather, I feel like one who treads alone some banquet-hall deserted, whose lights are fled, whose garland's dead, and all but he departed ! Thus in the stilly night ere slumber's chain has bound me, sad Memory brings the light of other days around me. THOMAS MOORE. Speak upon some subject with earnestness and abandon, allowing the emotion to establish such conditions that the texture of the voice is modu- lated by feeling. VIBRATION is the manifestation of force by pulsa- tions. SOUND WAVES denote the transmission of pulsa- tions called sound to the ear. OVERTONES, or HAR- MONICS, are various higher pitches produced by more rapid vibrations and shorter sound waves; they are heard simultaneously with the fundamental tone. TONE-COLOR, as here used, is the emotional modulation of these overtones. XIV. PANTOMIMIC CONDITIONS OF TONE. Something has already been said (VII.) regarding the importance to tone of the conditions of the whole body, and study of the sympathetic vibrations of the voice should make this fact clearer. The body acts as the sounding board of the voice. The string of the violin sounded alone is cnK'e as compared with its twenty-one overtones when in its proper place. The body is much more vitally connected with the voice than the violin with its string and tone> The tone initiated by the vocal bands receives rein- forcement by sympathetic vibrations from the body. The chest is the resonance chamber. Every part of the head affects the tone. No man can cramp even his hand or his foot, or throw his body out of poise with- out more or less perverting his tone, or bring all parts into sympathetic relations without improving the vibra- tions of his voice. The voice is a part ; the body is the whole. Emotion diffuses itself naturally through the whole organism, and as will be shown later, most directly expresses itself through action. Tone is reflex action from move- ments, positions, and textures of the muscles caused by feeling. The student should endeavor to find whether these statements are true. He r.hould not contentedly accept the universal neglect of this subject, but should inves- tigate for himself. He should, however, remember that the body, after long years of stiffness and neglect, may not be in a responsive condition, and he should perse- vere until he develops the healthful, harmonious, and sympathetic action of his body in producing tone. 83 1 84 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION The importance of the whole body in relation to tone can be seen by some contrasts or sudden transi- tions. Observe any person with a very hard, cold tone, and note that there are generally constrictions in his face around the eyes, and that his action is angular and jerky. Note also that voices which are pleasing, sympathetic, and rich in vibration are found in persons with a corresponding expression in the face. Make also a few studies or experiments in relation to tone. Render the following passage with as much tender- ness as possible. Then cramp the muscles of the face, hands and body, and note the importance of suggesting the same feeling in these; and that the voice necessarily responds to the condition of the muscles. Hope, like the glimmering taper's light, adorns and cheers the way; And still, as darker grows the night, emits a brighter day. GOLDSMITH. Give the words of a noble character with a dignified bearing of the body; then cramp the body and .._. face into the attitude of a villain and note the impossibility of giving the words in such a way as to suggest some ideal personage. All things are ready if our minds be so. He that outlives this day, and comes safe home, Will stand a tip-toe when this day is nam'd, And rouse him at the name of Crispian. He that shall live this day, and see old age, Will yearly on the vigil feast his friends, And say To-morrow is Saint Crispian: Then will he strip his sleeve, and show his scars, And say, These wounds I had on Crispin's day. Old men forget ; ye all shall be forgot, But he'll remember, with advantages, What feats he did that day; then shall our names, Familiar in their mouths as household words, Harry the king, Bedford and Exeter, Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloster, PANTOMIMIC CONDITIONS OF TONE 185 Be in their flowing cups freshly remembered. This story shall the good man teach his son; And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by, From this day to the ending of the world, But we in it shall be remembered, We few, we happy few, we band of brothers; For he to-day that sheds his blood with me, Shall be my brother ; be he ne'er so vile, This day shall gentle his condition: And gentlemen in England now a-bed, Shall think themselves accurs'd, they were not here; And hold their manhoods cheap, while any speaks That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day. " Henry V." (.Before the Rattle of Agincourt.) SHAKESPEARE. From these observations the student should at least be convinced that the training of the voice is not local, or something separated from mind and body, but directly and intimately connected with both. To im- prove the voice demands attention to the actions of the mind and also to the responsive conditions of the organism. A proper manner of opening the tone pas- sage and of breathing are only the first and the most necessary and conscious conditions. But by working directly upon these we find a place at which to begin the work of vocal training. The rendering of sympathetic extracts, and of lyrics containing profound feeling, will awaken the student, not only to a realization of the possibilities of expres- sion, but also to the nature and function of his voice. Great help will come to the student from the mas- tery of surrendering himself to sympathetic feeling. Many exercises can be given for this surrender of the various parts of the body, but they are too complicated for discussion in this place. They may be found explained in " Principles of Training." The student should be able to give up any part of his body to gravitation and also to his own feeling. Realize sympathetically the loving character of the speaker in " John Anderson, My Jo." Give up the 1 86 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION body to the imaginative, emotional, or dramatic realiza- tion of the character. Do not manipulate the voice locally, but allow it to express the sym- pathetic identification of the organism as a whole with thought and feeling, and give every idea true expression. JOHN ANDERSON, MY JO. John Anderson, my jo, John, When we were first acquent, Your locks were like the raven. Your bonnie brow was brent; But now your brow is beld, John, Your locks are like the snaw; But blessings on your frosty pow, John Anderson, my jo. John Anderson, my jo, John, We clamb the hill thegither; And monie a canty day, John, We've had wi' ane anither: Now we maun totter down, John,, But hand in hand we'll go, And sleep thegither at the foot, John Anderson, my jo. BURNS. Give a few words of the character of " Old Adam. * Relax sympathetically the body and identify your- 1 _ fi self with the old man's love for Orlando. Orlando. Who's there? Adam. What, my young master? O my gentle master 1 O my sweet master ! O you memory Of old Sir Rowland 1 why, what make you here? Orlando. Why, what's the matter? Adam. O unhappy youth, Come not within these doors ; within this roof The enemy of all your graces lives. " As You Like It." Song, as an art, is dependent upon sympathetic condi- tions of the body in relation to being. The reason why song is such a mechanical art at the present is that the voice is only trained locally. There is no awakening of the imagination and feeling. But in a genuine art PANTOMIMIC CONDITIONS OF TONE 187 of song the conditions of being, of body, and of tone are the direct result of imaginative feeling which so domi- nates the person as to unfold the sympathetic vibra- tions of the voice. A realisation of the nature of song and of lyric and dramatic passages, with practice of single words or lines, as well as singing, will gradually give great mellowness and richness to the voice. If, on the con- trary, the body is constricted and cramped ; if there is a cold, intellectual, or dictatorial expression of thought, as is often the case with teachers and speakers, the voice may harden, lose its overtones, and become not only disagreeable to the listener, but affect the speak- er's health unfavorably. This method of attention to the body as a whole is a great help in correcting hardness, narrowness, and throatiness, and nearly every fault of the voice, espe- cially those associated with the lessening of vibration or resonance. The primary cause of any fault will always be found in the mind, in the habitual thought and feeling ; but this mental or emotional condition expresses itself in certain conditions of the body, which must be elimi- nated, together with the primary cause, before there can be permanent improvement of the tone. Nasality, which seems to be a mere local constric- tion at the back of the tongue and so^t palate, is often associated with constriction in the face. No one can draw down the outer corners of his nostrils and not produce a nasal tone. In the practice of all vocal exercises and in reading, all constrictions, whether permanent or temporarily expressive of unnecessary effort, should be eliminated from the body, and especially from the voice, because in every case such constrictions are associated with some limitation or perversion of the sympathetic vibrations. 1 88 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION Render in contrast the characters of Launcelot and his father. Do not locally manipulate the voice, but be sure that the sympathetic identification with each character causes a change through the body by the spontaneous diffusion of imagination and emo- tion. Be careful to relax the body in giving the words of old Gobbo. Note especially the contrast between the assumed pride and haughtiness of Launcelot and the relaxed and feeble condition of the body of old Gobbo. Gobbo. Master young man, you, I pray you, which is the way to Master Jew's? Launcelot. (Aside.) O Heavens, this is my true-begotten father! who, being more than sand-blind, high -gravel -blind, knows me not. I will try confusions with him. " Merchant of Venice." SHAKESPEARE. Read the words of some familiar song as sympa- thetically as possible. Realize the ideas so in- .. tensely that the body becomes relaxed and per- meated with feeling to its farthest extremities. THE LOST SHEEP. There were ninety and nine that safely lay in the shelter of the fold ; but one was out on the hills away, far off from the gates of gold, away on the mountain wild and bare, away from the tender Shepherd's care. " Lord, thou hast here thy ninety and nine : are they not enough for thee? " but the Shepherd made answer: " 'Tis of mine has wandered away from me; and al- though the road be rough and steep I go to the desert to find my sheep." But none of the ransomed ever knew how deep were the waters crossed, nor how dark was the night when the Lord passed through ere he found His sheep that was lost. Out in the desert he heard its cry sick and helpless, and ready to die. " Lord, whence are those blood-drops all the way, that mark out the mountain track? " " They were shed for one who had gone astray ere the Shepherd could bring him back." " Lord, whence are thy hands so rent and torn? They are pierced to-night by many a thorn." But all through the mountains, thunder-riven, and up from the rocky steep, there rose a cry to the gate of heaven, " Rejoice! I have found my sheep! " And the angels echoed around the throne, " Rejoice, for the Lord brings back His own! " The Ninety and Nine." ELIZABETH CEVILIA CLEPHANE. PANTOMIMIC CONDITIONS OF TONE 189 Row all the publicans and sinners were drawing near unto him to hear him. And both the Pharisees and the scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them. And he spake unto them this parable, saying, What man of you, having a hundred sheep, and having lost one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that v/hich is lost, until he find it? And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and his neighbors, saying unto them, Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost. I say unto you, that even so there shall be joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine righteous persons, who need no repentance. LUKE. It is a good exercise also to sing some familiar song like the preceding, with genuine action; not with too much gesture and motion, but with deep passion, and especially with such conditions of emotion as are ex- pressed in song, and shown by long sustained attitudes or expressive positions. Render the following speech of Laertes and note the sudden transition from antagonism to tenderness; also the change of the body during a long pause. Observe that a long pause with complete change in the texture and action of the body under dominion of intense feeling is necessary to change in tone. Notice especially the transition before " rose of May ! " and render this and the next line with all the love and tenderness of a brother. Then observe the recoil before the word following: Laertes How nowl what noise is that? (Re-enter Ophelia.) O heat, dry up my brains J tears seven times salt, Burn out the sense and virtue of mine eye ! By heaven, thy madness shall be paid by weight, Tiu our scale turn the beam. O rose of May ! Dear maid, kind sister, sweet Ophelia 1 O heavens 1 is't possible, a young maid's wits Should be as mortal as an old man's life? "Hamlet." SHAKESPEARE. Study the mental actions in some soliloquy of Shakes- peare, in a dramatic speech, or in some part of an FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION oration or story, and observe carefully every varia- tion in thought, feeling, and situation. Be sure that action precedes the speech and establishes conditions for the tone. All true songs or lyrics express profound feelings and conditions. Realize the spirit of one that is familiar and render it as sympathetically as possible, keeping the body relaxed and allowing the feeling to permeate its farthest extremities and keeping the conditions of texture uniform. This will gradually give the greatest possible mellowness and richness to the voice. If, on the contrary, the body is constricted or cramped in any way, observe the effect upon the tone. Hardness, narrowness, huskiness or nasality, usually, and in every case a lessening of the resonance, will result from constriction of some seemingly insignificant part. Render some song or lyric full of deep emotion, real- izing the situation and greatly itensifying the feeling, but do not allow inflexions or normal modula- tions of voice to change. Observe meanwhile, that deep realization of feeling, when diffused through the body, causes richer overtones. The voice becomes soft, relaxed, and expressive of sympathy. O, wert thou in the cauld blast, On yonder lea, on yonder lea, My plaidie to the angry airt, I'd shelter thee, I'd shelter thee. Or did misfortune's bitter storms Around thee blaw, around thee blaw, Thy shield should be my bosom, To share it a', to share it a'. Or were I hi the wildest waste, Of earth and air, of earth and air, The desert were a paradise, If thou wert there, if thou wert there. Or were I monarch of the globe, Wi' thee to reign, wi' thee to reign, The only jewel in my crown, Wad be my queen, wad be my queen. BURNS. PANTOMIMIC CONDITIONS OF TONE 19] Ah ! my heart is pained with throbbing, Throbbing for the May, Throbbing for the seaside billows, Or the water-wooing willows, Where in laughing and in sobbing Glide the streams away. Ah 1 my heart, my heart is throbbing, Throbbing for the May. DENIS F. MCCARTHY Oh, if I could only make you see The clear blue eyes, the tender smile, The sovereign sweetness, the gentle grace, The woman's soul and the angel's face, That are beaming on me all the while 1 I need not speak these foolish words ; Yet one word tells you all I would say^ She is my mother ; you will agree That all the rest may be thrown away. A BALLAD OF THE ROAD. Oh, a gypsy longing stirs your heart When Autumn's sounding the rover's call ! *' Oh, leave the city and leave the mart, Come out, come out where the red leaves fall, And asters flame by each gray stone wall I Have done with cares that fetter and goad. Heed ye and barken ye one and all, And know the joys of the winding road 1 " A veil of purple lies on the hills, Your step moves swift to some unknown air Forgotten music of boughs and rills The oaks are russet, the maples flare, The sumach's splendor glows here and thre, And your weary heart has slipped its load, Oh, bright the sunlight as on you fare Tasting the joys of the winding road 1 Odors of e th when the wild winds blow, New views to greet you at each hill's crest, Color and beauty where'er you go These shall add to your journey's zest. And when the daylight dies in the west A star-hung roof for your night's abode, A bed of pine and a dreamless rest These are the jovs of the winding road. IQ2 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION Oh, ye of the town who do not know How blithe and free is the rover's code! Come out, come out where the glad winds blowl There's joy for all on the winding road! From "Town and Country." CONSTANCE o'ARCY MACKAY. Announce something to an audience, and note the negative or neutral attitude of the mind, and the con- sequent absence of voice modulations. Then speak upon some moving subject, giving up the whole being and body to the domination of feeling, and observe the difference in the modulations of the voice. SONG OF THE MOUNTAIN. Son of all the cities, with their culture and their code, What brings you to my doorway by the lone and starry road? You may come with seven pack-mules, you may walk or steam or ride, But you'll never, never know me till you come without a guide. You may come with rod and level, with compass and with chain, To parcel me for profit and barter me for gain; You may tell my age in eons by the scars on drift and slide; But you'll never, never know me till you learn how I abide. You may range my slopes for silver ; you may wash my sands for gold; You may tally every jewel, till my gems have all been told ; You may cross my wildest canon, you may top my last divide, But you'll never, never know me till you watch me wonder-eyed. You must sleep for nights together, with your head upon my breast, The companion of my silence, the receiver of my rest. You may come with all your wisdom, to subdue me in your pride, But you'll never, never know me till you love me as a bride. BLISS CARMAN. SYMPATHETIC VIBRATIONS result primarily from sympathetic conditions of the body, the degree of activity, and especially the harmonious oneness of texture caused by diffusion of emotion. The discor- dant or abnormal constriction of certain parts, expres- sing a chaotic condition of thought and feeling, is the chief cause of discordant overtones, XV. MOULDING TONE INTO WORDS. As breath is the material of tone, so tone is the material for speech. Tone is modulated in various ways, by the lips, and by the tip and other parts of the tongue in relation to the teeth, roof of the mouth, and soft palate. i. ELEMENTS OF SPEECH. Speech is roughly divided into vowels, consonants, and glides. A vowel (from " voco," to call, whence also comes the word " voice ") consists of an uninterrupted outflow of tone. It is caused by the shape of the mouth cavity, the outline being formed by the position of the tongue, occasionally with the help of the lips. A consonant (literally " sounding with ") is a quick obstructive action of the organs more or less in juxtaposition, and is always accompanied by a vowel. A vowel can form a syllable but not a consonant. A consonant has a certain obstructive vibration; a vowel a free and open vibra- tion. A glide has the character of a vowel, but is indefinite, secondary to a vowel, and cannot form a syllable. As an example, in the word " dare," the central sound, the fundamental part of the word, is the vowel; " d " is the consonant, and the vowel is followed by a glide, the final " r " has become, in good English, rather a glide than a consonant. Prof. Melville Bell distinguished three parts of the tongue, the front, the middle, and the back, - which become primarily operative in shaping the tone passage, and give rise to three classes of vowels. The lips may or may not be active, which would double the possible number of vowels. In a few languages the soft palate also acts, which would also increase the 193 194 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION number. Each part of the tongue is given different degrees of height, and also a widening action, and all these modify the vowels so greatly that, aside from nasal action, thirty-six distinct vowel positions are distinguished, which may be indicated by the chart on the opposite page. Great difficulty in studying both consonants and vowels arises from the fact that we have over twice as many sounds as we have letters to stand for them. Hence the great confusion in spelling, and the failure even on the part of many educated persons to know the sounds of their language. The consonants are more simple than the vowels. They are divided into pharyngeal, or those having no vocal element except what is found in the vowel sup- porting them, and into laryngeal, or those which have voice during their obstructive action. The first are often called breath consonants, the second sub-vocals, or voice consonants. We have also three or more elements produced with the tongue in different positions, and with a downward action of the soft palate, which are called nasals. BREATH VOCAL P Pay B Bay T Tie D Die K Kick G Gig Wh Why Whine W Way Wine. F Fie Fine V Vie Vine Th Thigh Th (Dh) Thy S Seal Z Zeal Sh Rush Zh Rouge Rh True R Drew Lh Clue Flow L Glue Blow Y Hew Y You H Tsh Chew Dzh Jew (Mh) (Smith) M Myth My (Nh) (Tent) N Ten Nigh (Ngh) (Kink) g King MOULDING TONE INTO WORDS 195 i O R W w w H b 6 J * S t> a a 5 Q, 5 S a _2 g 3 * -"^H j y T ga I H 14) IBS jg MP 8 J o a f* 3 O .3 S a ^-, -*- 1 U *M~ G 10 O. 3 P SI s :3 ^ -^ in repose . S C J3 I M 00 cd a b* a O a Oi 3 A 4-> o 3 i H 1 O) "S o o O 12 a 3 m D. o' 1 6 S c cd 0* 5 a" t* & "3 "3 Q o PU M o $ should be made and practised for the development of a sense of quantity and the relative value of syllables. The student should also render passages with sym- pathetic modulation of quantity, to express seriousness, awe, reverence, or other deep feeling. This is totally different from " median stress." It is simply the relative quantity of the vowels or syllables. Do you recognize at once in the following a metric structure? Sometimes, a-dropping from the sky, I heard the skylark sing; sometimes all little birds that are how they seemed to fill the sea and air with their sweet jargoningl And now 'twas like all instruments, now like a lonely flute; and now it is an angel's song, that makes the heavens be mute. It ceased; yet still the sails made on a pleasant noise till noon a noise like of a hidden brook in the leafy month of June, that to the sleeping woods all night singeth a quiet tune. "Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner." COLERIDGE- Do you recognize in speaking the following words that it is a lack of the sense of metre which causes the almost universal fault in their pro- nunciation. FLEXIBILITY OF VOICE 229 Family. Library. Masterly. Simplicity. Encyclopedia. Mesopotamia, Indifferent. Consecutive. Happily. Truth- fully. Syllable. Many poems in this book are printed as prose, not because metre and length of line are unimportant, but to show the nature of metre, the value of length of line, and to prevent a mechanical pausing at the end of lines of poetry; also to cultivate in the reading of metre the accentuation of the true spirit of metric movement, which is more important than length of lineo While it is necessary to recognize and master the exact character of every foot, metre must not be re- garded as artificial. It is not an unmeaning mechan- ical modulation of force. The metre of a well written poem is expressive of its deepest spirit, it can only be hinted in print. It belongs to speech, and in a poem printed as prose the discovery of metre must come through the living voice, not through the eye. The meaning of metre is difficult to define ; an under- standing must be gained from living examples. The student must feel that which is appropriate and that which is inappropriate, and give a true rendering of its spirit. In general the iambic expresses heroism, resolution, progression; the trochaic, tenderness, appeal, gentle- ness. Note the number of tender, prayerful hymns in this metre. The spondee expresses balance, pause, rev- erence or contemplation. Observe the predominance of this foot in Gray's Elegy. The pyrrhic is never found except in union with other feet. It expresses restlessness, movement, transition. It is often fol- lowed by a spondee. The two feet blend into a larger broader kind of iambus. Triple metres are more flexible than dual. If the dual suggests a walk, the triple suggests a run. The triple usually expresses ideality, grace, and movement. 230 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION There is, however, correspondence in meaning. The anapestic, corresponds with the iambic, and the two are often found in the same line. Observe the beauti- ful union of these two in Goethe's " Erlkonig " which is not found in Scott's translation. The dactylic is closely connected in meaning with the trochaic. Certain forms of the amphibrach are closely con- nected in meaning with the spondee. Wer reitet so spat durch Nacht und Wind? Es 1st der Vater mit seinem Kind *; Er hat den Knaben wohl in dem Arm; Er fasst ihn sicher, er halt ihn warm. GOETHE. O who rides by night thro' the woodland so wild? It is the fond father embracing his child; And close the boy nestles within his loved arm, To hold himself fast, and to keep himself warm. SCOTT'S TRANSLATION FROM GOETHE Arrange several lines with the different feet in direct contrast and practise these in recitative and also in speech^ accentuating the feet, as far as possible, and training the ear to recognize them. Be sure to accentuate the strong syllables in direct oppo- sition to subordinate ones but preserve the normal pro- portions. This is an important exercise in developing flexibility of voice. Everywhere the gate of Beauty Fresh across the pathway swings As we follow truth or duty Inward to the heart of things: And we enter, foolish mortals, Thinking now the heart to find, There to gaze on vaster portals i Still the glory lies behind. NOT KNOWN. Come into the garden, Maud, For the black bat, night, has flown, Come into the garden, Maud, 1 am here at the gate alone; And the woodbine spices are wafted abroad, And the musk of the rose is blown. Maud." TENNYSON. FLEXIBILITY OF VOICE 331 The curfew tolls the knell of parting day, The lowing herd winds slowly o'er the lea, The ploughman homeward plods his weary way, And leaves the world to darkness and to me. Fow fades the glimmering landscape on the sight, And all the air a solemn stillness holds, Save where the beetle wheels his droning flight, And drowsy tinklings lull the distant folds: HOW ARE SONGS BEGOT AND BRED. How are songs begot and bred? How do golden measures flow? From the heart, or from the head, Happy poet, let me know. Tell me first how folded flowers Bud and bloom in vernal bowers; How the south wind shapes its tune, The harper, he, of June. None may answer, none may know, Winds and flowers come and go, And the selfsame canons bind Nature and the poet's mind. THE UNEXPRESSED. Strive not to say the whole 1 the poet in his art, Must intimate the whole, and say the smallest part. The young moon's silver arc, her perfect circle tells v The limitless, within Art's bounded outline dwells. Of every noble work, the silent part is best; Of all expression, that which cannot be expressed. Each act contains the life, each work of art, the world, And all the planet-laws are in each dewdrop pearled. STORY. Sailing away, losing the breath of the shores in May. The Assyrian came down like a wolf on the fold. 44 Destruction of Sennacherib * BYRON. As the marsh hen secretly buiid- -n th, watery sod, Behold 1 will build me a ne~t "v the greatness of God ! I will fly in the greatness of God as the marsh hen flies In the freedom that fills all the space 'twixt the marsh and the skies " Marshes of Glynn " SIDNEY LANIER. Passion the fathomless spring, and words the precipitate waters, Rhythm the bank that binds these to their musical bed. ' The Lyrical Poem ' RICHARD GARNETT 232 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION I sprang to the stirrup, and Joris, and he, I galloped, Dick galloped, we galloped all three. . . Not a word to each other, we kept the great pace, Neck by neck, stride by stride, never changing our place. " Ride from Ghent to Aix." BROWNING. Many combinations of these metric feet should be observed. Note that in good authors there is never found a continuous mechanical use of one foot in a poem. There are constant transitions. Some of these occur so frequently as to be named, such as the core- ambus which is generally used either with the spondee or with iambic metric movement. Observe, for example, that the first four syl- ,_ lables in the following are expressed in this foot. Sun of my soul, my Saviour dear, It is not night if Thou art near. Note the coreambus in the first line but the pyrrhic at the beginning of the second. That is, in the first, there is a long and two short and a long syllable in succession; in the second, there are three short syl- lables followed by a long one. Observe, however, that the second foot may be read as a coreambus. Some prefer to read it so, and this is perfectly legitimate. Take some poem and study its spirit and the predominant foot, and also any change in its metre, and the meaning of this. RENCONTRE. Toiling across the Mer de Glace I thought of, longed for thee; What miles between us stretched, alas What miles of land and sea I My foe, undreamed of, at my side Stood suddenly, like Fate. For those who love, the world is wide, But not for those who hate. T. B. ALDRICH. FLEXIBILITY OF VOICE 333 No, I will weep no more. In such a night To shut me out I Pour on ; I will endure. In such a night as this ! O Regan, Gonerilt Your old kind father, whose frank heart gave all, O, that way madness lies; let me shun that; No more of that. Exercise great diligence in finding the real nature as well as the spirit of the rhythm of different poems. We can easily make a mistake in deciding what metre belongs to a poem. There is often possible a difference in the rendering. The student should endeavor to read a poem of one metre in another and note the discords thus produced. But he should also observe the practices of careless readers, and that the metre is, by even the best actors, often completely perverted or at least wholly unrecognized. Note also, that in many poems, the feet are read dif- ferently by different persons. Such freedom is allow- able so long as the true spirit of the poem is expressed, but observe that a poem may be read with a total per- version of metre. A trochaic poem may be read as an iambic, an iambic as trochee, a spondee in the iambic spirit, and so on. It is very difficult for some to realize the difference, and even Shakespeare's great lines are often rendered with total disregard of their metric struc- ture. This is not due to inattention but to not having received any training in the real spirit of metre. Observe also that metre is not a phase of print but of vocal expression. That metre belongs to vocal ex- pression can be seen by any one who will observe that the delivery of some speakers will be spondaic, that of others iambic, and of still others trochaic. Sometimes a speaker will change from one to the other. These metric movements, or phases of rhythm, are universal, but they receive a definite expression only in metre. Can you read the following prose extract in the spirit of different metres? What is the difference in 234 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION meaning? Why do many speakers let their voices drop at the end of sentences? Has this any kinship with the trochaic movement? It is only by work that thought can be made healthy. RUSKIN. Art is never art till it is more than art; the finite exists only as the body of the infinite. The man of genius must first know the infinite, unless he wishes to become, not a poet, but a maker of idols. KINGSLEY. He will fail in the highest and sublimest phase of vocal expression who has not wrestled with the un- printable elements of metre. One must master, on the one hand, the flexibility of the voice; on the other, that deep spirit with which rhythmic sequence of syllables expresses all varieties of feeling, from mere restlessness to intense sympathy with suffering. The student should observe also, while on the sub- ject of metre, the meaning of length of line and even length of stanza. Many poems in this book are printed as prose in order to give the student an opportunity to write out such poems or to mark them according to their metric structure, and also as a means of awaken- ing in him a sense of the true spirit of poetic form. Usually a short extract is printed in proper form with the whole printed as prose in another place. In every case attention should be given to the real spirit of a poem as expressed by its form. MY RESOURCES. Thine are the star-sown spaces ; The salt-sea depths are Thine; Thy riches none can measure ; A little need is mine. Swift lightnings do Thy bidding, And the slow, moon-drawn tide; All forces act Thy pleasure ; My need will be supplied. EMILY TOLMAN. FLEXIBILITY OP VOICE 335 Hail to thee, blithe spirit I Bird thou never wert, That from heaven, or near it, Pourest thy full heart In profuse strains of unpremeditated art. SHELLEY Puck How now, spirit, whither wander you? Fairy. Over hill, over dale, Thorough bush, thorough briar, Over park, over pale, Thorough flood, thorough fire, I do wander everywhere, Swifter than the moone's sphere; And I serve the fairy queen, To dew her orbs upon the green: The cowslips tall her pensioners be; In their gold coats spots you see; Those be rubies, fairy favours, In those freckles live their savours; I must go seek some dew-drops here, And hang a pearl in every cowslip's ear. " Midsummer Night's Dream." SHAKESPEARE. The reader should carefully distinguish between the metre of poetry and the rhythm of prose. He should also read poetry in such a way as to balance or co-ordinate the natural rhythm or alternation between pause and touch, thought and speech, with the metric movement. Study also authors like Whit- man, who have discarded metre as being mechanical, for an idealized rhythm as being less conventional and capable of deeper expression. A mastery of all these will develop flexibility of the voice. Truth alone is not sufficient; truth is the arrow, but man is the bow that sends it home. BEECHER. Ah, what can ever be more stately and admirable to me than mast- hemmed Manhattan? River and sunset and scallop-edged waves of flood-tide? The sea-gulls oscillating their bodies, the hay-boat in the twilight, and the belated lighter? " Crowing Brooklyn Ferry." WALT WHITMAN 236 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION Mark out and define the meaning of length of line, stanza, the predominant metric foot, and the changes of metre in Shelley's " Skylark " or other poems printed as prose, and render all these with the voice. TO A SKYLARK. Hail to thee, blithe spirit ! bird thou never wert, that from heaven, or near it, pourest thy full heart in profuse strains of unpremeditated art. Higher still, and higher, from the earth thou springest like a cloud of fire ; the blue deep thou wingest, and singing still dost soar, and soaring, ever singest. In the golden lightening of the sunken sun, o'er which clouds are brightening, thou dost float and run, like an unbodied joy whose race is just begun. The pale purple even melts around thy flight: like a star of heaven in the broad daylight, thou art unseen, but yet I hear thy shrill delight. Keen as are the arrows of that silver sphere, whose intense lamp narrows in the white dawn clear until we hardly see, we feel that it is there. All the earth and air with thy voice is loud, as when night is bare, from one lonely cloud the moon rains out her beams, and heaven is overflowed. What thou art we know not: what is most like thee? From rainbow clouds there flow not drops so bright to see, as from thy presence showers a rain of melody. Like a poet hidden in the light of thought, singing hymns unbidden till the world is wrought to sympathy with hopes and fears it heeded not. Like a high- born maiden in a palace tower, soothing her love-laden soul in secret hour with music sweet as love, which overflows her bower. Like a glow-worm golden in a dell of dew, scattering unbeholden its aerial hue among the flowers and grass, which screen it from the view. Like a rose embowered in its own green leaves, by warm winds deflowered, till the scent it gives makes faint with too much sweet these heavy-winged thieves. Sound of vernal shrwers on the twinkling grass, rain-awakened flowers, all that ever was joyous, and clear, and fresh, thy music doth surpass. Teach us, sprite or bird, what sweet thoughts are thine: I have never heard praise of love or wine that panted forth a flood of rapture so divine. Chorus hymeneal, or triumphal chant, matched with thine would be all but an empty vaunt a thing wherein we feel there is some hidden want. What objects are the fountains of thy happy strain? what fields, or waves, or mountains? what shapes of sky or plain? what love of thine own kind? what ignorance of pain? With thy clear keen joyance, languor cannot be: shadow of annoyance never came near thee: thou lovest; but ne'er knew love's sad satiety. FLEXIBILITY OF VOICE 237 Waking or asleep, thou of death must deem things more true and deep than we mortals dream, or how could thy notes flow in such a crystal stream? We look before and after, and pine for what is not : our sincerest laughter with some pain is fraught : our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thought. Yet if we could scorn hate, and pride, and fear; if we were things born not to shed a tear, I know not how thy joy we ever could come near. Better than all measures of delight and sound, better than all treasures that in books are found, thy skill to poet were, thou scorner of the ground ! Teach me half the glad- ness that thy brain must know, such harmonious madness from my lips would flow, the world should listen then, as I am listening now. SHELLEY. A PINE-TREE BUOY. Where all the winds were tranquil, And all the odors sweet, And rings of tumbling upland Sloped down to kiss your feet: There, in a nest of verdure, You grew from bud to bough ; You heard the song at mid-day, At eve the plighted vow. But fate that gives a guerdon Takes back a double fee: She hewed you from your homestead And set you in the sea. And every bowling billow Bends down your barren head To hearken if the whisper Of what you knew is dead. HARRISON SMITH MORRIS. Note that in speaking indifferently upon a subject or when there is a lack of preparation, speakers often fall into a certain monotonous and mechanical rhythm. Speak upon some important subject, changing the point of view and the feeling as often as possible, and note especially that rhythm varies with every clause, according to its impor.an e. FLEXIBILITY is facility in the control of force as expressed in the amount and use of the breath. 238 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION AGILITY is readiness in the response of the vocal bands. The first refers to force ; the second to form. RHYTHM is proportion in the alternation of action and reaction. It is present in proportion to the unity and reposeful application of force. Rhythm is de- stroyed by discordant forces which do not blend in unity. METRE is rhythm of syllables in relation to either quantity or accent, or both. QUANTITY refers chiefly to the time granted to a syllable. The IAMBUS is the successive alternation of weak and strong syllables. It expresses resolution, deter- mination, intensity, control, and progression. The TROCHEE is the succession or alternation of a strong followed by a weak syllable. It is expressive of tenderness, sympathy, prayerful appeal, restlessness, or searching for repose. The SPONDEE is the succession of two strong syllables. It expresses reverence, balance, meditation, contem- plation, repose. The ANAPESTIC foot expresses the spirit of the iam- bus with greater flexibility. The DACTYL expresses the same spirit as the trochee with the addition of a greater degree of flexibility, ten- derness, and pulsating passion. The AMPHIBRACH possesses different forms: one, a short syllable between two long ones, which is similar to the spondee; another has a long syllable between two short ones, which expresses humor, or a certain rollicking spirit or heartiness almost amounting to recklessness. XIX. ASSIMILATION AND SYMPATHY. Words can be spoken as mere words, unrelated to ideas; this is pronunciation, not expression. They can be spoken in a way to express individual ideas. We can also utter them so as to reveal relations of ideas, or thought. Again, we can express by them situations, ideal or imaginative relationships; and lastly, we can, in addition to these, express feelings and emotions. Perfect expression includes all of these utterances. They more or less imply each other, but in ordinary conversation, and even in public speaking the last two are often absent. But always in reading, speaking, and conversation, where full participation in life's experi- ences is found, and in proportion to the genuineness of expression, these elements will be united. We may have many degrees of realization of an idea; we may identify ourselves with a truth so as to give it specific situation and relationship to living experience. A man may speak from his memory, from his understanding, or from his imaginative conception, but genuine expres- sion implies identification of the individual with his fellowmen, a participation in all experiences, a creative and sympathetic imagination that awakens emotion and gives color to every fact. In proportion as mere statements are made, there is lack of expression. Truth is deeper than fact. It is the result of insight. " No man can give anything to his fellowman but himself." To convey a thought clearly is the beginning of expression; but its climax is the revelation of living experience. 240 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION The true aim of all education is to awaken one's faculties, to make one a participant in life. It is not enough to know a truth, it must be assimilated. Assimi- lation is but a name for that instinct by which a human being identifies himself with an idea, situation, or event, or lives the life of his fellows. It is founded upon imagination, but it is more than that. Imagina- tion gives insight, but sympathy causes identification and participation. The mere abstract understanding of a fact has little effect upon men. In fact, when we convey to our fellowmen a statement with perfect clearness, we nearly always transmit, at the same time, consciously or un- consciously, an impression favorable or unfavorable to its reception. This associated impression is due to our own experience, our attitude toward the truth or toward the person to whom we speak. The climax of all expression consists in the deep realization of truth, and the presentation of it as an object of love and joy. Truth implies the right kinship or relationship of a fact to the human soul, and without sympathetic instinct no man can really proclaim it. i. IDENTIFICATION. Next to the lack of intellectual attention and concentration as a prolific cause of faults in vocal expression is a certain negative attitude of mind, or the keeping of the idea or story outside of the realm of feeling. Many read with little realiza- tion of events and what there is takes place either fol- lowing the pronunciation of each phrase, or, at any rate, sympathy is not allowed to affect in any way the voice. In true rendering there is a definite assimilation of each idea before expression; a sympathetic identifica- tion of the reader with each discovery and event. Ordinarily in the telling of a simple story we do not remain negative, but identify ourselves sympathetically with every scene and character. In quoting appreci- ASSIMILATION AND SYMPATHY 24! dtively the words of another we are inevitably led to a realization of his manner, peculiarities and character. Every one recognizes that a person's words may be quoted exactly and at the same time the spirit be so changed as to render the statement utterly false. Man- ner is not something that can be put on and off, but is felt to be an inseparable part of truth itself. This identification and insight, however, is directly related to the actions of the mind. Note, for example, when Robert of Sicily awakens, how each sue- cessive object that is discovered makes a distinct impression upon him. We identify ourselves with him in each situation, feel with him that it was impos- sible, " a dream; " with him, hear " the steeds champ- ing in their stalls," and last of all, discover the " ape," who is to be the prime minister of the mock king. Next morning, waking with the day's first beam, He said within himself, " It was a dream ! " But the straw rustled as he turned his head, There were the cap and bells beside his bed, Around him rose the bare, discolored walls, Close by, the steeds were champing in their stalls, And in the corner, a revolting shape, Shivering and chattering sat the wretched ape. It was no dream; the world he loved so much Had turned to dust and ashes at his touch J Robert of Sicily." LONGFELLOW. THE ROSE AND THE GARDENER. The Rose in the garden slipped her bud, And she laughed in the pride of her youthful blood As she thought of the Gardener standing by " He is old so old ; and he soon will die ! " The full Rose waxed in the warm June air, And she spread and spread, till her heart lay bare, And she laughed once more as she heard his tread, *' He is older now. He soon will be dead I " But the breeze in the morning, blew, and found That the leaves of the blown Rose strewed the ground; And he came at noon, that Gardener old, And he raked them softly under the mould. And I wove the thing to a random rhyme, For the Rose is Beauty: the Gardener, Time. AUSTIN DOBSON 242 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION Thus we see that in expressing thought, describing a scene, relating a sequence of events, or quoting from others, a universal instinct leads one to identify himself with the situation or character and to express each successive idea, as happening on the instant, with its distinct experience. Read the following poem or monologue from Dobson, first with simple intellectual attention ; then after care- ful study, meditation, and deep thought, give it ... with a sympathetic realization of each event and of the whole story. Note that in the first instance the mind is more or less neutral or negative, and the ex- pression correspondingly monotonous; in the second, imagination and sympathy cause the reader to become so identified with the situation as to produce extreme variations in the expression. BEFORE SEDAN. " The dead hand clasped a letter.'' Here, in this leafy place, quiet he lies, cold, with his sightless face turned to the skies ; 'tis but another dead ; all you can say is said. Carry his body hence, kings must have slaves; kings climb to eminence over men's graves: so this man's eye is dim; throw the earth over him. What was the white you touched, there, at his side? Paper his hand had clutched tight ere he died; message or wish, may be; smooth the folds out and see. Hardly the worst of us here could have smiled ! only the tremulous words of a child; prattle, that has for stops just a few ruddy drops. Look. She is sad to miss, morning and night, his her dead father's kiss; tries to be bright, good tr mamma, and sweet. That is all. "Marguerite." Ah, if beside the dead slumbered the pain! Ah, if the hearts that bled slept with the slain 1 If the grief died; but no; death will not have it so. AUSTIN DOBSON After the battle of Sedan, laborers and farmers are searching for those mortally wounded who have crawled away among the trees and bushes searching for shade or water, and who have died alone and neglected, their bodies having been overlooked in the regular ASSIMILATION AND SYMPATHY 243 burial of the dead. The poem opens with the discovery of such a one, and in a true rendering there is realiza- tion of the spirit of the searcher. In the first sentence he discovers the body, and in the second he expresses the feeling of the common heart. In the third, he dis- covers something white, which he later finds to be a paper, and says tenderly that it may be some " message or wish." Then comes the discovery that the paper is a letter from the dead man's little girl. The words of the letter are next given. The word " father " is emphasized. In his last moments the soldier had pulled from his pocket the letter from his little daughter. The joyous prattle is given with something of its own spirit, but in the last sentence is the expression of deep sympathy with human sorrow. From this poem we can see that in proportion as ideas are seen and felt, there is not only an imagina- tive, but a sympathetic realization of the experience The climax of all vocal expression is seen to be not the mere giving of words, or ideas; not merely the relation of ideas, not even the imaginative stiuation merely, but sympathetic identification with the experience of human life. 2. PERSONATION AND PARTICIPATION. This identi- fication of the reader with each idea and situation has many phases. There is always a subjective and usu- ally an objective element. Note, for example, in the preceding selection that the reader may be almost in tears although giving the words of the little girl's letter in the spirit in which she wrote it. This is usually called personation and is commonly applicable to direct quotations. Another phase is the adoption not only of the point of view of the character speaking, but the taking of a right attitude of mind even in descriptive clauses. The reader must be himself a sympathetic spectator or participant in the scene. The mere im- 244 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION personating of the feeling and action of others, the reader remaining neutral, makes reading cold and artificial. It is the exaggeration of the objective phase or point of view of delivery. True participation con- sists in sympathy and causes true feeling. This is illustrated not in repeating the words of the little girl, as she said them, which might be personation, but in expressing the feeling of a sympathetic spectator in the clause, " Hardly the worst of us here could have smiled." THE ERL-KING. Who rides so late through a night so wild? It is the father holding his child. How gently, yet firmly the loving arm Holds closely the boy and keeps him warml " My boy, why hid'st thou thy face in fear? " " O see you not, father, the Erl-King near, The Erl-King with his crown and his train? " " My son, it is only the mist from the rain." " Come, lovely boy, come, go with me, Most beautiful plays I will play with thee. My flowers are bright with colors untold, And my mother keeps for thee robes of gold." " My father, my father, and do you not hear What the Erl-King whispers low in my ear? " " Still, be calm, draw closer to me, my own ; Among the dead leaves the wind makes moan." " Come with me, my boy, oh wilt thou not go? My daughters are waiting their sports to show. They nightly lead their bands in glee ; They will play and dance and sing with thee." " My father, my father, and see you not there His daughters glide through the misty air? " " My child, my child, I see it all plain; The willows wave and gleam through the rain." " I love thee ; thy form has charmed me so, And unless you chose, I will force you to go." " My father, my father, I feel him lay hold; The Erl-Kfng has seized me with his fingers cold. ASSIMILATION AND SYMPATHY 245 The father groans, like the wind he rides wild, And holding still closer the shuddering child. He reaches his home in doubt and in dread; In his arms clasped close the child was dead. GOETHE. 3. DRAMATIC INSTINCT. Men are pretty well agreed in applying the term dramatic instinct to the universal human tendency to realize each circumstance that is mentioned as a part of life, and each idea quoted from another as colored by the character of the speaker. Dramatic instinct contains two elements, imagi- native insight into the relations of a fact to human life and character, and sympathy, or the power to identify one's self with such a character or situation. The dramatic instinct needs cultivation. It is the basis of knowledge, enjoyment and success. By its aid the motives, dispositions and experiences of others can become ours. Dramatic insight enables us to know our fellows and to speak with them. Without it every one would be alone. The word " dramatic " comes from a root which means to do, to act. It is that instinct which refuses to accept statements as abstract and without connec- tion, but sees the living man in union with truth, per- ceiving everything as a part of life, and not as a cold, lifeless form. Expression is practically always a manifestation of life, mental, imaginative, emotional or spiritual. Accordingly, dramatic instinct is a universal and neces- sary element in all expression. It is characteristic of every earnest person, of every one who foresees the consequences of actions; it is the basis of all oratory and of all phases of the arts of speaking. Let no one imagine that dramatic instinct belongs to the few or that it is unnatural or accidental. On the contrary, it is the basis of all real human power. In business transactions if one does not appreciate the 346 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION point of view of others, he is apt to fail. The teacher must see a subject as the student sees it. No one can help another without being in sympathy with his point of view. Altruism is but another name for the dra- matic instinct. The dramatic instinct is that power by which we make sudden changes in situation and feeling. All abrupt transitions are essentially dramatic in their character because due to imaginative and sympathetic realization of situation or experience. Dramatic instinct in some form is present as a funda- mental element in all the higher forms of literature. Without it deep feeling could not be expressed. Observe the dramatic character of fables, legends and ballads. Render the envy and antagonism g of the woodpecker in contrast with the sympa- thetic gentleness, freedom from jealousy, or any ignoble feeling on the part of the dove in the following: THE DOVE AND THE WOODPECKER. The dove and the woodpecker were returning home from a visit to the peacock. " How did you like our friend? " asked the woodpecker. u Is he not disagreeable? His pride, his awk- ward feet, his hard voice, are unbearable." " I did not notice these things," replied the dove. " I could only gaze at his beautiful head, his gorgeous colors, and majestic train." FROM THE GERMAN WHY THE ROBIN'S BREAST IS RED. The Saviour, bowed beneath his cross, climbed up the dreary hill. And from the agonizing wreath ran many a crimson rill ; The cruel Roman thrust him on with unrelenting hand, Till, staggering slowly mid the crowd, he fell upon the sand. A little bird that warbled near, that memorable day, Flitted around and strove to wrench one single thorn away t The cruel spike impaled his breast, and thus, 'tis sweetly said, The Robin has his silver vest incarnadined with red. (One stanza omitted.) JAMES RYDER RANDALL. The Tomb said to the Rose, " Tell me, with all the tears Morn sheds o'er thee what dost thou do, fair garden pride? " "With all that drops, day after day, into thy yawning depths, ASSIMILATION AND SYMPATHY 247 oh, say! what dost thou do? " the Rose replied. "Sad Tomb I into a subtle scent of ambergris and honey, blent, do 1 convert those dew-drops bright ! " "And I create, O Rosebud fair, from ev'ry soul that enters here, an angel-form, with wings of light I " " The Tomb and the Rose." VICTOR HUGO. When we come to study the actions of the dramatic instinct we find that it is altruistic or sympathetic. " All sympathy is insight, and insight is sympathy." It can realize the same thought, event, or situation as seen and felt by different persons. This power to see as others see enables one to secure more adequate realization of truth, and to live the life of the race. One who has no humor, no sympathetic power to feel a thing as others do, will be indifferent and cold. Without this capacity all literature is meaningless. What is meant by point of view? In the last two lines of the extract from Longfellow, p. 241, for exam- ple, we can either enter into the king's feeling when he realizes his position, and sustain or express his anger, or keep aloof and hold our own attitude of mind, sug- gesting a certain pity for him. An illustration of changes in point of view and the many elements of Dramatic Instinct is found in the following stanza from " Marmion." We admire the sympathetic " Clara " striving to " staunch the gushing wound." Our feeling changes, however, as we turn from her to the monk, and still more as we turn to Marmion. We repeat what he said with sym- pathy and intensity. When next we directly quote from the monk we realize his rebuking attitude toward the demon, then his sympathetic attitude toward Mar- mion, and then his despair when he turns and speaks to himself. Here we have three changes in the attitude of the monk. There is a great transition as we turn to the war, enter with intensity into Marmion's excite- ment and give his words with his feeling. Then the 348 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION most extreme difference or transition is made with the last clause, for our feeling suddenly changes as he drops back dead. With fruitless labor, Clara bound, and strove to staunch the gushing wound : the monk with unavailing cares, exhausted all the Church's prayers. Ever, he said, that, close and near, a lady's voice was in his ear, and that the priest he could not hear ; for that she ever sung, " In the lost battle borne down by the flying, where mingles war's rattle with groans of the dying! " So the notes rung. "Avoid thee, Fiend! with cruel hand shake not the dying sinner's sand ! O, look, my son, upon yon sign of the Redeemer's grace divine; O, think on faith, and bliss ! By many a death-bed I have been, and many a sinner's parting seen, but never aught like this." The war, that for a space did fail, now trebly thundering swelled the gale, and Stanley ! was the cry, a light on Marmion's visage spread, and fired his glazing eye: with dying hand, above his head, he shook the fragment of his blade, and shouted, " Victory ! charge, Chester, charge ! On, Stanley, on ! '* were the last words of Marmion. SCOTT. In quoting the words of another we identify our- selves with him, and the way in which the words are spoken is a reflection of his manner, or an expression of his character. This has usually been regarded as the sole province of dramatic instinct. There are often, however, mere narrative or descrip- tive clauses in which there is an even more profound revelation of the sympathetic instinct. Such words are at times given with the feeling and spirit of the quotation that follows or precedes them, as a kind of indirect quotation; but more frequently the experience expressed in such clauses is that awakened in the speaker who becomes a sympathetic spectator or a participant in the scene. Observe that this is the case in the last clause of the preceding. In the story of Elisha's condemnation of Gehazi we give the words of Elisha with genuine realization of the meaning of his intense denunciation, but the following line contains the deepest feeling of the ASSIMILATION AND SYMPATHY 249 reader, a certain awe at the calamity. If this is given in a neutral manner the whole story loses its force. Dramatic participation, or the realization of the effect, implies more intense feeling than even Elisha's own words convey. Such descriptive clauses are more than dramatic; they are epic. " The leprosy of Naaman shall cleave unto thee and unto thy seed forever." And he went out from his presence a leper white as snow. Many readers consider dramatic instinct entirely as a matter of impersonation. In dignified narrative, however, we find that descriptive clauses often have much more intense feeling. In the interpretation of serious stories the reader must not only identify himself with the character but he must be himself, and express his own point of view as a sympathetic participant in the scene. Many times this identification of the reader with the scene is the identification also of himself with his race. He gives the point of view of his race in express- ing the impression which an event makes upon him; as, for example, in the following lines: " Make way for Liberty ! " he cried ; Made way for Liberty and died 1 " Arnold Winkelried." MONTGOMERY. Here is expressed the resolution, the courage, the patriotic fervor of Arnold Winkelried, as he gave his life for his country, and his exhortation to his com- panions, but in the next clause the reader gives the tribute of the race to his courage and nobility. A reader who gives the quoted parts greater intensity and slights the second clause will fail entirely to express its true spirit. If the instinct concerned with the identification of ourselves with the character of others is dramatic instinct, and the only aspect of dramatic instinct recog- 250 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION nized, then this higher, more important participation must be called epic instinct. It is of great importance in the interpretation of the noblest literature. Only in ignoble passages, narratives without spiritual sig- nificance, does dramatic personation transcend partici- pation. In proportion to the sublimity of the right, no matter what may be its form, participation transcends personation. In endeavoring to realize sympathetic identification with the experience of his fellows or the ideal spirit of his race, the student should begin with simple narra- tive poetry and gradually rise to a true appreciation of the few masterpieces of dramatic and epic poetry. In the following extract from " Robert of Sicily," the first line, while not directly quoted, is given from King Robert's point of view. The second is directly 1c . fi quoted, and demands a direct and dramatic identification on the part of the reader with the char- acter and experience of Robert. The third, leading up to a direct quotation, contains the point of view of the sexton, as does also the following sentence. We dis- cover with him the hatless, cloakless king rushing through the doorway, and share his surprise. Half choked with rage, King Robert fiercely said, " Open : 'tis I, the King! Art thou afraid?" The frightened sexton, muttering, with a curse, "This is some drunken vagabond, or worse ! " Turned the great key and flung the portal wide; A man rushed by him at a single stride. Here we have direct and indirect quotations, form- ing what may be called Personation, direct and indirect. Later, in the same poem we share Robert's excite- ment, and with him rush up the stairs as we realize his impetuous character, but when the new king is discovered we gradually drop Robert's point of view and feel our own surprise as a spectator or sympathetic participant in the scene. This phase of assimilation ASSIMILATION AND SYMPATHY 251 is a type of epic poetry, if indeed, it is not the soul of it. In rendering, " it was an angel," a certain dignified recognition is demanded of the divine interposition and punishment of Robert. The story is explained by this. It is not personation; it is participation, and poetry of a higher type even than direct quotation. One who did not rise to the dignity of his own realization of the meaning of the scene would fail to render the dignity of the passage. Study the whole, and distinguish all the changes In situation, point of view, attitude of mind and feeling^ and render them as truthfully as possible. KING ROBERT OF SICILY. Robert of Sicily, brother of Pope Urbane, and Valmond, Em- peror of Allemaine, apparelled in magnificent attire, with reti- nue of many a knight and squire, on St. John's Eve, at vespers, proudly sat and heard the priests chant the Magnificat. And as he listened, o'er and o'er again repeated, like a burden or refrain, he caught the words, " Deposuit potentes de sede, et exaltavit humiles ; " and slowly lifting up his kingly head, he to a learned clerk bes'de him said, " What mean these words? " The clerk made answer meet, " He has put down the mighty from their seat, and has exalted them of low degree." Thereat King Robert muttered scornfully, " 'Tis well that such seditious words are sung only by priests and in the Latin tongue; for unto priests and people be it known, there is no power can push me from my throne ! " And leaning back, he yawned and fell asleep, lulled by the chant, monotonous and deep. When he awoke, it was already night; the church was empty, and there was no light, save where the lamps, that glimmered few and faint, lighted a little space before some saint. He started from his seat and gazed around, but saw no living thing, and heard no sound. He groped towards the door, but it was locked; he cried aloud, and listened, and then knocked, and uttered awful threatenings and complaints and imprecations upon men and saints. The sounds re-echoed from the roof and walls as if dead priests were laughing in their stalls. At length the sexton, hearing from without the tumult of the knocking and the shout, and thinking thieves were in the house of prayer, came with his lantern, asking, "Who is there?" Half choked with rage, King Robert fiercely said, u Open; 'tis I, the King I Art thou afraid?" The frightened sextou 252 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION muttering, with a curse, " This is some drunken vagabond, or worse ! " turned the great key and flung the portal wide. A man rushed by him at a single stride, haggard, half-naked, without hat or cloak, who neither turned, nor looked at him, nor spoke, but leaped into the blackness of the night, and van- ished like a spectre from his sight. Robert of Sicily, brother of Pope Urbane, and Valmond, Em- peror of Allemaine, despoiled of his magnificent attire, bare- headed, breathless, and besprent with mire, with sense of wrong and outrage desperate, strode on and thundered ~t the palace gate ; rushed through the courtyard, thrusting in his rage to right and left each seneschal and page, and hurried up the broad and sounding stair, his white face ghastly in the torches* glare. From hall to hall he passed with breathless speed; voices and cries he heard, but did not heed, until at last he reached the banquet-room, blazing with light, and breathing with perfume. There on the dais sat another king, wearing his robes, his crown, his signet-ring, King Robert's self in features, form, and height, but all transfigured with angelic light ! It was an angel ; and his presence there with a divine effulgence filled the air, an exaltation piercing the disguise, though none the hidden angel recognize. A moment speechless, motionless, amazed, the throneless monarch on the angel gazed, who met his looks of anger and surprise with the divine compassion of his eyes ; then said, " Who art thou? and why com'st thou here? " To which King Robert answered, with a sneer, " I am the king, and come to claim my own from an imposter, who usurps my throne ! " And suddenly, at these audacious words, up sprang the angry guests, and drew their swords. The angel answered, with unruffled brow, " Nay, not the king, but the king's jester ; thou henceforth shalt wear the bells and scalloped cape, and for thy counsellor shalt lead an ape ; thou shalt obey my servants when they call, and wait upon my henchmen in the hall." Deaf to King Robert's threats and cries and prayers, they thrust him from the hall and down the stairs. A group of tittering pages ran before, and as they opened wide the folding- door, his heart failed, for he heard with strange alarms the boisterous laughter of the men-at-arms, and all the vaulted chamber roar and ring with the mock plaudits of " Long live the king ! " Next morning, waking with the day's first beam, he said within himself, " It was a dream I " But the straw rustled as he turned bis head; there were the cap and bells beside his bed; around him rose the bare, discolored walls; close by, the steeds were champing in their stalls; and in the corner, a revolting shape, shivering and chattering sat the wretched ape. It was no dream; the world he loved so much had turned to dust and ashes at his touch ' ASSIMILATION AND SYMPATHY 253 Days came and went; and now returned again to Sicily the old Saturnian reign; under the Angel's governance benign the happy island danced with corn and wine, and deep within the mountain's burning breast Enceladus, the giant, was at rest. Meanwhile King Robert yielded to his fate, sullen and silent and disconsolate. Dressed in the motley garb that jesters wear, with looks bewildered and a vacant stare, close shaven above the ears, as monks are shorn; by courtiers mocked, by pages laughed to scorn; his only friend the ape, his only food what others left he still was unsubdued. And when the Angel met him on his way, and half in earnest, half in jest, would say, sternly, though tenderly, that he might feel the velvet scabbard held a sword of steel, "Art thou the king? " the passion of his woe burst from him in resistless overflow, and lifting high his forehead, he would fling the haughty answer back, " I am, I am the king." Almost three years were ended; when there came ambassa- dors of great repute and name from Valmond, Emperor of Allemaine, unto King Robert, saying that Pope Urbane by letter summoned them forthwith to come on Holy Thursday to his city of Rome. The Angel with great joy received his guests, and gave them presents of embroidered vests, and velvet mantles with rich ermine lined, and rings and jewels of the rarest kind. Then he departed with them o'er the sea into the lovely land of Italy, whose loveliness was more resplendent made by the mere passing of that cavalcade, with plumes, and cloaks and housings, and the stir of jewelled bridle and of golden spur. And lo ! among the menials in mock state, upon a piebald steed, with shambling gait, his coat of fox-tails flapping in the wind, the solemn ape demurely perched behind, King Robert rode, making huge mer- riment in all the country towns through which they went. The Pope received them with great pomp and blare of bannered trumpets, on St. Peter's Square, giving his benediction and embrace, fervent, and full of apostolic grace. While with con- gratulations and with prayers he entertained the Angel una- wares, Robert the Jester, bursting through the crowd, into their presence rushed, and cried aloud, " I am the king! Look, and behold in me Robert, your brother, king of Sicily 1 This man, who wears my semblance to your eyes, is an impostor in a king's disguise. Do you not know me? does no voice within answer my cry, and say we are akin? " The Pope in silence, but with troubled mien, gazed at the Angel's countenance serene; the Emperor, laughing, said, " It is strange sport to keep a mad- man for thy fool at court!" And the poor baffled Jester in disgrace was hustled back among the populace. In solemn state the Holy Week went by, and Easter Sunday gleamed upon the sky; the presence of the Angel with its light, before the sun rose, made the city bright, and with new fervour filled the hearts of men, who felt that Christ indeed had risen 254 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION again. Even the Jester, on his bed of straw, with haggard eyes the unwonted splendour saw; he felt within a power unfelt before, and, kneeling humbly on his chamber floor, he heard the rushing garments of the Lord sweep through the silent air, ascending heavenward. And now the visit ending, and once more Valmond returning to the Danube's shore, homeward the Angel journeyed, and again the land was made resplendent with his train, flashing along the towns of Italy unto Salerno, and from there by sea. And when once more within Palermo's wall, and, seated on the throne in his great hall, he heard the Angelus from convent towers, as if the better world conversed with ours, he beckoned to King Robert to draw nigher, and with a gesture bade the rest retire ; and when they were alone, the Angel said, " Art thou the king ? " Then, bowing down his head, King Robert crossed both hands upon his breast, and meekly answered him: "Thou knowest best! My sins as scarlet are; let me go hence, and in some cloister's school of penitence, across those stones, that pave the way to heaven, walk barefoot till my guilty soul is shriven! ' ; The Angel smiled, and from his radiant face a holy light illumined all the place, and through the open window, loud and clear, they heard the monks chant in the chapel near, above the stir and tumult of the street: " He has put down the mighty from their seat, and has exalted them of low degree ! " And through the chant a second melody rose like the throbbing of a single string: " I am an Angel, and thou art the King! " King Robert, who was standing near the throne, lifted his eyes, and lo ! he was alone ! But all apparelled as in days of Did, with ermined mantle and with cloth of gold; and when his courtiers came they found him there, kneeling upon the floor, absorbed in silent prayer. LONGFELLOW THE PATRIOT. A n Old Story. It was roses, roses, all the way, With myrtle mixed in my path like mad: The house-roofs seemed to heave and sway, The church-spires flamed, such flags they had, A year ago on this very day. The air broke into a mist with bells, The old walls rocked with the crowd and cries. Had I said, " Good folk, mere noise repels But give me your sun from yonder skies I " They had answered, " And afterward, what else? ** ASSIMILATION AND SYMPATHY 25$ Alack, it was I who leaped at the sun To give it my loving friends to keep I Naught man could do, have I left undone: And you see my harvest, what I reap This very day, now a year is run. There's nobody on the house-tops now Just a palsied few at the windows set; For the best of the sight is, all allow, At the Shamble's Gate or, better yet, By the very scaffold's foot, I trow. I go in the rain, and, more than needs, A rope cuts both my wrists behind ; And I think, by the feel, my forehead bleeds, For they fling, whoever has a mind, Stones at me for my year's misdeeds. Thus I entered, and thus I go! In triumphs, people have dropped down dead. " Paid by the world, what dost thou owe Me? " God might question; now instead, 'Tis God shall repay : I am safer so. BROWNING. Tell a story with a variety of quotations; and ir the quotations realize sympathetically not only the .,_ thought and meaning but the character of the speaker. KEENAN'S CHARGE. The sun had set; the leaves with dew were wet; down fell a bloody dusk on the woods that second of May, where Stone- wall's corps, like a beast of prey, tore through with angry tusk. " They have trapped us, boys ! " rose from our flank a voice. With a rush of steel and smoke, on came the thousands straight, eager as love and wild as hate; and our line reeled and broke- broke and fled ; no one stayed but the dead I With curses, shrieks, and cries, horses, wagons, and men tumbled back through the shuddering glen, and above us the fading skies. There's one hope still, those batteries parked on the hill! " Battery wheel [ 'mid the roar] ! Pass pieces ; fix prolonge to fire retiring. Trot I " In the panic dire a bugle rings " Trot! *' and no more. The horses plunged, the cannon lurched and lunged, to join the hopeless rout. But suddenly rode a form calmly in front of the human storm, with a stern, commanding shout, "Align those guns." [We knew it was Pleasonton'sjl 256 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION The cannoneers bent to obey, and worked with a will, at his word ; and the black guns moved as if they had heard. But, ah, the dread delay 1 " To wait is crime; O God, for ten minutes' time ! " The general looked around ; there Keenan sat, like a stone, with his three hundred horse alone, less shaken than the ground. " Major, your men? " " Are soldiers, General." "Then, charge, Major! Do your best: hold the enemy back at all cost, till my guns are placed, else the army is lost. You die to save the rest ! " By the shrouded gleam of the Western skies, brave Keenan looked in Pleasonton's eyes for an instant, clear and calm, and still; then, with a smile, he said: "I will." "Cavalry charge ! " not a man of them shrank. Their sharp, full cheer, from rank on rank, rose joyously, with a willing breath, rose like a greeting hail to death. Then forward they sprang, and spurred and clashed; shouted the officers, crimson-sashed; rode well the men, each brave as his fellow, in their faded coats of blue and yellow; and above in the air, with an instinct true, like a bird of war their pennon flew. With clanks of scabbards and thunder of steeds, and blades that shine like sun-lit reeds, and strong, brown faces bravely pale, for fear their proud attempt shall fail, three hundred Pennsylvanians close on twice ten thousand gallant foes. Line after line the troopers came to the edge of the woods that was ringed with flame, rode in and sabred and shot, and fell; nor came one back his wounds to tell. And full in the midst rose Keenan, tall in the gloom, like a martyr awaiting his fall, while the circle-stroke of his sabre, swung 'round his head, like a halo there luminous hung. Line after line ay, whole platoons, struck dead in their saddles of brave dragoons by the maddened horses were onward borne and into the vortex flung, trampled and torn ; as Keenan fought with his men side by side. So they rode, till there were no more to ride. But over them, lying there, shattered and mute, what deep echo rolls? 'Tis a death salute from the cannon in place ; for, heroes, you braved your fate not in vain: the army was saved! Over them now year following year over their graves the pine-cones fall, and the whip-poor-will chants his spectre call; but they stir not again, they raise no cheer, they have ceased. But their glory shall never cease, nor their light be quenched in the light >f peace; for the rush of their charge is resounding still that saved the army at Chancellorsville. GEORGE PARSONS LATHROP Speak negatively and neutrally upon a subject, and then with the greatest sympathetic identi- fication with the situation. ASSIMILATION AND SYMPATHY 257 Render the following first by imitation and then by assimilation, and observe the fact that assimilation is more genuine and sympathetic ; that it obeys the law from within outward, is more truly dramatic, and expresses better the character of the ideas. O how our organ can speak with its many and wonderful voices t Play on the soft lute of love, blow the loud trumpet of war, Sing with the high sesquialtro, or, drawing its full diapason, Shake all the air with the grand storm of its pedals and stops. STORY. Words are instruments of music: an ignorant man uses them for jargon; but when a master touches them they have unex- pected life and soul. Some words sound out like drums ; some breathe memories sweet as flutes; some call like a clarionet; some shout a charge like trumpets; some are sweet as children's talk; others rich as a mother's answering back. NOT KNOWN. Give some sentence or a speech, first as the expres- sion of one type of character, and then as that of another; lastly, as your own deep conviction. He only is rich who owns the day. 4. PURPOSES. One of the most important phases of assimilation is the right command of purpose. Oratory is almost the only art which has a direct conscious pur- pose. Speakers must carefully study the vocal expres- sion of purposes and observe the fact that they are constantly varying. A purpose implies such an assimilation of a truth in relation to a hearer that the speaker appreciates the true aim and method of expressing it. Purpose depends upon awakening the same faculties in the hearer which are active in the speaker. The mastery of purpose, accordingly, requires sympathy and dramatic instinct and versatility of mind, or power to change the point of view and to make use of such modes of expression as will give the right impression of the truth. 258 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION Monotony of purpose is one of the worst and most common faults among speakers. Some speakers never do anything but teach; some unconsciously express an attitude of indifference or speak without purpose; others always speak with a kind of emotional entreaty, which is not true persuasion; others by direct com- mand, which is not a true oratorical purpose, endeavor to dominate an audience. These faults are all due to lack of true assimilation. Many are too apt to think of dramatic instinct as be- longing to the stage and overlook the fact that one of its most important phases is insight into the purpose of a given speech. Give a short sentence, or lines from different poems, many ways with a great variety of purposes, and distinguish each one by change of voice Teach, command, persuade, interest, rebuke or move. Come home. Follow me. Will you let him go? Daily, with souls that cringe and plot, We Sinais climb, and know it not. Vision of Sir Launfal." LOWELL. To reach the highest art, we must forget art and aim beyond it. Present the thought of the first of the following and endeavor to cause others to think. In the next, endeavor to arouse or awaken men. Express the third in such a way as to appeal to the spiritual nature. Some people will never learn anything, because they under- stand everything too soon. Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? what would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God. I know not what course others may t3Ke but, as for me, give me liberty, or give me death 1 PATRICK HENRY. ASSIMILATION AND SYMPATHY 359 Be noble ! and the nobleness that lies In other men, sleeping, but never dead, Will rise in majesty to meet thine own. LOWELL. HENRY V. AT HARFLEUR. Once more unto the breach, dear friends,, once more; Or close the wall up with our English dead ! In peace, there's nothing so becomes a man, As modest stillness and humility: But when the blast of war blows in our ears, Then imitate the action of the tiger ; Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood, Disguise fair nature with hard favor'd rage, . . . Now set the teeth, and stretch the nostril wide; Hold hard the breath, and bend up every spirit To his full height. On, on, you noblest English Whose blood is fet from fathers of war-proof, Fathers, that, like so many Alexanders, Have, in these parts, from morn till even fought, And sheathed their swords for lack of argument. . . . I see you stand like greyhounds in the slips, Straining upon the start The game's afoot; Follow your spirit: and, upon this charge, Cry God for Harry I England ! and Saint George ! Henry V. Actiii. Scene i. SHAKESPEARE Give the third of the above or the following, first in a way to instruct, secondly, in a way to rouse, and thirdly in a way to persuade. Give also Portia's speech on mercy (p. 108) in these three ways. What purpose is most appropriate in each case and why? How does the voice show the differences? Be patient! oh, be patient! though yet our hopes are green, The harvest-fields of freedom shall be crowned with sunny sheen. LINTON Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul, as the swift seasons roll! Leave thy low-vaulted past! Let each new temple, nobler than the last, shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast, till thou at length art free, leaving thine outgrown shell by life's unresting sea I HOLMES. The man who leads the flock must fight the wolf. BEECHER. ASSIMILATION is the degree of completeness in the realization of a truth, situation, event or character. FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION SYMPATHY is the power to realize a thought or situ- ation with its appropriate feeling, or the identification of one individual with the point of view and spirit of another. PERSONATION is the direct quoting or giving of another's words with his spirit and motives. PARTICIPATION is the realization of a scene from the point of view of a sympathetic spectator. DRAMATIC INSTINCT is the application of the sympa- thetic instinct to the identification of one character with the experience, motives, and spirit of another. The EPIC INSTINCT is the power to become the sym- pathetic spectator, and yet have the feeling which would belong to the race or which would be felt by a typical or ideal man in any situation. FIRST APPEARANCE AT THE ODEON. " I am Nicholas Tacchinardi, hunchbacked, look you, and a fright; Caliban himself might never interpose so foul a sight. Granted; but I come not, masters, to exhibit form or size. Gaze not on my limbs, good people ; lend your ears and not your eyes. I'm a singer, not a dancer, spare me for a while your din ; Let me try my voice to-night here, keep your jests till I begin. Have the kindness but to listen, this is all I dare to ask. See, I stand beside the footlights, waiting to begin my task. If I fail to please you, curse me, not before my voice you hear, Thrust me not from the Odeon. Hearken, and I've naught to fear." Then the crowd in pit and boxes jeered the dwarf, and mocked his shape; Called him " monster," " thing abhorrent," crying " off, pre- sumptuous ape! Off, unsightly, baleful creature ! off, and quit the insulted stage I Move aside, repulsive figure, or deplore our gathering rage." Bowing low, pale Tacchinardi, long accustomed to such threats, Burst into a grand bravura^ showering notes like diamond jets, Sang until the ringing plaudits through the wide Odeon rang, Sang as never soaring tenor ere behind those footlights sang; And the hunchback, ever after, like a god was hailed with cries, a King of minstrels, live forever! Shame on fools who have but XX. MOVEMENT. How does this sympathetic identification of the reader with a truth, this dramatic insight into the spirit of a scene or character reveal itself? Assimilation accentuates and unites all the modulations of the voice ; but one modulation, not yet discussed, is especially expressive of degrees of assimilation. The rhythmic pulsations of the mind in thinking cause not only pause and touch, but a sense of many modes of progression, of superficial excitement or control with intensity. The succession of pulsations suggests weight and importance, or lack of importance. These are expressed by what may be called Movement or the rhythmic succession or pulsation of ideas and feeling dominating the voice modulations. There is a ten- dency to regard movement as a mere matter of speed. That it is not this can be seen in the fact that a passage may be read slowly and either express triviality or sug- gest weight according to the rhythm. It is not speed but degree and kind of pulsation that cause the differ- ence. For example, read the following, first rapidly and then very slowly, the rhythm remaining the same. Then give it great weight by reading it slowly, but introduce vigorous touches and long pauses and observe that it is the change in rhythm, not in speed, that causes the difference. Poetry begins, or all becomes poetry, when we look from the centre outward- and are using all as if the mind made it. EMERSON. Note the movement of waves rolling in upon the shore. They may differ in height, in distance apart, in 26. 262 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION rapidity of succession and in shape. In the same way, rhythmic pulsations of the voice may vary. When high, they express intensity; when far apart, they express deliberation; when they succeed each other rapidly, there is a suggestion of excitement. Regu- larity expresses dignity; irregularity and jerky rhythm indicate chaotic excitement or lack of depth. CERTAINTY. I never saw a moor, I never saw the sea; Yet know I how the heather looks, And what a wave must be. I never spoke with God, Nor visited in heaven; Yet certain am I of the spot As if the chart were given. EMILY DICKINSON. In the following lines from Will Carleton, a pioneer who has uttered some unkind words to his loving . wife, and gone forth in search of lost cattle, is represented as returning home eagerly, desiring earn- estly to make amends. Half out of breath, the cabin door I swung, With tender heart- words trembling on my tongue; But all within look'd desolate and bare ; My house had lost its soul, she was not there. CARLETON. Notice the movement of the preceding as in the first and second lines we express the narrator's eagerness; but in the last two our sympathy with his disappoint- ment causes the rhythm to change, the pulsations to become longer, and the touch more intense. We feel his premonition of coming sorrow. One who reads such a passage without any change in movement lacks assimilation; neither imagination nor sympathy is alive to the experience of the pioneer. Sympathetic identification with feeling can hardly be naturally expressed in any other way than by change of MOVEMENT 263 movement. The transition is associated, of course, with long pauses and extreme changes of pitch and color; but that movement is absolutely essential can be shown by changing all the other expressive modula- tions while keeping the same movement. The pause is due to the new impression which must be realized by the reader ; the change of key is due to the unexpected, extreme character of his disappointment; change of color is due to change of feeling; but change of move- ment expresses the fact that we are in sympathetic union with him. Every passage has a movement peculiar to itself. One of the finest illustrations of movement is Byron's description of a thunder storm seen from Lake Geneva. In this fine passage everything is made to live. The quiet stillness is portrayed, the sound of the grasshopper and the dropping of the water from the suspended oar. In the very midst of the descrip- tion we have a reference to the fascination of the lightning and the storm, which are compared with the " dark eye in woman." Some critics may think this a blemish, but it adds intensity and human feeling; in fact, it is one of the chief elements of power in the description. It is the hush of night, and all between Thy margin and the mountains, dusk, yet clear, Mellow'd and mingling, yet distinctly seen, Save darken'd Jura, whose capp'd heights appear Precipitously steep; and, drawing near, There breathes a living fragrance from the shore, Of flowers yet fresh with childhood; on the ear Drops the light drip of the suspended oar, Or chirps the grasshopper one good-night carol more. . . . The sky is changed ! and such a change ! O Night, And Storm, and Darkness, ye are wondrous strong, Yet lovely in your strength, as is the light Of a dark eye in woman! Far along, From peak to peak, the rattling crags among, 264 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION Leaps the live thunder ! not from one lone cloud, But every mountain now hath found a tongue ; And Jura answers, through her misty shroud, Back to the joyous Alps, who call to her aloud. " Childe Harold's Pilgrimage." BYRON- Professor Bain called Coleridge's view of " Mont Blanc from the Valley of Chamouni " still life in com- parison with this, but that is hardly fair. Coleridge's poem has a movement which is contemplative and intense. Coleridge expresses the impression produced by a great mountain at sunrise, Byron that of a storm in the night. The movement of the two passages indi- cates the difference in the spirit of the two scenes, and the impressions they awaken. Note for example, in contrast to Byron, the move- ment of Coleridge's feeling as he imagines the effect of the mountain upon the mind. Around thee and above, Deep is the air and dark, substantial, black, An ebon mass ; methinks thou piercest it, As with a wedge ! But when 1 look again, It is thine own calm home, thy crystal shrine, Thy habitation from eternity. " Mont Blanc." COLERIDGE. Take again, the excited movement of Lochinvar, when he is supposed to lift Ellen upon his horse and leap to the saddle before her. So light t( the croup the fair lady he swung, So light to the saddle before her he sprung. " Lochinvar." SCOTT. Mere hurry will not express the excitement ; in fact, excitement may be suggested by quick pulsations even though long pauses be introduced. It is the rhythm, not the amount of time taken to read the line that con- veys the excitement. Here we come to one of the most wonderful of all the elements of vocal expression. A passage of extreme MOVEMENT 265 dignity may be read slowly and yet suggest super- ficiality, while the most animated passage may be read slowly and still indicate real excitement. This is because movement is not a matter of time, but of rhythm. In an excited passage if quick pulsations are given in only a few phrases to indicate the char- acter of the rhythm, long pauses may then be intro- duced without interfering in the least with the spirit of what is read. The sense of rhythm continues during the silence, and the passage may be rendered with great repose, with intensity, even, without at all detracting from the excitement. Away: as a hawk flies full at his prey, So flieth the hunter, away, away! Lord of all being ! throned afar, Thy glory flames from sun and star ; Centre and soul of every sphere, Yet to each loving heart how near 1 HOLMES. As has been indicated, the sublimest lines that can be found may be rendered very slowly, yet so as to suggest only superficiality. In this, as in the other cases, the amount of time is determined by the length and number of the pauses. Pauses are expressive only in union with rhythmic movement. A pause accen- tuates movement, but has no power to change it. Accordingly, if the following be given with short pauses and a jerky rhythm, suggesting a short pendulum, no matter how much time is taken to render the passage it is artificial. But with long pauses and strong touch it suggests weight. Away ! away ! o'er the sheeted ice, Away, away we go; On our steel-bound feet we move as fleet As deer o'er the Lapland snow. "Skater's Song." (p. 8z.) EPHRAIM PEABODY. Oh I somewhere, somewhere, God unknown exist and be! I am dying; I am all alone; I must have thee. God ! God ! my sense, my soul, my all, dies in the cry : Sawest thou the faint star flame and fall? Ah I it was I. -Lwt Appeal." MYERS- 266 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION This point cannot be emphasized too strongly for it is almost universally misunderstood. The student must judge for himself, and study passages seriously until he realizes that only by movement can he express triviality or weight, degrees of excitement, or depth of meaning. Movement may be made clearer by contrast. Take two passages as different in nature as possible, enter into the spirit of both, and render them intelligently, noting and expressing their difference. No one can fail to realize the vast difference in char- acter between the two passages following, and the absolute necessity and naturalness of move- ment or the modulations of rhythm necessary to express this contrast. Movement is not antagonistic to any other modula- tion of the voice. In fact, it will sometimes appear to be merely the union of pause and touch, change of pitch and inflexion, so basic it seems and necessary to all expression. Note, however, that all of these modulations are distinct, and that a passage can be rendered accentu- ating first form and thought, then tone-color and emotion, next movement, and lastly with the co-ordination of all these in unity. Render the fol- lowing lines in all of these ways. O Thou Eternal One ! whose presence bright All space doth occupy, all motion guide ; Unchanged through time's all-devastating flight; Thou only God I There is no God beside. "God." DERZHAVIN. Emphasize, in the first place, pause and touch. This expresses the lyric intensity of feeling. Then empha- size a few such words as " eternal," " space," " motion," " time," and " only " with long falling inflexions, the whole being given with wide changes of pitch and MOVEMENT 267 range. Then introduce long pauses after these words and emphasize the depth of the passage. If we give saliency to these words by inflexion we may simultane- ously increase feeling and tone-color. Earnestness of thought and feeling are not antagonistic. We can at the same time emphasize by a very slow movement, the weight, value, and spiritual significance of the passage. Movement can hardly be isolated from the other modulations since it expresses the degree of genuine realization of a truth; but we can employ it more or less independently of the other modulations. Pause and touch are needed to express its intensity; form and range to convey its thought. Coloring is necessary to express its spiritual feeling and the action of the imagination. But the deepest element in it is shown by the long pulsations, the movement which expresses its transcendent weight, or the effort of the mind to comprehend the character of an infinite being. Render the following with intense earnestness, and notice that you can make the words "do it now " emphatic by a long pause and a very slow movement. If some grand thing for tomorrow You are dreaming, do it now; From the future do not borrow; Frost soon gathers on the brow. Days for deeds are few, my brother; Then to-day fulfil thy vow. If you mean to help another, Do not dream it do it now. NOT KNOWN. Render carefully these lines from " Paul Revere's Ride." Note especially the extreme change at the fifth line. Longfellow seems to drop for a moment the historical significance of his story, and take the point of view of some one along the road 268 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION who saw an excited rider rushing by without knowing why. He then makes the reader pass from the rhythm of mere excitement or curiosity, and forces him to turn from mere events to their larger historical signifi- cance. This transition cannot be expressed except by change of movement. It is the deeper, longer pulsa- tions in the modulation of movement which expresses the larger significance of the event. A hurry of hoofs in a village street, A shape in the moonlight, a bulk in the dark, And beneath, from the pebbles, in passing, a spark Struck out by a steed flying fearless and fleet' That was all. And yet, through the gloom and the light, The fate of a nation was riding that night ; And the spark struck out by that steed, in his flight, Kindled the land into flame with its heat. ' Paul Ravere's Ride." LONGFELLOW. There are almost innumerable such changes, the indication of which calls for variations of movement, such as changes in weight, in excitement, in dignity, in control, in the character of the feeling or changes from the negative to the positive. Take short passages and give them, not with monot- onous loudness and declamation but with intense real- ization of each idea, with the movement of genuine conviction, changing the rhythm accord- ing to the intensity of the thought, the nature of the feeling, and the sense of the purpose and relative weight of the truth to be uttered. The friar crawled up the mouldy stair To his damp cell, that he might look Once more on his beloved Book. And there it lay upon the stand, Open ! he had not left it so. He grasped it with a cry ; for, lo, He saw that some angelic hand While he was gone had finished it/ " Priar Jerome s Beautiful Book.-' T. B. ALDRICB MOVEMENT What is time? the shadow on the dial, the striking of the clock, the running of the sand, day and night, summer and winter, months, years, centuries? These are but arbitrary and outward signs, the measure of time, not time itself. Time is the life of the soul. If not this, then tell me, what is time? NOT KNOWN. He stayed not for brake, and he stopped not for stone, He swam the Eske River where ford there was none, But, ere he alighted at Netherby gate, The bride had consented, the gallant came late: For a laggard in love, and a dastard in war, Was to wed the fair Ellen of brave Lochinvar. lochinvar." SCOTT. POETRY OF SCIENCE. Presented rightly to the mind, the discoveries and generali- zations of modern science constitute a poem more sublime than has ever yet been addressed to the intellect and imagination of man. The natural philosopher of to-day may dwell amid con- ceptions which beggar those of Milton. So great and grand are they, that, in the contemplation of them, a certain force of character is requisite to preserve us from bewilderment. Look at the integrated energies of our world the stored power of our coal-fields ; our winds and rivers ; our fleets, armies, ind guns. What are they? They are all generated by a portion rf the sun's energy, which does not amount to an infinitesimal part of the whole. Multiplying our powers by millions of millions, we do not reach the sun's expenditure. And still, notwithstanding this enormous drain, in the lapse of human history, we are unable to detect a diminution of his store. Measured by our largest terrestrial standards, such a reservoir of power is infinite; but it is our privilege to rise above these standards, and to regard the sun himself as a speck in infinite extension, a mere drop in the universal sea. We analyze the space in which he is immersed, and which is the vehicle of his power. We pass to other systems and other suns, each pouring forth energy like our own, but still without infringement of the law, which reveals immutability in the midst of change, which recognizes incessant transference and conversion, but neither final gain nor loss. To nature nothing can be added; from nature nothing can be taken away; the sum of her energies is constant, and the utmost man can do in the pursuit of physical truth, or in the application of physical knowledge, is to shift the constituents of the never-varying total, and out of one of them to form another. The law of conservation rigidly excludes both creation and annihilation. 270 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION Waves may change to ripples, and ripples to waves; magni- tude may be substituted for number, and number for magnitude ; asteroids may aggregate to suns, suns may resolve themselves into florae and faunae, and florae and faunas melt in air; the flux of power is eternally the same. It rolls in music through the ages, and all terrestrial energies the manifestations of life as well as the display of phenomena are but the modu- lations of its rhythm. JOHN TYNDALL. CHAMOUNI AT SUNRISE. From the deep shadow of the still fir-groves Trembling I look to thee, etern I height! Thou dazzling summit, from * /hose top my soul Floats, with dimmed vision, to he infinite! Who sank in earth's firm lap the pillars deep Which hold thro gh ag thy vast pile in place? Who reared on high, in the clear ether's vault, Lofty and strong, thy ever-radiant face? Who poured you forth, ye mountain torrents wild, Down thundering from eternal winter's breast? And who commanded, with almighty voice, " Here let the stiffening billows find then" rest " ? Who points to yonder morning-star his path, Borders with wreaths of flowers the eternal frost? To whom, in awful music, cries the stream, O wild Arveiron ! in fierce tumult tossed? Jehovah ! God ! bursts from the crashing ice , The avalanche thunders down the steeps the call: Jehovah ! rustle soft the bright tree-tops, Whisper the silver brooks that murmuring fall. Translated by Dwight. FREDRIKE BRUN CHILD'S SONG IN WINTER. In fierce March weather, white waves break tether, and whirled together at either hand, like weeds uplifted, the tree-trunks rifted in spars are drifted, like foam or sand, past swamp and sallow, and reed-beds callow, through pool and shallow, to wind and lee, till, no more tongue-tied, full flood and young tide roar down the rapids and storm the sea. As men's cheeks faded on shores invaded, when shorewards waded the lords of fight; when churl and craven saw hard on haven the wide-winged raven at mainmast height; when monks affrighted to windward sighted the birds full-flighted of swift sea-kings; so earth turns MOVEMENT 271 paler when Storm the sailor steers in with a roar in the race of his wings. O strong sea-sailor, whose cheek turns paler for wind or hail or for fear of thee? O far sea-farer, O thunder-bearer thy songs are rarer than soft songs be. O fleet-foot stranger, O north-sea ranger through days of danger and ways of fear, blow thy horn here for us, blow thy sky clear for us, send us the song of the sea to hear. . . . Roll the strong stream of it up, till the scream of it wake from a dream of it children that sleep, seamen that fare for them forth, with a prayer for them ; shall not God care for them, angels not keep? Spare not the surges thy stormy scourges; spare us the dirges of wives that weep. Turn back the waves for us: dig no fresh graves for us, wind, in the manifold gulfs of the deep. O stout north-easter, sea-king, land-waster, for all thine haste, or thy stormy skill, yet hadst thou never, for all endeavor, strength to dissever or strength to spill, save of his giving who gave our living, whose hands are weaving what ours fulfil; whose feet tread under the storms and thunder; who made our wonder to work his will. His years and hours, his world's blind powers, his stars and flowers, his nights and days, sea-tide and river, and waves that shiver, praise God the giver of tongues to praise. Winds in their blowing, and fruits in growing ; time in its going, while time shall be; in death and living, with one thanksgiving, praise him whose hand is the strength of the sea. ALGERNON CHARLES SWINBURNE. Speak disparagingly upon a subject, and then in a way to approve it and enforce its importance, noting the difference in delivery. PADRE PUGNACCIO. Up the steps of the dome of Saint Peter's, between two peni- tents wrapped in mantillas, his head out of his hood, walked Padre Pugnaccio. The bells were quarrelling in the clouds. One of the penitents, the aunt, counted an Ave for each bead ot her rosary; and the other, the niece, ogled from the corner of her eyes a handsome officer of the Pope's guard. The monk muttered to the old woman, " Make a donation to my con- vent ; " and the officer slipped a perfumed note into the young girl's hand. The sinner wiped a few tears from her eyes; the maiden blushed with pleasure; the monk was calculating the interest of a thousand piastres at twelve per cent; and the officer was gazing at himself in a hand-mirror, and curling the tips of his mustachio. And the devil, squatting in the loose sleeve of Padie Pugnaccio, chuckled like Pulcinello. LOUIS BERTRAND FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION Speak upon some theme in which you are vitally interested, and contrast the negative with the positive, the superficial and external with the weighty, the secondary with the primary, the accidental with the fundamental, by the greatest possible variation of rhythm and movement. Wise, of a wisdom far beyond our shallow depth, was that old precept: Watch thy tongue; out of it are the issues of life! " Man is properly an incarnated word : " the word that he speaks is the man himself. Were eyes put into our head, that we might see, or only that we might fancy, and plausibly pretend, we had seen? Was the tongue suspended there, that it might tell truly what we had seen, and make man the soul's-brother of men; or only that it might utter vain sounds, jargon, soul-confusing, and so divide man, as by enchanted walls of Darkness, from union with man? CARLYLE. LEAD, KINDLY LIGHT. Lead, kindly Light, amid th' encircling gloom, lead Thou me on; The night is dark, and I am far from home, lead Thou me on; Keep thou my feet ; I do not ask to see The distant scene ; one step enough for me. 1 was not ever thus, nor pray'd that Thou shouldst lead me on: I loved to choose and see my path; but now lead Thou me on I I loved the garish day, and, spite of fears, Pride ruled my will. Remember not past years ! So long thy power has blest me, sure it still will lead me on O'er moor and fen, o'er crag and torrent, till the night is gone, And with the morn those angel faces smile Which I have loved long since, and lost awhile 1 NEWMAN. MOVEMENT expresses the degree of life or of assim- ilation and realization. Absence of movement is the worst fault in expression because it implies a mere negative and neutral conception and no true realiza- tion. Transitions in movement express the variations of realization. Monotony of movement is usually due to the absence of life, or to mechanical and artificial presentation of words. XXI. ACTION. Thought and emotion express themselves not only through the voice but through the body. Each part of the body has a distinct function in expression, and in every manifestation of thought and feeling there are simultaneous manifestations of face and body which blend in unity. We have already seen that tone-color results from the diffusion of feeling through the body. But it can be easily seen that movement also is a reflex action from the body. In fact, movement is action in the realm of vocal expression, just as the expressive modulations of the body constitute movement in the realm of action. The importance of action is shown from many con- siderations. It expresses the real man. Words reveal his opinions, tones his emotions, while action reveals character. The causes of imperfections in delivery can always be discovered by observing action. Frequently, a bad method of breathing is due to a perverted action of the body as a whole or a failure of the body to expand sympathetically in response to emotion. Again, action is the expression of the whole body. Vocal expression is the modulation of a part. A part cannot be correct while the whole is wrong. Action is the most subconscious and spontaneous of all modes of expression; although it has conscious elements it always has simultaneously with these many unconscious and involuntary ones. Action is the most direct and complete expression of life, and it is also the first in time. The smile is the earliest conscious 274 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION expression of the little child. The cry may precede but not the conscious and sympathetic modulations of the voice. Action appeals to the eye ; vocal expression to the ear. Accordingly, they constitute an appeal to two senses at the same time. This strengthens the impression. In fact, actions of the body and modulations of the voice are living witnesses to the truth or untruth of what is expressed in words. Action is a dramatic language and always shows genuineness of assimilation and the presence of dramatic instinct. A study of children or of people of imagination and sympathy, reveals the naturalness of action. It is not only natural but physiologically necessary. Power of thinking and feeling is dependent upon the nerve cen- tres. The presence of action indicates the broader co-ordination of the nerve centres of the brain. Hence, it is a sign not only of naturalness but of earnestness and intensity of realization. Bodily actions establish conditions of tone. The sympathetic expansion of the chest, the illumination of the face are necessary to a proper use of the voice. Expansion of the chest sets free the diaphragm and the breathing. Animation of the face opens and frees the tone passage and colors the voice. Emotion modulates the texture of the muscles of the whole body, and causes natural, spon- taneous action throughout the body. This produces a direct effect upon the quality of the tone as well as upon tone-color. Action is important for other reasons. It indicates the genuineness of the student's realizations. It enables the teacher to trace faults to their causes. It furnishes a different point of view from which to observe the student. A person's earnestness and degree of realization, his misplaced labor, the sources of his ACTION 2 75 indifference, all can be seen in action more clearly than in any other way. It complements the ear with the eye in realizing faults or needs. One who thoroughly understands action can perceive at a glance the cause of a fault in tone. Another phase may be called unity. Though action may seem to be merely in the eye, the hand, or the face, it really has K when genuine, a subtle connection with the whole body. The eye and face lead and gov- ern the action of other parts of the body. From these the emotion sweeps over the body like a wave, and all parts become consistent with the activity at the centre. Without unity there can be no art. Unity in action can be secured only by genuineness of realization. The imagination and the sympathies must be awak- ened. The student must speak with his whole nature. Expression must not be merely local or one-sided. It must be the living utterance of a living man. A normal organism is alive in every part. It is this that makes action so important. It expresses the real life, and will forever be the deepest witness of genuineness. The natural languages seem far apart at first. Mod- ulations of the voice are addressed to the ear ; action of the body to the eye. Their functions being distinct, many think that action need not always be present and that it is purely accidental. This is a serious mis- take. Practically no true, expressive tone, no com- plete expression is possible without action. How can action be improved ? While action is naturally first, so universally is it misunderstood that the student's attention should not be directed to it or concentrated upon it too early. Besides, as the most subconscious of languages, it must at first be indirectly stimulated by the training of thinking, imagination, and feeling through vocal expression. Pantomime can 276 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSIOR best be awakened as one of the necessary conditions of voice and speech. Soon or late, however, action must receive direct attention. Its nature and function should be awak- ened in the student's consciousness. A few simple steps can be indicated which may awaken an appreciation of the unity of all languages, and show the necessity of expression through the body simultaneously with speech. First, one must realize the spontaneous character of action. Action is as natural as a smile; it must be direct and immediate. It is not a symbol but a sign or signal, a mere outward, unconscious indication of an inner condition. The second step is to recognize the fact that pan- tomime precedes speech. It is the most direct effect of thought and feeling. Exclamations must be action in part. A mere cry may be as direct as pantomime, but in speech the tone is usually shaped into words and becomes closely akin to the more conscious and symbolic means of expression. For this reason the tendency to action must first be felt, and its immedi- ateness, and spontaneity fully realized. In the third place one must realize that action is not necessarily motion or gesture. In fact, motion is the weakest part of action. A diffusion of emotion through the whole body causing the whole, as well as a certain part to take a definite attitude is far more expressive. Attitudes must always transcend motions because they express the diffusion of emotion, while motion pertains rather to the outer organs, and expresses more the transitory or superficial feelings. Action consists in gestures, attitudes, and bearings. A gesture is a significant or expressive motion. It is the most superficial element in action, and manifests mere intention, or transitory feeling. ACTION 277 An attitude is a significant or expressive position of the body or part of it. It expresses the deeper condi- tions or emotions, which, consciously or unconsciously, dominate the sensibilities for a time. Motions and gestures are always colored by atti- tudes. The hand, for example, may give the gesture of rejection, but it must at the same time have a climax in some attitude more or less pronounced. The act of rejection may be with earnestness, with indifference, with explosion, or with intense control. The condi- tion is always deeper than the emotion, and so in true action the attitude always transcends the gesture. Bearings express still deeper conditions and motives, and indicate habits and character. Again, action may be manifestative or representa- tive. Manifestative action is the revelation through the motions and positions of the body of subjective conditions. Representative action is the illustration by action of the body of objective things or relations. Manifestation is direct, spontaneous, emotional, pas- sional. Representation usually expresses pictorial or imaginative actions of the mind, and locates or describes objects or figurative conceptions. We meet with some one unexpectedly. The effect upon us causes action ; we expand, recoil, throw up our hands, and our face kindles. This is manifestation. Manifestative pantomime expresses what words cannot say. It directly reveals conditions of mind, impres- sions, convictions, and emotions. Representative or descriptive pantomime is closer to words. It describes the objects which words name, or it suggests their relations. Manifestative action reveals conditions and experi- ences, and supplies the deepest witness to the truth or genuineness of what is said in words as well as the degree of conviction inspired in the heart of the speaker. 278 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION There is a universal tendency to over-estimate ges- ture, in particular, representative or descriptive gesture, especially in modern English and American elocution. Only a little thought will show that gesture is the weakest form of expression, and representative gesture the weakest form of gesture. The most important feature of representative action is that it deals with ideas as if they were things. It figuratively presents a subjective and spiritual truth as if it were an object. For example, we can merely indicate an idea ; we can define it, or we can support it. We can overthrow it, lay it open, maintain it, hold it, throw it aside as some- thing trivial or regard it as something weighty. We can locate an imaginary person. In fact, almost anything the hand can do with an object, it may suggest in a figurative sense with an idea or thought. Manifestation belongs to every part of the body. Descriptive pantomime, for the most part, is confined to the hand or arm. The face has innumerable manifestative actions and so have the feet, head, and torso, but these parts of the body have few descriptive actions. Representative pantomime never eliminates the mani- festative. We can say, for example, " I saw a little man only so high," indicating the height by the hand, but the torso and face will at the same time manifest a feeling of pity, pain, pleasure, admiration, or wonder. Whatever impression is awakened at the time will be manifested by the face or body. Representative action is accidental; manifestative, more fundamental. It can be seen at once that manifestative pantomime is more important than representative. Manifestative pantomime is continuous; representative pantomime, occasional. In all action we find the principle that mani- festative elements must transcend the representative. ACTION 279 In the proper development of the voice, the student must be made to feel on the one hand, the effect of his awkward attitudes, and on the other, yet more, the effect of the diffusion of feeling through his whole body, the positive texture of his muscles, and the sympathetic vibrations of tone. Special attention should be given to the poise and attitudes of the body as a whole. It must be gently and harmoniously expanded by imagination and feeling and made to act in unity before the tone can be right. Action cannot be improved by one human being prescribing a gesture for another. This is the way to destroy all natural and expressive action. Action is personal and must always result from inner activity. It must obey the law from within outward. It must be the effect of an inner condition or experience. It can- not be brought about by laying down rules as to what gestures should be made with a certain class of ideas. The improvement of pantomime must begin with a fuller realization of truth, with assimilation and the awakening of the imagination and dramatic instinct. Thought and feeling and the whole being must be aroused and the body must respond as a whole. It is this sympathetic expansion which should be awakened first. With it there should be the elevation and centralization of the whole body expressing con- centration of mind and self-control. There must be no motion that is forced, all must be easy and reposeful. There will nearly always be a tendency toward too much motion in action, and the great point should be to acquire repose and eliminate stiffness and rigidity. It is very important that the whole body should expand and express itself in attitudes before there is much motion. However, when motion comes natur- ally it should not be repressed. Many students are anxious about their gestures. J 280 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION have heard some grieve because they felt no disposition to make them. Under such circumstances never force the action, Such students, when their imagination is awakened, when they are led to express their own thought and feeling, when they can assimilate a truth and give expression to noble poetry, will begin to use, and may even tend toward too much gesture. No one should ever gesture for the sake of gesturing, or think it necessary to use movement in order to be expressive. The impulse must come first, and it will always come with true assimilation. The stimulation of the imagination, however, will often take time, But too little gesture is better than too much. In fact, the making of too many gestures is a great hindrance to the development of true action. Chaotic motions are frequently more difficult to correct than lack of action. The primary method of improving action should always be the awakening of a deeper realization of truth. Action will come simultaneously with the awakening of dramatic instinct, because it is the chief dramatic language. Absence of action is often due to repression. When repression is removed, and the nerve centres of the brain are awakened and brought into natural co-ordination, one of the first effects will be the greater expressive action of the whole body. Stiffness or absence of action is always associated with stiltedness and constriction in vocal expression. The elimination of monotony and neutrality of mind and voice and of all negative conditions will proceed simultaneously with the improvement of action. One of the best methods of improving action is to review all preceding steps with full and still more adequate realization of the thought and feeling. Speak with the whole being and the whole body. Emphasize ACTION 28l the fundamental conditions of good tone, because true action is a primary condition of tone. Combining action and tone is an advanced step for the voice which all should practise. Take a short passage from Longfellow's " Building of the Ship " and picture and conceive the scene. Observe in the following, printed as prose, the .. ship about to be launched. Enter into sympathy with it as a playful boy; let the mind portray vivid ideas, allow feeling to dominate, and observe the effect of these ideas upon the body, To render this part with vivid mental action and without action of the body is impossible. THE LAUNCHING OF THE SHIP " Build me straight, O worthy Master! staunch and strong, a goodly vessel, that shall laugh at all disaster, and with wave and whirlwind wrestle! " The merchant's word, delighted, the Master heard; for his heart was in his work, and the heart giveth grace unto every art: and, with a voice that was full of glee, he answer'd, " Ere long we will launch a vessel as goodly and strong and staunch as ever weather 'd a wintry sea! "... All is finish'd! and at length has come the bridal day of beauty and of strength: to-day the vessel shall be launch 'd! With fleecy clouds the sky is blanch 'd; and o'er the bay, slowly, in all his splendours dight, the great Sun rises to behold the sight. . . . The ocean old, centuries old, strong as youth, as uncon- troll'd, paces restless to and fro, up and down the sands of gold. His beating heart is not at rest; and far and wide, with cea eless flow, his beard of snow heaves with the heaving of his breast: he waits impatient for his bride. There she stands, with her foot upon the sands, deck'd with flags and streamers gay, in honor ot her marriage-day, her snow-white signals fluttering, blending, round her like a veil descending, ready to be the bride of the gray old sea. Then the Master, with a gesture of command, waved his hand; and at the word loud and sudden there was heard, all around them and below, the sound of hammers, blow on blow, knocking away the shore and spurs: and see ! she stirs! She starts, she moves, she seems to feel the thrill of life along her keel, and, spurning with her feet the ground, with one exulting, joyous bound, She leaps into the ocean's arms! And, lo, from the assembled crowd there rose a shout, prolong'd and loud. 282 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION that to the ocean seem'd to say, " Take her, O bridegroom, old and gray; take her to thy protecting arms, with all her youth and all her charms I " How beautiful she is! how fair she lies within those arms that press her form with many a soft caress of tenderness and watchful carei Sail forth into the sea, O ship: through wind and wave, right onward steer! the moisten'd eye, the trembling lip, are not the signs of doubt or fear* - , . Thou, too, sail on, O Ship of State! Sail on, O Union, strong and great! Humanity, with all its fears, with all the hopes of future years, is hanging breathless on thy fate! We know what Master laid thy keel, what Workmen wrought thy ribs of steel, who made each mast and sail and rope, what anvils rang, what hammers beat, in what a forge, and what a heat, were shaped the anchors of thy hope! Fear not each sudden sound and shock; 'tis of the wave, and not the rock; 'tis but the flapping of the sail, and not a rent made by the gale ! In spite of rock and tempest's roar, in spite ot false lights on the shore, sail on, nor fear to breast the sea! our hearts, our hopes, are all with thee ; our hearts, our hopes, our prayers, our tears, our faith triumphant o'er our fears, are all with thee, are all with thee! LONGFELLOW. A gesture, or any action, may be made emphatic by being staid into an attitude. If, at the end of a gesture it is stopped and held it will express depth and intensity. This corresponds to pause in vocal expression. For example, imagine Lady Teazle, as turning around, after Sir Peter's last speech, and facing him, possibly pointing her finger at him and laughing heartily, until he sees the point before giving her words. Why does this have greater effect than can be given by words or even by vocal expression? Lady Teazle. For my part, I should think you would like to have your wife thought a woman of taste. Sir Peter, Ay ; there again taste. Zounds i madam, you had no taste when you married me ! Lady Teazle. That's very true indeed, Sir Peter; and after having married you, I should never pretend to taste again, I allow. The intense rendering of any idea or thought, the vivid realization of a situation and the staying of attention before giving a phrase always develops pan- tomime. Pantomime, in a word, precedes speech, ACTIOH 283 because it is the direct effect of feeling, but it also sus- tains and supports speech. It endures longer than speech. Accordingly, the development of pantomime is necessary in the cultivation of intensity. Development of action must be directly associated with thinking. To introduce a gesture merely as a decorative element is to degrade action and prevent the student ever developing true pantomimic expres- sion. Note that pantomime directly expresses mental action; that action is primarily a matter of general conditions and is more direct than vocal expression. Render the following, noting Ingomar's determina- tion and resolution to throw out of his mind the thought of Parthenia, and how he starts away to join the others in their sports and drill for war. Then observe his sudden hesitation : " Yet she is not like the others." This thought produces changes in the body, and corresponding sympathetic modulations of the voice. Hark! how mid their revelry! They raise the battle-cry! The clang of arms, And war, and victory for me ! Away With idle dreams! Why, what to me are women? Yet she ah ! she is not like those at home, Clad in their shaggy skins, sunburned, their bodies Loaded with clumsy ornaments, happy in bondage, With base caresses humbly seeking favor Of their base lords. From " Ingomar." KNOWLES. Render discoveries, surprises, or deep realizations so genuinely as to cause natural action, includ- ing the accentuation of the rhythm of breathing and all the precedent conditions of vocal expression. When, doffed his casque, he felt free air, around 'gan Mar- mion wildly stare: "Where's Harry Blount? Fitz-Eustace where? linger ye here, ye hearts of hare! redeem my pennon, charge again! cry ' Marmion to the rescue I ' Vain! last of my race on battle-plain that shout shall ne'er be heard again! yet my last thought is England's fly, to Dacre bear my signet ring: tell him his squadrons up to bring. Fitz-Eustace, to Lord Surrey hie; Tunstall lie dead upon the field, his life- 284 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION blood stains the spotless shield: Edmund is down: my life is reft; the admiral alone is left. Let Stanley charge with spur of fire, with Chester charge, and Lancashire, full upon Scot- land's central host, or victory and England's lost. Must I bid twice? hence, varlets! fly I leave Marmion here alone to die." They parted, and alone he lay; Clare drew her from the sight away, till pain wrung forth a lowly moan, and half he murmured, " Is there none, of all my halls have nurst, page, squire, or groom, one cup to bring of blessed water from the spring, to slake my dying thirst? " 'Marmion." SCOTT. At eve they all assembled, all care and doubt were fled; with jovial laugh they feasted, the board was nobly spread. The elder of the village rose up, his glass in hand, and cried, " We drink the downfall of an accursed land! The night is growing darker; ere one more day is flown Bregenz, our t'oemen's strong- hold, Bregenz shall be our own! " The women shrank in terror (yet pride, too, had her part), but one poor Tyrol maiden felt death within her heart. Before her stood fair Bregenz, once more her towers arose; what were the friends beside her? Only her country's foes! The faces of her kinsfolk, the days of childhood flown, the echoes of her mountains reclaim'd her as then- own. " Legend of Bregenz ." PRO CTO R. A moment there was awful pause, when Berkley cried, " Cease, traitor ! cease ! God's temple is the house of peace ! " The other shouted, " Nay, not so, when God is with our right- eous cause; his holiest places then are ours. His temples are our forts and towers, that frown upon the tyrant foe; in this, the dawn of Freedom's day, there is a time to fight and pray ! " Can you make a strong, passional transition at the word " but " in the first of the following? Practise other sudden and extreme transitions, and .. observe the effect on the texture and action of the body. How and why do they affect the action of the body as a whole? These flowers were beautiful, but they are faded. I only wish I'd got him safe in these two motherly arms, and wouldn't I hug him and kiss him ! Lawk I I never knew what a precious he was but a child don't feel like a child till you miss him. Why, there he is ! Punch and Judy hunting, the young wretch, it's that Billy as sartin as sin ! But let me get him home, with a good grip of his hair, and I'm blest if he shall have a whole bone in his skin. THOMAS HOOD. ACTION 285 When, climbing the wet trees, next morning-sun Laugh'd at the ruin that the night had done, Bleeding and drench 'd, by toil and sorrow bent, Back to what used to be my home I went. But, as I near'd our little clearing-ground, Listen! I heard the cow- bell's tinkling sound. The cabin door was just a bit ajar; It gleam'd upon my glad eyes like a star. " Brave heart," I said, " for such a fragile form She made them guide her homeward through the storm 1 " Such pangs of joy 1 nt /er felt before. " You've come! " I shouted, and rush'd through the door. Yes, she had come, and gone again. She lay With all her young life crush 'd and wrench 'd away, Give a speech upon any subject, and arrange a sudden transition or contrast in situation or feeling. Accentuate this by a long pause or an extreme change in the actions of the body and modu- lations of the voice. Study so carefully and thoroughly " Lady Clare " that every situation, emotion, and peculiarity _,, of the characters, as well as the words, become completely your own, and render it observing especially the action. LADY CLARE. It was the time when lilies blow, and clouds are highest up in air, Lord Ronald brought a lily-white doe to give his cousin, Lady Clare. I trow they did not part in scorn: lovers long- betrothed were they; they two will wed the morrow morn; God's blessing on the day. " He does not love me for my birth, nor for my lands, so broad and fair; he loves me for my own true worth, and that is well," said Lady Clare. In there came old Alice, the nurse, said, " Who was this that went from thee? " " It was my cousin," said Lady Clare; " To-morrow he weds with me." " Oh, God be thanked ! " said Alice, the nurse, " That all comes round so just and fair : Lord Ronald is heir of all your lands, and you are not the Lady Clare." " Are ye out of your mind, my nurse, my nurse? " said Lady Clare, " that ye speak so wild? " " As God's above," said Alice, the nurse, " I speak the truth ; you are my child. The old earl's daughter died at my breast: I speak the truth as I live by bread I I buried her like my own sweet child, and put my child in her stead " 286 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION " Falsely, falsely have ye done, O mother," she said, " if this be true, to keep the best man under the sun so many years from his due." " Nay now, my child," said Alice the nurse, " but keep the secret for your life, and all you have will be Lord Ronald's when you are man and wife." " If I'm a beggar born," she said, " I will speak out, for I dare not lie : pull off, pull off the brooch of gold, and fling the diamond necklace by." " Nay now, my child," said Alice the nurse, " but keep the secret all ye can." She said, " Not so: but I will know, if there be any faith in man." "Nay now, what faith?" said Alice the nurse; "the man will cleave unto his right." " And he shall have it," the lady replied, " though I should die to-night." " Yet give one kiss to your mother dear! alas, my child, I sinned for thee." "O mother, mother, mother ! " she said, " so strange it seems to me. Yet here's a kiss for my mother dear, my mother dear, if this be so ; and lay your hand upon my head, and bless me, mother, ere I go." She clad herself in a russet gown she was no longer Lady Clare: she went by dale, and she went by down, with a single rose in her hair. The lily-white doe Lord Ronald had brought leapt up from where she lay, dropt her head in the maiden's hand, and followed her all the way. Down stept Lord Ronald from his tower: " O Lady Clare, you shame your worth ! Why come you dressed like a village maid, that are the flower of the earth? " " If I come dressed like a village maid, I am but as my fortunes are : I am a beggar born," she said, " and not the Lady Clare." " Play me no tricks," said Lord Ronald, " for I am yours in word and deed. Play me no tricks," said Lord Ronald, " your riddle is hard to read." Oh, and proudly stood she up! her heart within her did not fail: she looked into Lord Ronald's eyes, and told him all her nurse's tale. He laughed a laugh of merry scorn: he turned and kissed her where she stood: " If you are not the heiress born, and I," said he, " the next of blood " If you are not the heiress born, and I," said he, " the lawful heir, we two will wed to-morrow morn, and you shall still be Lady Clare." TENNYSON. Note the sympathy, admiration, and yet calm repose indicated at the beginning of " Lady Clare." The entrance and question of the nurse produces a complete change in the texture and conditions of the voice and body, and action of the face, chest, and arms, as well as certain modulations of the inflexions indicative of deeper significance. ACTIOP 287 In the words, " It all comes round so just and fair," the joy of the old nurse is intense and accompanied with an expansive action of body and voice, showing that she has thrown off a great burden and is full of delight at the results. The anxiety and the eager, excited recoil of Lady Clare indicate a premonition and a vague fear, but it is not ignoble, for this would be inconsistent with her later conduct. So the nurse goes on more and more eagerly with her revelations, while Lady Clare's excitement deepens. The expostulations of the nurse, her scepticism as to man's nobility, and her pleading with her daughter to " keep the secret " are given eagerly with a certain sense of secrecy. She even shows contempt for her daughter's scruples. Lady Clare, on the contrary, expands more and more; her bearing becomes more elevated, and her nobleness more manifest as the facts are disclosed. Notice the intensity, the sympathy, and admiration of the reader as Lady Clare is described on her journey. The climax of our admiration comes with an expansion and elevation of the body and a transfiguration of tone as the reader admires and describes her courage in frankly confessing all to Lord Ronald. Observe the many excited transitions and variations. Care must be taken not to exaggerate accidentals. To give the talk of the nurse mechanically will superfi- cialize the whole poem. There is need of resolution, self-control, and gravitation of the body in the transi- tion from character to character. Notice that the best portions are not the direct personations, but the intense realizations of the reader himself. He must express admiration for her moral courage, and reveal this by manifestative action. Observe Othello's intense realization of each idea as he frankly and honestly relates his story to the digni- 2 88 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION taries of Venice. Each picture as it is realized causes a definite action in his body. For example, _. when the father would naturally turn away from him and resent his reference, Othello would yet, with a certain deprecatory action, say, after hesitation, " loved me." The student should carefully think out the whole speech and every idea in it, or take some other important passage, and note that action is in complete unity with emphasis by inflexion, and that in every case action precedes the voice modulation, and is a part of the condition of tone. THE DEFENSE OF OTHELLO. Most potent, grave, and reverend signiors My very noble and approved good mast:, That I have ta'en away this old man's daughter, It is most true ; true, I have married her ; The very head and front of my offending. Hath this extent, no more. Rude am I in my speech And little bless 'd with the set phrase of peace; For since these arms of mine had seven years' pith, Till now some nine moons wasted, they have used Their dearest action in the tented field; And little of this great world can I speak, More than pertains to feats of broil and battle; And therefore little shall I grace my cause, In speaking f r myself. Yet, by your gracious patience I will a round unvarnished tale deliver, Of my whole course of love; what drugs, what charms, What conjuration, and what mighty magic (For such proceeding I am charged withal), I won his daughter Her father loved me; oft invited me; Still questioned me the story of my life, From year to year ; the battles, sieges, fortunes That I have pass'd. I ran it through, even from my boyish days, To the very moment that he bade me tell it: Wherein I spoke of most disastrous chances, Of moving accidents, by flood and field ; Of hair-breadth 'scapes in the imminent deadly breach ; Of being taken by the insolent foe, And sold to slavery ; of my redemption thence, And with it all my travels' history. . * . ACTIOM These things to hear, Would Desdemona seriously incline ; But still the house affairs would draw her thence Which ever as she could with haste despatch, She'd come again, and with a greedy ear Devour up my discourse ; which I observing, Took once a pliant hour ; and found good means To draw from her a prayer of earnest heart, That 1 would all my pilgrimage dilate, Whereof by parcels she had something heard, But not attentively. I did consent ; And often did beguile her of her tears, When I did speak of some distressful stroke, That my youth suffered. My story being done, She gave me for my pains a world of sighs ; She swore in faith, 't was strange, 't was passing strange T was pitiful, 't was wondrous pitiful ; She wished she had not heard it; yet she wished That Heaven had made her such a man. She thank *d me; And bade me if I had a friend that loved her, I should but teach him how to tell my story, And that would woo her. On this hint, I spake; She loved me for the dangers 1 had pass'd ; And I loved her, that she did pity them. This only is the witchcraft I have used. SHAKESFEARR, Make a short address on some living theme of the day ; or speak a passage, first with a great deal of motion, then with definite attitudes, staying the motions in positions which express the fundamental experience of the passage, and note the difference. CHRISTIANITY AND PAGANISM. Who that has seen Christianity and Paganism as they once were, would not have said that the caverns were destined to disappear, and that the mightier structure raised in the air and light as the abode of pleasure and vice was destined, by its false brilliancy, by its apparent power, by its pretended strength, by the courtiers who encircled it, to endure for ages? Yet the Caesars have departed; the Senate is crowned with laurels no morel There were the soldiers with then- burnished armor: the priests, thos* ~-~'es of the past and prophets of the future; the proud and weaitny nobles; the slaves of the Circus; the glad- iators; the triumphal arches; the colossal monuments; the obelisks, witness of so many ages and the spoil of so many ago FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION battles. And beneath all these lived an obscure and feeble sect, proclaiming a high morality in the midst of general depravity, and having for their only power, prayer I for their only victory, martyrdom I What strength had they, what arms? Their word! What riches ? Their faith ! What power? That of resignation and suffering 1 Had they legions? The legions of martyrs! Had they property? That of the tomb! What they possessed was a force unconquerable; a weapon never blunted; riches that cannot be lost; possessions that cannot be exhausted. The mysterious light without shadow and which grows not dim ; the living fire which quickens and is not quenched; the immortal soul of nature; the acting spring of society; the air in which the soul is free! an unfailing faith bestowed on them by Heaven with the gift of miracles. . . . The conquered were conquerors. The proscribed became mighty, the dead were givers of life ; the weak, with hands pierced by the nails of the cross, vanquished the savage strength of Pagan Rome I CASTELAR. Study the language of the whole body. Speak upoi an important theme and let the entire organism manifest, by natural signs, the intensity and fervor of the feeling. DOUGLAS AND JAMES. Then clamour'd loud the royal train, and brandish'd swords and staves amain. But stern the Baron's warning "Back! back, on your lives, ye menial pack ! Beware the Douglas. Yes! behold, King James! the Douglas, doom'd of old, and vainly sought for near and far, a victim to atone the war, a willing victim, now attends, nor craves thy grace but for his friends." " Thus is my clemency repaid? presumptuous Lord I " the monarch said ; " Of thy misproud ambitious clan, thou, James of Bothwell, wert the man, the only man, in whom a foe my woman- mercy would not know; but shall a Monarch's presence brook injurious blow, and haughty look? What ho, the Captain of our Guard I Give the offender fitting ward, break off the sports ! " for tumult rose, and yeomen 'gan to bend their bows, " break off the sports ! " he said s and frown'd, " and bid our horsemen clear the ground." Then uproar wild and misarray marr'd the *" : " *~rm of festal day. The horsemen prick'd among the crowd repell'd by threats and insults loud; to earth are borne the old and weak> the timorous tly. the women shriek; with flint, with shaft, with ACTION 291 staff, with bar, the hardier urge tumultuous war At once round Douglas darkly sweep the royal spears in circle deep, and slowly scale the pathway steep; while on the rear in thunder pour the rabble with disordered roar. With grief the noble Douglas saw the Commons rise against the law, and to the leading soldier said, " Sir John of Hynford I 'twas my blade that knighthood on thy shoulder laid ; for that good deed, permit me then a word with these misguided men. " Hear, gentle friends ! ere yet for me ye break the bands of fealty. My life, my honor, and my cause, I tender free to Scot- land's laws. Are these so weak as must require the aid of your misguided ire! Or, if I suffer causeless wrong, is then my selfish rage so strong, my sense of public weal so low, that, for mean vengeance on a foe, those cords of love I should unbind, which knit my country and my kind? Oh nol Believe, in yonder tower it will not soothe my captive hour, to know those spears our foes should dread, for me in kindred gore are red; to know, in fruitless brawl begun, for me that mother wails her son; for me, that widow's mate expires; for me, that orphans weep their sires; that patriots mourn insulted laws; and curse the Douglas for the cause. let your patience ward such ill, and keep your right to love me still ! " The crowd's wild fury sunk again in tears, as tempests melt in rain. With lifted hands and eyes, they pray'd for blessings on his generous head, who for his country felt alone, and prized her blood beyond his own. Old men, upon the verge of life, bless'd him who staid the civil strife; and mothers held their babes on high, the self-devoted Chief to spy, triumphant over wrongs and ire, to whom the prattlers owed a sire: even the rough soldier's heart was moved; as if behind some bier be- loved, with trailing arms and drooping head, the Douglas up the hill he led, and at the Castle's battled verge with sighs resign'd his honour'd charge. " Lady of the Lake." SCOT! " Joy! joy! " she cried; " my task is done The gates are passed, and heaven is won J " MOORE Romeo. He jests at scars, that never felt a wound, (Juliet appears above at tier window.) But soft I what light through yonder window breaks? It is the East, and Juliet is the Sun ! Arise, fair Sun, and kill the envious Moon. Give a speech of your own, after deep meditation and thorough preparation, and endeavor to touch the whole nature of your audience. Endeavor 292 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION genuinely to realize the depth and importance of the subject and note the effect on the body. ACTION is the expression of thought and emotion through the body. It appeals to the eye, and is the most general and generic of languages. The highest action is that which is most manifestative and directly significant ; the weakest is representative, or that which is a substitute for words. A GESTURE is significant motion. An ATTITUDE is a significant or expressive position. It is directly related to tone-color and also to intensity in vocal expression. BEARING is an action expressive of motives and character. It is directly associated with expression in union with texture of the voice. Pantomimic expression is MANIFESTATIVE when there is a direct and spontaneous tendency of emotion to dominate not only a part but the whole of the body. Pantomimic expression is REPRESENTATIVE when any portion of the body, but more especially the hand or arm, is used to describe or indicate some action. Repre- sentative Pantomime is akin to words; Manifestative Pantomime, to tone-colors. xxn. UNITY OF DELIVERY. The leading expressive modulations of the voice are pause, touch, change of pitch, inflexion, tone-color, volume, intensity, and movement. There may be others, but we have certainly found these. The student must be able to make practical use of them all in the expression of his thoughts and feelings, in telling stories, in ordinary conversations, in extemporaneous speaking, and in expressive reading. Such short lines, sentences, paragraphs, or poems have been given as are especially adapted to accentu- ate the functions of some one of these modulations. Short problems in conversation and speaking have also been suggested for the same purpose. We must not forget, however, that the elementary modulations of the voice are always necessarily associated with each other. Pause implies touch. The length of a pause requires a corresponding length of interval. An in- flexion may be given to one word, such as " no," or " yes," or " well " ; but the natural utterance of the shortest sentence requires change of pitch also. Form may be used alone in commonplace speech, but the moment imagination and feeling are awakened tone- color and movement become necessary, and yet their presence does not interfere with form. In adequate expression all these modulations are present in organic unity. The student must continu- ally recognize delivery as the expression of life, and must always follow analytic study with synthetic prac- 293 294 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION tice of all elements in natural union. Especially at the close of these studies must we endeavor to realize the vital relations of all the voice modulations and ele- ments of delivery to each other. Give one line or a short sentence many times, accentuating successively every one of the voice _ 2g modulations until you can feel and command its distinct function. Joy is not in things; it is in us. i. TRANSITION. One method of testing the nature, function, and especially the relation of these modula- tions to each other, is the practice of sudden changes or transitions. A pause is present in all transitions, because it sug- gests the reception of a new impression, and a transi- tion means a change in the current of ideas. Accord- ingly, in addition to the ordinary pause suggestive of the reception of an impression, and the emphatic pause suggestive of the holding or staying of an idea until it is received by another, we find a transitional pause longer still, a pause due to the realization of an unex- pected or unusual change in thought, situation, or feeling. Change of pitch, on account of its expressing the discrimination of the mind, is also found in all tran- sitions. When ideas, situations, mental pictures, or emotions undergo transformation, change of pitch necessarily expresses these transitions, and change in key is proportioned to the extreme character of the transition. Touch, being the assertion of attention and the expression of will, undergoes less change than any other modulation. Inflexion reveals a change in the attitude of the mind from doubt to certainty, from seeking to finding, from unimportance to importance, or the reverse. It is often used also in direct con- UNITY OF DELIVERY 2 95 trast with individual words, either the direction or the length of inflexion changing. At times, inflexions may be placed in different pitches. Change of pitch is a means, in this case, of expressing antithesis. Length of inflexion changes with degrees of earnestness; abruptness, with degrees of excitement or control over it. Volume, expressing demonstrativeness, is less dig- nified. Though change in volume is not usually so dramatic as other variations in voice modulations, yet we may have a change from the expression of frank- ness to that of secrecy, from objectivity to subjectivity. Tone-color changes with every change in imagina- tion and feeling. Movement, also, as it expresses life, is variable in a high degree. No modulation, accordingly, ever stands entirely alone in natural speech. The union of modulations is the chief characteristic of naturalness. All great transitions, especially, imply a co-ordination and union of these several elements. Pause, touch, change of pitch and inflexion are characteristic of every-day conversation in business, on the street, and whenever men meet on an imper- sonal plane. Such a union constitutes commonplace " emphasis," but to confine all work for delivery to these will degrade poetry to common prose. Tone-color and movement express the spiritual, imaginative, poetic, lyric, dramatic, and epic actions of the mind. They are felt even in private life in moments of great tenderness, or when hearts become sympathetically related to each other. As genuine relations lead naturally to poetry, as a deeper love for one's fellows predominates in the heart, the voice normally responds, varies its secondary vibrations and modulates its rhythm to express those higher experiences and attitudes of the soul. 296 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION We should study, learn by heart, and express by the natural languages the best short poems in liter- ature, and observe especially the presence of the higher voice modulations. Note in the following the necessity of intensity, tone-color, and movement. CROSSING THE BAR. Sunset and evening star, and one clear call for me And may there be no moaning of the bar when I put out to sea, But such a tide as moving seems asleep, too full for sound and foam, When that which drew from out the boundless deep turns again home. Twilight and evening bell, and after that the dark ! And may there be no sadness of farewell, when I embark ; For tho' from out our bourne of time and place the flood may bear me far, I hope to see my Pilot face to face when I have crost the bar. TENNYSON. Note the impossibility of rendering these lines with- out the passional modulation of movement. Observe and render carefully many times the extreme transitions in the fourth line; also the neces- sity for changing key, color, and movement, and note that the higher the modulations, the greater their change. Plunged in the battery-smoke, Right through the line they broke, Cossack and Russian Reeled from the sabre-stroke, Shattered and sundered. Then they rode back; but not Not the six hundred. TENNYSON. 2. HARMONY. While the unification of all the modu- lations can be observed in sudden transitions, their co-ordination is best expressed in the harmonious interpretation of an entire poem. All are present throughout, but every now and then we find one accen- tuated in order more definitely to interpret or accen- tuate some one action of the mind or element of speech. UNITY OF DELIVERY 297 Take, for example, some such poem as Heber's " Spring Journey." As we read it over we may first become aware of the existence of great variations of pitch with long pauses, and that each pause is followed by a touch. We presently find that we fix our atten- tion upon successive objects, a mental action that directly dominates all vocal action in delivery. The act of receiving impressions of each successive idea causes us to pause, and the assertion of our attention to others constitutes touch. We discover also, in pass- ing from idea to idea, a decided discrimination in the action of the mind and this causes change of pitch. THE SPRING JOURNEY, green was the corn as I rode on my way, And bright were the dews on the blossoms of May, And dark was the sycamore's shade to behold, And the oak's tender leaf was of emerald and gold. The thrush from his holly, the lark from his cloud, Their chorus of rapture sang jovial and loud: From the soft vernal sky to the soft grassy ground, There was beauty above me, beneath, and around. The mild southern breeze brought a shower from the hill, And yet, though it left me all dripping and chill, 1 felt a new pleasure as onward I sped, To gaze where the rainbow gleamed broad overhead. O such be Life's journey, and such be our skill, To lose in its blessings the sense of its ill ; Through sunshine and shower may our progress be even, And our tears add a charm to the prospect of Heaven I HEBER. When rendering the entire poem we find that the word " life " in the last stanza has a longer inflexion, and is given with more importance than any other word in the four stanzas. Again, no matter what the grammatical structure may be, we select certain centres of attention and gather the words in groups around them. Attention, for example, centres on " sycamore " not on " shade," 298 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION on " oak " rather than " its tender leaf," because these words are essential. The touch and the inflexion, accordingly, come upon these words because the ideas they name are central in the mind. In the fifth line the word " thrush " has greater saliency than the word " holly," the word " lark " than " cloud." Why? Because our attention is fixed upon the " thrush " and " lark " rather than upon their location. Where they are is naturally assumed. Every mental picture must have unity. By emphasiz- ing all four words the passage lacks that unity which has greatest effect upon the mind of the listener. In the same way, the word " beauty " is more impor- tant by far than all the others in the eighth line. There is a great temptation on account of the metric move- ment to slight this and accent both " beneath " and " around," but when the reader is really thinking he asserts the word " beauty " as the centre of attention and subordinates the rest of the line. In the rendering of any poem, we find, accordingly, that there is not merely a sequence of attention and of ideas to be considered, but that certain ideas are intro- duced with great saliency. " Beauty " is the key word and interprets the first half of the poem. Similarly, in the next stanza there is coloring of the voice showing the impression received from the shower and the playful enjoyment, and a strong, logical in- flexion on " new " and " rainbow." These inflexions are necessary and not at all antagonistic to the imagi- native and emotional coloring of the voice expressing feeling. The last stanza takes us from the literal journey to that of life. There is a change of key, a change of tone-coloring, and above all, a change of movement to suggest the deeper thought. But we have also a longer inflexion upon the word " life " which introduces to us the closing theme. Examination of UNITY OF DELIVERY 299 the poem reveals the fact that all the modulations are necessary to each other. Each one may be used for emphasis of some theme or plane of mental or emo- tion action. The art of the reader or speaker consists in the power to accentuate some one of these modula- tions, while at the same time bringing them all into unity. The student should very carefully examine some noteworthy poem, such as Tennyson's " Charge of the Light Brigade." Observe the necessary unity of the whole, and that while every part is expressed with its own deep meaning, yet all the contrasts, oppo- sitions, and changes in movement have a certain rela- tion to the spirit of the whole. CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE. Half a league, half a league, half a league onward, all in the valley of death rode the six hundred. " Forward, the Light Brigade! Charge for the guns! " he said. Into the valley of Death rode the six hundred. " Forward, the Light Brigade! " Was there a man dismayed? Not though the soldiers knew some one had blundered! Theirs not to make reply ; theirs not to reason why ; theirs but to do and die ; into the valley of Death rode the six hundred. Cannon to right of them, cannon to left of them, cannon in front of them volleyed and thundered : stormed at with shot and shell, boldly they rode and well; into the jaws of death, into the mouth of Hell, rode the six hundred. Flashed all their sabres bare, flashed as they turned in air, sabring the gunners there, charging an army, while ail the world wondered! Plunged in the battery-smoke, right through the line they broke, Cossack and Russian reeled from the sabre-stroke, shattered and sundered. Then they rode back; but not not the six hundred. Cannon to right of them, cannon to left of them, cannon be- hind them volleyed and thundered: stormed at with shot and shell, while horse and hero fell, they that had fought so well came through the jaws of Death back from the mouth of Hell, all that was left of them left of six hundred. When can their glory fade? O the wild charge they made' All the world wondered. Honor the charge they made I Honof the Light Brigade, noble six hundred. TENNYSON. 300 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION Note the repetition, the continuity of the rhythm suggesting intense amazement at the great danger, the neutral command that acts as a formal and intel- lectual accent over against the deep sympathy and sense of danger. Observe in the second stanza the repetition of this command, and then the intense questions with strong inflexions upon " man " and " know." Notice the excited movement expressing, with great intensity, the reader's identification with the scene. Observe also, the long falling inflexion upon " do," and not upon " die." It was not their duty to die, but to do, and die if necessary. Notice the intense touch that is necessary on all important words. The excitement cannot be shown by hurry but only by energy in pulsations. Life is always expressed by rhythm. Observe that the word " hell," if spoken intellectu- ally and indifferently, sounds profane. It must seem to be the one inevitable word to express the awfulness of the situation. It is profane to use words without justifying them by experience. The next line refers to the actual conflict, and the excitement increases and becomes intensified. The very movement of the sabres is felt by the reader. Then comes the first great transi- tion, intense pathos after a long pause, with change of key, movement, and color. Then they rode back ; but not Not the six hundred. The excitement is repeated with some modification in describing the return, and a deeper and more intense transition follows at the close. The last stanza must be given slowly and with dignity. There must be no pity expressed, but depth of sympathy and admiration of the heroes. UNITY OF DELIVERY 3OI Render poems or stories giving definite character to every part, but accentuating such transitions and contrasts as will bring the whole into unity. THE RETURN OF THE SWALLOWS. " Out in the meadows the young grass springs, Shivering with sap," said the larks, " and we Shoot into air with our strong young wings, Spirally up over level and lea; Come, O Swallows, and fly with us, Now that horizons are luminous ! Evening and morning the world of light, Spreading and kindling, is infinite 1 " Far away, by the sea in the south, The hills of olive and slopes of fern Whiten and glow in the sun's long drouth, Under the heavens that beam and burn; And all the swallows were gathered there Flitting about in the fragrant air, And heard no sound from the larks, but flew Flashing under the blinding blue. Out of the depths of their soft rich throats Languidly fluted the thrushes, and said: " Musical thought in the mild air floats, Spring is coming and winter is dead ! Come, O Swallows, and stir the air, For the buds are all bursting unaware, And the drooping eaves and the elm-trees long To hear the sound of your low sweet song." Over the roofs of the white Algiers, Flashingly shadowing the bright bazaar, Flitted the swallows, and not one hears The call of the thrushes from far, from far: Sighed the thrushes; then, all at once, Broke out singing the old sweet tones, Singing the bridal of sap and shoot, The tree's slow life between root and fruit But just when the dingles of April flowers Shine with the earliest daffodils, When, before sunrise, the cold clear hours Gleam with a promise that noon fulfils, Deep in the leafage the cuckoo cried, Perched on a spray by a rivulet-side, "Swallows, O Swallows, come back again To swoop and herald the April rain." FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION And something awoke in the slumbering heart Of the alien birds in their African air, And they paused, and alighted, and twittered apart, And met in the broad white dreamy square ; And the sad slave woman, who lifted up From the fountain her broad-lipped earthen cup, Said to herself, with a weary sigh, "To-morrow the swallows will northward fly I " EDMUND WILLIAM GOSSE THE SONG OF THE CAMP. " Give us a song!" the soldiers cried, the outer trenches guard- ing, when the heated guns of the camps allied grew weary of bombarding. The dark Redan, in silent scoff, lay grim and threatening, under; and the tawny mound of the Malakoff no longer belched its thunder. There was a pause. A guardsman said: " We storm the forts to-morrow; sing while we may, another day will bring enough of sorrow." They lay along the battery's side, below the smoking cannon; brave hearts, from Severn and from Clyde, and from the banks of Shannon. They sang of love and not of fame; forgot was Britain's glory; each heart recalled a different name, but all sang "Annie Laurie." Voice after voice caught up the song, until its tender passion rose like an anthem, rich and strong, their battle-eve confession. Dear girl, her name he dared not speak, but, as the song grew louder, something upon the soldier's cheek washed off the stains of powder. Beyond the darkening ocean burned the bloody sunset's embers, while the Crimean valleys learned how English love remembers. And once again a fire of hell rained on the Russian quarters, with scream of shot, and burst of shell, and bellowing of the mortars ! And Irish Nora's eyes are dim for a singer, dumb and gory ; and English Mary mourns for him who sang of " Annie Laurie." Sleep, soldiers ! still in honored rest your truth and valor wear- ing: the bravest are the tenderest, the loving are the daring. BAYARD TAYLOR. This principle of unity and harmony is seen also in public speaking. Observe how Beecher, in the follow- ing extract, introduces " the sun " with a long inflexion. In the next clause he pictures the " pine upon the mountain top " and its exclamation. Then notice another long inflexion on the " meadow violet " with a simultaneous change in quality and rhythm. Next UNITY OF DELIVERY 303 observe the " grain " as introduced with another fall- ing inflexion, while there is, at the same time, a dif- ferent movement, color, and texture of the whole. Then follows a long pause. So far, all is illustration. But while each picture has been painted definitely in its own phase of experience, there is now an application of the meaning of these pictures. After the long pause notice the strong emphasis on the word " God," also on " universe of life," and the climax in the last clause. To render such passages as mere successions of ideas, without direct contrast or transitions in feel- ing, in rhythmic movement, and color, is to lose all the force and power of the passage. The sun does not shine for a few trees and flowers, but for the wide world's joy. The lonely pine upon the mountain-top waves its sombre boughs, and cries, " Thou art my sun." And the little meadow violet lifts its cup of blue, and whispers with its perfumed breath, " Thou art my sun." And the grain in a thousand fields rustles in the wind, and makes answer, " Thou art my sun." And so God sits effulgent in Heaven, not for a favored few, but for the universe of life; and there is no creature so poor or so low that he may not look up with child-like con- fidence and say, " My Father! Thou art mine." BEECHER. Speakers should study poems containing in short space and intensive form the deep life of the heart with sudden contrasts and variations. The same actions of the mind are found in the expression of great eloquence. When a speaker eliminates imagination and feeling he becomes commonplace, and his ideas and words fail to move his fellows. The difference between the highest poetry and the highest eloquence is a slight difference of form rather than of spirit. According to Palgrave, the highest poetry has a certain uniformity, and the same is true of eloquence. It is on the lower planes that there are great variations in degree of excel- lence. The same principle applies also to delivery. On the highest plane all the elements blend and har- 304 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION monize, there is the simplicity and naturalness of life itself. When human realization becomes true it be- comes exalted, simple, and suggestive. Into the woods my Master went, Clean forspent, forspent, Into the woods my Master came, Forspent with love and shame. But the olives they were not blind to Him The little gray leaves were kind to Him The thorn tree had a mind to Him When into the woods He came. Out of the woods my Master went, And He was well content. Out of the woods my Master came Content with death and shame. When Death and Shame would woo Him last, From under the trees they drew Him last; 'Twas on a tree they slew Him last When out of the woods He came. A Ballad of Trees and the Master." SIDNEY LANIER. Study carefully some speech and note the distinct functions of the various modulations of the voice needed to express its thoughts and feeling. DEDICATION OF GETTYSBURG CEMETERY. Fourscore and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth upon this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are en- gaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We are met to dedicate a portion of it as the final resting-place of those who have given their lives that that nation might live. It is alto- gether fitting and proper that we should do this. But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot conse- crate, we cannot hallow, this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our power to add or to detract. The world will very little note nor long remember what we say here; but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us, the living, rather, to be dedicated here, to the un- finished work they have thus far so nobly carried on, It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining UNITY OF DELIVERY 305 before us; that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they here gave the last full measure of devotion; that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; that the nation shall, under God, have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, and for the people, shall not perish from the earth. LINCOLN. O CAPTAIN! MY CAPTAIN! O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done, The ship has weathere'd every rack, the prize we sought is won, The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting, While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring; But O heart! heart! heart! O the bleeding drops of red, Where on the deck my Captain lies, Fallen cold and dead. O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells; Rise up for you the flag is flung for you the bugle trills, For you bouquets and ribboned wreaths for you the shores a crowding, For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning; Here Captain! dear father! This arm beneath your headl It is some dream that on the deck You've fallen cold and dead. My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still, My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will, The ship is anchored safe and sound, its voyage closed and done, From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won; Exult, O shores, and ring O bells! But I, with mournful tread, Walk the deck my Captain lies, Fallen cold and dead. WALT WHITMAN THE DEATH OF LINCOLN. Even he who now sleeps has, by this event, been clothed with new influence. Dead, he speaks to men who now willingly hear what before they refused to listen to. Now his simple and weighty words will be gathered like those of Washington; and your children and your children's children shall be taught to ponder the simplicity and deep wisdom of utterances which, in their time, passed, in party heat, as idle words. Men will receive a new impulse of patriotism for his sake, and will guard with zeal the whole country which he loved so well. They will admire and imitate the firmness of this man, his inflexible conscience for the right, and yet his gentleness, ah 306 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION tender as a woman's, his moderation of spirit, which not all the heat of party could inflame, nor all the jars and disturbances of this country shake out of its place. I swear you to an emu- lation of his justice, his moderation, and his mercy. Dead, dead, dead, he yet speaketh. Is Washington dead? Is Hampden dead? Is David dead? Is any man that ever was fit to live dead? Disenthralled of flesh, and risen in the unobstructed sphere where passion never comes, he begins his illimitable work. His life now is grafted upon the infinite, and will be fruitful as no earthly life can be. Pass on, thou that hast overcome 1 Your sorrows, C people, are his peace ! Your bells, and bands, and muffled drums sound triumph in his ear Wail and weep here ; God makes its echo joy and triumph there. Pass on ! Four years ago, O Illinois ! we took from your midst an untried man, and from among the people. We return him to you a mighty conqueror. Not thine any more, but the nation's; not ours but the world's. Give him place, O ye prairies ! In the midst of this great continent his dust shall rest, a sacred treasure to myriads who shall pilgrim to that shrine to kindle anew their zeal and patriotism* Ye winds that move over the mighty places of the West, chant his requiem ! Ye people, behold a martyr whose blood, as so many articulate words, pleads for fidelity, for law, for liberty! HENRY WARD BEECHER. PARABLE OF THE FATHER. A certain man had two sons : and the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of thy substance that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living. And not many days after the younger son gathered all together s and took his journey into a far country; and there he wasted his substance with riotous living. And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that country; and he began to be in want. And he went and joined himself to one of the citizens of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine,. And he would fain have been filled with the husks that the swine did eat : and no man gave unto him. But when he came to himself he said, How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish here with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and I will say unto him, Father^ I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight: I am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired ser- vants. And he arose, and came to his father. But while he was yet afar off, his father saw him, and was moved with com- passion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. And the son said unto him. Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in UNITY OF DELIVERY 307 thy sight: I am no more worthy to be called thy son. But the father said to his servants, Bring forth quickly the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: and bring the fatted calf, and kill it, and let us eat, and make merry: for this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry. Now his elder son was in the field: and as hp came and drew nigh to the house, he heard music and dancing. And he called to him one of the servants, and inquired what these things might be. And he said unto him, Thy brother is come; and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe and sound. But he was angry and would not go in; and his father came out and entreated him. But he answered and said to his father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee, and I never transgressed a commandment of thine: and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends: but when this thy son came, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou killedst for him the fatted calf. And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that is mine is thine. But it was meet to make merry and be glad : for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found. A machine is constructed; a part can be removed and a new one substituted. An organism is not built but must grow. Back of the budding leaf there must be life, not merely in the twig, but in the whole tree. So delivery is the revelation of man's life through his organism. A mere local manipulation, a mere application of a rule to some little inflexion, change of pitch, or gesture will produce one-sidedness. All true modulations of the voice or body are natural signs. With every move- ment of the hand, every inflexion, every pause, or change of pitch, there are simultaneous elements almost innumerable through the whole body, which also bear witness to the inner life. The development of delivery is the renewal of life, the awakening of deeper energy, and its diffusion through the whole man. Accordingly, delivery is natural, and is developed not by exaggerating some one element, but by the accentuation and union of all. 308 FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION Nothing in the development of delivery can compensate for genuineness of thinking and feeling. The student must live his truth before he gives it. In proportion as he lives it will he use pause, touch, change of pitch, inflexion, variation of movement, degrees of force and modulation of the sympathetic vibrations of his tone; his face will kindle, his whole body will expand, and others will feel that his whole being and body are alive. The improvement of delivery is a serious problem. It implies deep self-study. It requires command over thinking, power to concentrate attention, to imagine and to feel. It requires the co-ordination of the con- scious and the unconscious, control of the voluntary and spontaneous activities, not only of the powers of being, but of all parts of the body and organs of the voice. While it is necessary to understand each little conscious, deliberative act, it is also necessary to recog- nize that there are ten times as many involuntary elements which must spontaneously respond to the inner life. If we do our little tenth, the other nine- tenths spring freely into co-operation; but there must be no repression or constriction that will interfere with these spontaneous activities. We cannot reduce the length or the degree of abrupt- ness of an inflexion to rule, nor can we indicate exactly how long a pause must be or how wide an interval, nor can tone-color and movement be regulated by mechan- ical rules, but all must obey deep principles. All the modulations of the voice increase according to the degree of earnestness, and while each has a specific meaning which must be defined, true expression re- sults from a simultaneous union and natural co-ordi- nation of innumerable elements even in the simplest act of speech. Yet while there are certain fundamental elements common to all men, there are also certain personal and UHITY OF DELIVERY 309 spontaneous variations peculiar to every individual. The student must be himself; he must obey his own instincts. All his work, all his knowledge of the elements of delivery must become a matter of intuition. He must be able to dominate his attention and yet contemplate a truth until his enthusiasm awakens, and, while consciously holding and emphasizing fun- damentals, must give himself up freely to his own awakened life. "All art is play reduced to order." There must be play and enthusiasm, that is, spontaneous energy and feeling. The true development of delivery depends upon the awakening of man's faculties, contemplation of the world, and a truer obedience to the highest ideals and deepest dreams of life. Delivery is the liberation of thought and emotion; it is the giving of form to aspiration and feeling. A true study of delivery is the highest means of discovering man's hidden power. " All education is emancipation ; " but this is espe- cially true of delivery. To express is to set free. Every plant may sleep through the winter, but even a weed will die unless it pierces the mould and puts forth its leaves to meet the sun. Without expression there is no life. Man's faculties and powers are hemmed in and constricted if his delivery is poor. The child is retarded in its development if there is any fettering of its hands. On the contrary, to give the faculties of man spontaneous expression and freedom, to use the living voice and body as a living organism, to reveal by natural and direct signs the inner life, is to deepen and quicken that life, to stimulate every faculty, and to develop human power. INDEX Short passages and extracts are referred to by (ex.). Accentuation, 225, 226. Accidentals and fundamentals, 16. Action, 273-292. different meaning from tone, 9, 10, 274. importance of, 273-275; how improved, 275. Actions, conscious and unconscious, 137- Adams, Sarah Flower, Bethel, 100. Admiral's Grave, The, 166. Agility of Voice, 123-134, 238. inflexional, 127, 128, 134; inter- vallic, 126, 127. Ah! my heart, Dennis F. McCarthy, i9i. "Ah," problems on, Tipperary, 74, 75 ; Ah, April, 84. Ah, welll for us all, Whittier, 160. Aldrich, Anne Reeve, Little Parable, 125. Aldrich, Thomas Bailey, Appreciation, 29; Guilielmus Rex, 114; Re- contre, 332. Alger, W. R., When Jacques de Molay (ex.), 36. Art defined, 153. Articulation, 193-200. All hail the power, E. Perronet, 165. Aiiin^liatn, William, Summer Time, t99. AntuKsis, 106. Apperception, 143. Appreciation, Aldrich, 29. April, William Morris, 172. Arabian proverb, Men are Four, 160. ArnJt, M. ., Wherever, O man, 28. Aniat, The, 153. Arrow and Song, Longfellow, 104. Artistic spontaneity, 138. A song, oh a song, 162. Assimilation and Sympathy, 239-260. Attention, first step in expression, 20. Attitude and gesture, 276. Attitude of mind and inflexion, 49-60. At the Grave's Edge, Henry Fletcher Harris, 212. At twilight on the open sea, Tabb, 26. Aytoun, By the God that made thee, 13; Now, by my faith, 58. Background of Mystery, Beecher, 120. Bailey, Phillip James, We live in deeds, not years (ex.), 52. Ballad of the Road, Constance D'Arcy Mackay, i9i. Banks, I live for those (ex.), 54. Bashford, Herbert, Mount Rainier, 164. Battle-field, Emily Dickinson, 52. Bear up, old friend, 215. Beecher, Henry Ward, Back-ground of mystery, 120; Death of Lin- coln, 305; No man can accom- plish (ex.), 115; The sun does not shine (ex.), 303; Truth alone is not sufficient (ex.), 235; Where there is love (ex.), 128. Before Sedan, Dobson, 242. Before Sunrise in Winter, Edward R. Sill, 133. Being above all beings (ex.), 167. Bell, Prof. Alexander Melville, on Vowels, 193. Bethel, Adams, 100. Bird Raptures, Christina Georgina Rossetti, 80. Bird Thoughts, 134. Bjbrnson, B., The tree's leafy buds, 47- Blake, William, A Laughing Song, 77. And did those feet, 95. Thompson's poem on, 117. Blackbird, The, Henley, 22. Blessings on thee, little man (ex.), Whittier, 47. Body, expansion of, 9o; elevation and centrality of, 9i. Book, A, Emily Dickinson, 12. Books give to all (ex.), 161. 312 INDEX Bourdillon, Francis W., Light, 105. Branch, Mary Bolles, Petrified Fern, 207. Breathing, correct method of, 76; laughter in, 77; problem on centrality of, 78-80; retention of, 79; rhythm of, 81. Bridges, Madeline S., Life's Mirror, 41. Brook, The, Tennyson, 174. Brooklet, The, Longfellow, 17. Browning, Elizabeth Barrett, Noth- ing's small (ex.), 34; 0, the little birds (ex.), 179. Browning, Robert, At the Mermaid (ex.), 49; I go to prove my soul (ex.), 116; I sprang to the stirrup (ex.), 232; Kentish, Sir Byng (ex.), 55; Memorabilia, 59 ; See the noble fellow's face (ex.), 162; The Patriot, 254. Bruce's Address at Bannockburn, Burns, 214. Bryant, William Cullen, A silvery brook (ex.), 161; Merrily swing- ing (ex.), 46; Modest and shy (ex.), 165. Buchanan, melancholy waters (ex.), 66. Burns, Robert, Bruce's Address, 214; John Anderson, My Jo, 186; O, wert thou, i9o. Byron, Description from (ex.), 263; They never fail who die (ex.), 40. By the God that made thee (ex.), Aytoun, 13. Cable, Lucy L., The Vandals, 121. Carey, Of a sudden the sun, 143. Carleton, Will, Transition from Settler's Story, 262. Carlyle, Thomas, Give us, O give us (ex.), 131; In a valiant suffer- ing (ex.), 144; The Larch and the Oak, 117; No idlest word thou speakest (ex.), 39. Carman, Bliss, Have little care, 107; Song of the Mountain, i92. Castelar, Christianity and Pagan- ism, 289. Centrality, 226, 227. Centralization, no. Certainty, Emily Dickinson, 262. Charge of the Light Brigade, Tenny- son, 299. Charles and His Defenders, Macau- lay, io9. Clang, clang, 50. Clephane, Elizabeth Cevilia, The Lost Sheep, 188. Coleridge, All in a hot and copper sky (ex.), 36; Maid of my love (ex.), 162; Rise, oh! ever rise (ex.), 146; Sometimes a-dropping(ex.), 228; The sun's rim dips (ex.), 143 ; Wake ! oh, wake 1 (ex.), 163. Collins, Mortimer, My Thrush, 85. Come all ye jolly, Hogg, 180. Come Home, Mrs. Hemans, 180. " Come," selections for problem on, 179, 180. Concentration and its expression, i 9-42. Conditions and qualities of voice, 69-88. Consonants, list of, 194. Contrast, n, 178-180; in emotion, 165-168. Convention of France, Mirabeau, 129. Conversational Form, in, 122. Coolbrith, Ina Donna, In Blossom Time, 74. Co-ordination, 76; in voice, 61-88. Courage, Sherman Hoar, i98. Cranch, C. P., Thought, 45. Crashaw, Richard, Two went to pray, 107. Crossing the Bar, Tennyson, 296. Cunningham, A., A Song of the Sea, 86. Curfew tolls the knell (ex.), Gray, 231. Curtis, George William, American Scholarship, 40. Dandridge, Danske Carolina, Wings, 51. Dante, In His will, 116. Davis, Thomas, The summer brook, 1 06. Deity, expression of idea of, 147. De Lisle, Rouget, Ye sons of free- dom (ex.), 137. Delivery, denned, 9; developed by fundamentals, 14-16; not print- able, 9; unity of, 292, 293. INDEX 313 Dickinson, Emily, A Book, 12; Cer- tainty, 262; Death a dialogue, 51 ; The battle-field, 52. Discrimination and Intervals, 43-48 Distinctness of articulation, 200. Dobson, Henry Austin, Before Sedan, 242; The Rose and the Gar- dener, 241. Douglas and James, Scott, 200 Dramatic Instinct, 245. Duty, Ellen Sturgis Hooper, 93. Ear, training of, 124-126. Elements of speech, i93-i98. Emerson, Ralph Waldo, Every writer a skater (ex.), 153 ; I hide in the solar glory (ex.), 25, 151; One of the illusions (ex.), 112; Out of the heart of nature (ex.), 29; So nigh is grandeur (ex ), 163; The Problem, 94; Though love repine (ex.), 1 1 ; Two Rivers, 208 ; We are awkward (ex.) , 1 29 ; What a man is irresistibly (ex.), 128; When a man lives with God, 53 ; When Sir Harry Vane (ex.), 53; Who knows himself, 137; Wilt thou not ope, 46. Emotion, 149, 150; control of, 2o9- 21 1 ; negative and positive, 152. Emphasis, cause of, 97-110; by pulsations or rhythm, 115-117; by form or melody, 1 1 1 ; modes of, 111-122; by change of key, 113; by pause, 118. Emphatic pause, 122. Enoch Arden at the Window, Tennyson, 213. Enunciation, 200. Epic Instinct, 248, 249, 260. Erl-King, Goethe, 244. Esquire Nimble Frog's Mistake, 58. Exclamations, use in voice training, 63-67, 73-74- Exercise, 18. Expression, begins in concentra- tion, has a mental cause, 11-13; importance of, 306; law of, 10; modes of, 9; nature of, 10, requires training, 13, 14. Fairless, Michael, True Possession, 141. Fairy Song, S. S. C., 173. Faults of voice (See Qualities), 69-88. Feeling, development of, 161 , ex- pressed by color (See Emotion), 159-168. Ferguson, Leap out, leap out, 9i; trusted and trustworthy guard, 162. Field, Eugene, Little Boy Blue, 210. Field Mouse and Town Mouse, 154. Finch, Francis M., Nathan Hale, 167. First Swallow, C. Smith, 139. Fishermen, The, Whittier, 67. Flexibility of Voice, 25-238. Flower in the crannied wall, Tenny- son, 146. Fool's Prayer, Edward Rowland Sill, 223. Force and its expression, 201-^16; faults in expression ^f, 201-203. Form, conversational, in, 122. Form, as mode of Emphasis, in, 122. Foss, S. W-, W'en you see a man in we, 78. Fox and Cat, J. and W. Grimm, 44. Freedom's secret, 1^7. Fries, Warner Y/il'is, Esquire Nimble Frog's Mistake, 58. From that Chamber, Longfellow, 181. Froude, History, 121. Garnett, Richard, Passion the fath- omless, 231. Gesture, not as important as atti- tude, 276, 277. Gifts of God, Jones Very, 30. Gilder, Richard Watson, Noel, 168. Gloomiest day, The, 104. Goethe, Erl-King, 244; lines from, 230. Goodale, Dora Read, Hark I hark 1 66. Good Time Coming, Charles Mackay, 79. Gosse, Come, O Swallows, 179. Gray, The curfew tolls (ex.), 231. Greek Spirit, The, Macaulay, 41. Grimm, J. and W., Fox and Cat, 44. Guilielmus Rex, Thomas Bailey A Id rich, 114. Paber, Frederick William, Ride on, tide on, 116. Halleck, They fought like (ex.), 163, Hame. hanie, James Hogg, 178. 314 IWD2X Hark I from the hills, John Boyle O'Reilly, 67. "Hark," problems on, Hark, hark; Goodale, 65; Hark, hark, the lark, Shakespeare, 73. Hark I how mid their revelry, Sheri- dan Knowles, 283. Harris, Henry Fletcher, At the Grave's Edge, 212. Harte, Bret, Came the relief, 131. Hawker, R. D., Song of Western Men, 35. Heber, A Spring Journey, 297. Heine, In the far North, 23. Hemans, Felicia D., Come Home, 180. Henley, William Ernest, Come, let us go a-maying, 180; Invictus, 94; The Blackbird, 22. Herrick, The soft, sweet moss (ex.), 41. He that outlives this day, 184. History, Froude, 121. Hoadley, James H., Life, 131. Hoar, Sherman, Courage, i98. Hogg, James, Come all ye jolly, 180; Hame, hame, hame, 178. Holmes, Oliver Wendell, Lord of the Universe (ex.), 147; O better that her shattered hulk (ex.), 39; O Love Divine (ex), 164; The crimsoned pavement (ex.), 53. Holy) holyl holy I 162. " Home," problem on, 177. Home, Sweet Home, Paine, 1:77. Homeward Bound, Woodberry, 87. Hood, Thomas, transition from, 284. Hooper, Ellen Sturgis, Duty, 93. House and Road, Peabody, 22. House of the Trees, Wetherald, 48. How are Songs Begot, 231. Howitt, Thanks be to God, 205. Howland, Mary Woolsey, Rest, 211. Hugo, Victor, The Tomb and the Rose, 246. Hurrah, hurrah, the west wind (ex.), Whittier, 161. Identification, 240. Ideas, centrality of, 103. Relative value of, 97-103. If all the Skies, Van Dyke, 105. If ye are brutes, 129. I hide in the solar glory (ox.), Emerson, 25, 151. I know not what (ex.), Whittier, 143. Imagination, 143-149. Method of developing, 132-156. Culture of, 145. Immortal Love, Whittier. In Blossom Time, Ina Donna Cool- breth, 74. Indirection, Richard Realf, 148. Inflexion, 49-60; abruptness of, 60; and form, 111-112; circumflex, 56; direction of, 50, 60; free- dom of, 57; length of, 60. Ingalls, John J., Opportunity, 200. Ingelow, Jean, Joy is the grace, 223; O come in life (ex.), 180. Ingham, Rena H., My home was a dungeon, 52. Insects generally must lead (ex.), 137. Insight, 145. Intensity, 206-216. (See Volume; also Force.) Intervals, 43-48. Invictus, William Ernest Henley, 93. Jack Frost is a roguish little fellow (ex.), 173. Jog on, jog on (ex.), 126. John Anderson, My Jo, Burns, 186. Joy, joy, she cried (ex.), Moore, 29i. Keenan's Charge, George Parsons Lathrop, 254. Kentish, Sir Byng (ex.), Browning, 55- Key, change of, 113-115. Key, Charles F., 'Tis the star-spangled banner (ex.), 162. Killed at the Ford, Longfellow, 38. Kingsley, Art is never art (ex.), 234. Kipling, L'Envoi, 26; Oh, East is East (ex.), 164. Knowles, Frederick Lawrence, Na- ture the Artist, 137. Knowles, Sheridan, Hark! how 'mid, 283; Ye crags and peaks (ex.), 222; Ye guards of liberty (ex.), 222. Lady Clare, Tennyson, 285. Lanier, Sidney, As the marsh hen (ex.), 231; Ballad of the Trees, 303- INDEX 315 Larch and the Oak, Carlyle, 117. Larger Hope, The, Tennyson, 215. Lathrop, George Parsons, Keenan's Charge, 254; Sailor's Song, 82. Laughing Song, Blake, 77. Laughter, initiation of, 172, 173; poems and problems for, 76, 77. Launching of the Ship, Longfellow, 281. Lead, Kindly Light, Newman, 272. L'Envoi, Kipling, 26. Life's Mirror, Madeline S. Bridges, 41. Life, James H. Hoadley, 131. Light, Francis W. Bourdillon, 105. Light of Other Days, Thomas Moore, 182. Lincoln, Death of, Beecher, 304; poem on, Whitman, 305. Lincoln, Abraham, Gettysburg Ad- dress, 304. Little Boy Blue, Eugene Field, 210. Little Parable, Anne Reeve, Aldrich, 5. Logan, Sweet bird (ex.), 30. Logical Relations of Ideas, 97-110. Longfellow, Henry W., Arrow and Song, 104; From that chamber (ex.). 181; Killed at the Ford (ex.), 38; King Robert of Sicily, 251; lines from, 241; Launch- ing of the Ship, 281; O Father I I see (ex.), 113; Suddenly the pathway ends (ex.), 144; The Brooklet, 17; There groups of merry children played (ex.), 178. Long sleeps the summer, Tennyson, 12. Lord of the Universe, Holmes, 147. Lost Sheep, Clephane, 188, Loud ness, cause of, 216. Lovelace, Richard, Stone walls (ex.), 163. Lowell, James Russell, At the devil's booth (ex.), n9; Be noble (ex.), 93; Careless seems (ex.), 163; New occasions (ex.) 36; O glorious youth (ex.), 179; Over our manhood (ex.), 47; Who is it will not dare (ex.), 128. Macaulay, Thomas B., Charles and His Defenders, io9; Come back, Horatius (ex.), 180, 222; Hoi strike the flag-staff deep (ex.), 221; Liberty (ex.), 54; O! how our hearts were beating (ex.), 179; The Greek Spirit, 41. Macdonald, George, The Wind and the Moon, 155; The west is broken (ex.), 142. Mackay, Charles, The Good Time Coming, 79. Mackay, Constance D'Arcy, A Ballad of the Road, i9i. Man and Nature, Robert Kelley Weeks, 83. Manipulation, 18. Manifestation and representation, 277-279. Marlowe, Come live with me (ex.), 180. Marmion, When doffed, 283; With fruitless labor, 248. Marzials, Theophile, There's on great bunch of stars, 127. McCarthy, Denis A., Tipperary iw the Spring, 75. McCarthy, Dennis F., Ah! my heart is pained (ex.), i9i. Memorabilia, Browning, 59. Men are Four, Arabian proverb, 160. Merrily swinging (ex.), Bryant, 46. Merrily, merrily, Shakespeare, n. Metastasio, Though the enemy (ex.), 116. Method, no. Metre, 227-238; meaning of, 229; feet, 229-230, 238; quantity and accent in, 227. Mind, in Expression, 11-13; spon- taneous actions of, 135-156. Mirabeau, convention of France, 129. Modes of Expression, 9. Modulations of the voice, 18; rela- tion of, 293. Moir, David M., Up, up with thy praise-breathing anthem (ex.), 92. Montgomery, Make way for liberty (ex.), 213. Moon on the field, 177. Moore, Thomas, Light of other Days, 182; Those evening bells, 88, INDEX Morris, Harrison Smith, A Pine-Tree Buoy, 237. Morris, William, April, 172. Moulding Tone into Words, 193-200. Movement, 261-270. My Resources, Emily Tolman, 234. My Rest, Carmen Sylva, 21. My Thrush, Mortimer Collins, 85. Nathan Hale, Francis M. Finch, 167. Nature: the Artist, Frederick Law- rence Knowles, 137. Nature, law of, 11-13. Nature, Realf, 30. Nasality, 187. Neutrality, defined, 168. Newman, John H., Lead, Kindly Light, 272. Nichol, John, Mediterranean Se&, 20. Nobody looks at the clouds, 85. Noel, Gilder, 168. Normal, definition of s 68. Now all the publicans, Luke, i89. blessed bird, Wordsworth (ex.), 161. 1 I Captain, Whitman,, 305. OI Caledonia! (ex.), Scott, 179. O come in life (ex.), Jean Ingelow, 180. Of old hast Thou laid, 163. O God Almighty (ex.), Tennyson, 221. Oh," problem with extracts, 178, 179. hark! hear! Tennyson (ex.), 176. Oh, how our organ (ex.), Story, 257. Oh, if I could only make you see, i9i. Oh! joy to be out in June, 85. Oh rose, out of the heart, 146. Oh, the bells of Shandon (ex.), 181. O Lark of the Summer Morning, 74. Old Oaken Bucket, Woodworth (ex.), 127. Love Divine, Holmes, 164. O melancholy waters, Buchanan, 66. O, Mona's waters, 165. Once more into the breach (ex.) 259. Opportunity, Ingalls, 200. Organism- response of, 6x-6& O'Reilly, John Boyle, Hark from the hills (ex.), 67. Othello, Defence of, Shakespeare, 289. Thou whose balance (ex.), 28. Out of tho heart of nature (ex.), Emerson, 29, Overtones, i69, 170; defined, 183; improvement of, 174, 175. Owen, All things I thought I knew, 60. 0, wert thou, Burns, i9o. wild west wind, Shelley, 157. Paine, John Howard, Home, Sweet Home, 177. Pantomimic conditions of Tone, 183- 192. Passer-by, say at Lacedaemon, Simon- ides, 146. Pathos, 2o9. Patriot, The, 253. Patten, George W., Seminele's Re- piy, 53. Pause, emphatic, 118-120, 122; function of, 24. Peabody, Ephraim, Skater's Song, 81. Peabody, Josephine Preston, House and Road, 22. Perception, defined, 143. Pericles (ex.), from Funeral Oration, 96. Perronet, All hail the power of Jesus' name, 165. Personation and Participation, 243, 244. Petrified Fern, Mary Bolles Branch, 207. Pickthall, Marjorie L., Wanderlied, 168. Pine-Tree Buoy, Harrison Smith Mor- ris, 237. Pharisee and Publican, 107. Phrasing, 27, 31 ; caused by thinking, 3i- Poetry, 235. Power, 216. Prejudice, Alexander H. Stephens, 105. Prentice, George D., 'Tis midnight's holy hour (ex.), 39. Problem, defined, 18. Problem. The, Emerson, 94. INDEX 317 Pullen, Elizabeth, The Sea-weed, 142. Pulsations, 122. Purposes in Expression, 250-257. Qualities of Voice, 69-88. Randall, James Ryder, Why the Robin's Breast is Red, 246. Range of Voice, 113-115, 130-134. Read, T. B., Who dares (ex.), 53- Realf, Richard, Indirection, 148; Nature, 30. Rencontre, Aldrich, 233. Resonance, development of, 176, 181. Response of organism, 61-68. Rest, Mary Woolsey Rowland, 211. Rhys, Ernest, White Roses, 38, Rhythm, basis of movement, 261- 267; consists of pause and touch, 32; defined, 238; em- phasis by, 115, 116: of breath- ing, 81 ; of thinking domi- nates delivery, 32. Rlchter, Jean Paul Friedrich (ex.), Music, 200. Ring freedom's bells (ex.), 86. Rise, oh I ever rise, Coleridge, 146. Robert of Sicily, Longfellow, (ex.), 241, 251. Roll on, thou deep, 146. Rose and Gardener, Dobson, 241. Rossetti, Christina Georgina, Bird Raptures, 80 ; The Wind, 40. Ruskin, It is only by work (ex.) v 234; the weakest among us (ex.), 43. Sailor's Song, Lathrop, 82. Sea-weed, Pullen, 142. Seminole's Reply, George W. Patten, 53- Scollard, Clinton, Wanderer's Song, 156* Scott, Sir Walter, Come fill up my cup, 9i; Come from the hills, 86; Douglas and James, 29o; Hounds are in (ex.), 9i; Mer- rily, merrily (ex.), 162; Now men of death (ex.) , 37 ; Come one, come all, 180; O Caledonia! 179; Oh Bringnall banks, 178: What ho, my jovial mates I 126. Shakespeare, William, A horse! a horse! (ex.), 204; Defence of Othello, 289; Fight, gentlemen of England, 37; Full fathom five, 176; God save thy grace, King Hal, 57; Go to; you are not Cassius, ia9; Hail, to your lordship, 60; Hark, hark, the lark, 73; Henceforth let me not, 36; He that outlives this day, 184; How now! what noise, i89; I do believe, 204; It was a lover, 126; Look, my lord, it comes, 64; Master, young man, you, 188; Merrily, merrily, n; Now my co-mates, 80; Once more unto the breach, 259; O pardon me, 132; Pray you keep your way, 37; Re- member March, 132; So may the outward shows, 99; Suit the action to the word, 36; Sweet Portia, if you s 101 ; The king is full of grace, 112; The quality of mercy, 108; Unhand me, gentlemen, 55; When daf- fodils begin, 78; Who's there? What my young, 186. Shelley, Percy Bysshe, O lift me as a wave, 221; To a Skylark, 236 (ex.), 235; West Wind, 157. Sill, Edward R., Before Sunrise in Winter, 133 ; Fool's Prayer, 223. Sill, Louise Morgan, Unexpressed, 130. Simonides, Passer-by, say at Lace- daemon, 146. Sing loud, O bird (ex. Blossom Time), 47. Skater's Song, Peabody, 81, Smith, C., The First Swallow, 139. Song, nature of, 186, 187. Song of the Camp, Bayard Taylor, 302. Song of the Mountain, Bliss Car- man, i9z Song of the Sea, Cunningham, 86- Song of Western Men, Hawker, 35. Sound waves, 182. Speecn, elements of, i93-i98. Spontaneity and modulation, 135 156. Spontaneous Actions, 152-156 Spring Journey, Heber s 297. INDEX Stephens, Alexander H., Prejudice, 105. Stevenson, R. L., Where Go the Boats? 23. Still glides the stream, Wordsworth, 3i. Story, William W., The Unex- pressed, 231. Strength of Voice, 217. Study, A, 1 8. Sublimity, 152. Subordination, no. Summer Time, Allingham, i99. Support and Strength of Voice ; 217-224. Surprises from Hamlet, 64, 65. Sylva, Carmen, My Rest, 21. Sympathy, 239-260. Tabb, John B., At twilight on the open sea, 26. Taylor, Bayard, May the thousand years to come, 68; Song of the Camp, 301. Taylor, Sir Henry, I'm a bird that's free, 167. Tennyson, Alfred, Cannon to right (ex.), 142; Charge of the Light Brigade, 299; lines from, 295; Come into the garden, Maud (ex.), 230; Come my friends, 180; Crossing the Bar, 296; Enoch Arden at the Window (ex.), 213; Flower in the cran- nied wall, 146; Follow light (ex.), 58; Forward, the light brigade (ex), 222; Howe'er it be (ex.), 92, I slip, I slide (ex.), 45; Lady Clare, 285; Long sleeps the summer (ex.), 12; Oh, and proudly stood she up (ex.), 93; O God Almighty (ex.), 178, 221; Speak to Him thou, (ex.), 117; Tears, idle tears (ex.), 163; The Brook, 174; The Larger Hope, 215; The Victory, n9. Texture of muscles and tone, 183-192. Thackeray, William Makepeace, LoS (ex.), 87. Thaxter, Celia, Skies may be dark (ex.), 16. There groups of merry children played (ex.), Lorjfellow- 176. There is nothing like fun (ex.), 132. Thinking, elements of, i9. Thompson, poem on William Blake, 117. Though love repine (ex.), Emerson, n. Thought, Cranch, 45. Tipperary in the Spring, Denis A. McCarthy, 75. 'Tis the star-spangled banner (ex.), Key, 162. To a Skylark, Shelley, 236. To-day, attrib. to Wilberforce, 39. Tolman, Emily, My Resources, 234. Tomb and the Rose, Victor Hugo, 246. Tone-color, 159-168; contrasted emotions, 161-164; see also problems on " Oh," 178, " Come," 179-181; defined, 159, 168, 182; nature and importance of, 1 66. Tone, moulding of, into words, 193- 200, pantomimic conditions of, 183-192 ; secondary vibrations of, 169-182. To the Cuckoo, Wordsworth, 151. Town and Country, 154. Touch, explained, 31-42. Training, defined, 18; function of in expression, 13, 14. Transitions, reveal unity of modula- tions, 294. Tree's leafy buds, Bo Bjb'rnson, 47. True Possessions, Michael Fairless 141. Two prisoners looked out, 9, Two Rivers, Emerson, 208. Unexpressed, Louise Morgan Sill 130. Unexpressed, The, Story, 231. Vandals, The, Lucy L. Cable, 121. Van Dyke, If all the skies, 105. Very, Jones, The Gifts of God, 30. Vibration, 182. Vibrations, sympathetic, i92. Victory, The, Tennyson, n9. Vision, 138-143. Voice, agility of, 123. Voice and body, 89-96. INDEX 319 Voice, conditions and qualities of, 69-88; Flexibility of, 225-238; modulated by action, 61; range of, 130-134; secondary vibrations of, 169-182; strength of, 217- 224; sympathetic vibrations caused by body, 183-192; train- ing of, 61-88. /olume, 203-205; defined, 216. See Intensity ; also Force. Voluntary Actions, 137. Vowels, definition of, 193 ; develop- ment of, 1 96; diagram of, 195. Waller, Ah! that lady (ex.), 163. Wanderer's Song, Clinton Scollard, 156. Wanderlied, Pickthall, 168. Watson, William, World-strange- ness, 42. Webster, Daniel, Inspiring auspices, this day, 115; Let our object be, 1311 Truth is always con- gruous, 128. Weeks, Robert Kelley, Man and Nature, 83. W'en you see a man in wo, S. W. Foss, 78. Wetherald, Ethelwyn, House of the Trees, 48. What a man is irresistibly (ex.), Emerson, 128. What right have you (ex.), 128. Where Go the Boats? Stevenson, 23. While you are gazing (ex.), 205. White Roses, Ernest Rhys, 38. Whitman, Walt, Ah, what can, 235; OI Captain, my Captain, 305. Whittier, John G., Ah, well! for us all (ex."). 160; Blessings on thee, little man (ex.), 47; Immortal Whittier, John G. Continued. Love, 148; Hurrah, hurrah! 161 ; I know not what (ex.), 143; Let the thick curtain fall, 223 ; O for boyhood's time of June, 178; O God! have mercy, 212; The Fishermen, 67. Why the Robin's Breast u Red, Randall, 247. Wilcox, Ella Wheeler, There is no chance, 39. William Blake, Thompson, 117. Wind and the Moon, George Mac- donald, 155. Wind, The, Christina G. Rossetti, 40. Wings, Danske Carolina Dandridge, Si- Wise of a wisdom, Carlyle, 272. With Fruitless Labor, 248. Woodberry, George Edward, Home- ward Bound, 87. Woodworth, How dear to this heart, 127. Worcester, get thee gone, 35. Words are instrument of music (ex.), 257- Words, tone moulded into, 193- 200 Wordsworth, William, Know that pride (ex.), i99; Love had he found (ex.), 162; No sweeter voice (ex.), 140; O blessed bird! (ex.), 161; Still glides the stream (ex.), 31; The outward shows of sky (ex.), 40; To the Cuckoo, 151. World-strangeness, William Watson, 42. Ye sons of freedom, Rouget de Lisle, 137. WORKS OF S. S. CURRY, Po.D., Lnr.D. MIND AND VOICE FOUNDATIONS OF EXPRESSION VOCAL AND LITERARY INTERPRETATION OF THE BIBLE PROVINCE OF EXPRESSION IMAGINATION AND DRAMATIC INSTINCT SPOKEN ENGLISH LESSONS IN VOCAL EXPRESSION BROWNING AND THE DRAMATIC MONOLOGUE LITTLE CLASSICS FOR ORAL ENGLISH CLASSICS FOR VOCAL EXPRESSION THE SMILE HOW TO ADD TEN YEARS TO YOUR LIFE HINTS TO OFFICERS ON GIVING COMMANDS For information and prices address EXPRESSION COMPANY PIERCE BUILDING, COPLEY SQUARE, BOSTON, MASS. 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