The art of public speaking (translated) E-Book

Carnegie Dale

• Herausgeber: David De Angelis
• Kategorie: Ratgeber
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2024

Beschreibung

The best way to become a confident and effective public speaker, according to the authors of this seminal book, is simply to do it. Practice, practice, practice. And while you're at it, hire the positive. You have something to say. Forget the self. Cast out the fear. Let yourself be absorbed by your subject. And, above all, expect success. 'If you believe you will fail,' they write, 'there is hope for you. Wish.'

Leseprobe

INDEX

THINGS TO THINK ABOUT FIRST. A PREFACE.

EPIGRAPH

CHAPTER 1. GAINING CONFIDENCE IN FRONT OF AN AUDIENCE

CHAPTER 2. THE SIN OF MONOTONY

CHAPTER 3. EFFICIENCY THROUGH EMPHASIS AND SUBORDINATION

CHAPTER 4. EFFICIENCY THROUGH STEP CHANGE

CHAPTER 5. EFFICIENCY THROUGH CHANGE OF PACE.

CHAPTER 6. PAUSE AND POWER.

CHAPTER 7. EFFICIENCY THROUGH INFLECTION

CHAPTER 8. CONCENTRATION IN DELIVERY

CHAPTER 9. FORCE

CHAPTER 10. FEELING AND ENTHUSIASM

CHAPTER 11. FLUIDITY THROUGH PREPARATION

CHAPTER 12. THE VOICE.

CHAPTER 13. ENCHANTMENT OF THE VOICE

CHAPTER 14. DISTINCTION AND PRECISION OF UTTERANCE

CHAPTER 15. THE TRUTH ABOUT THE GESTURE

CHAPTER 16. DELIVERY METHODS

CHAPTER 17. THINKING AND RESERVE POWER

CHAPTER 18. SUBJECT AND PREPARATION

CHAPTER 19. INFLUENCE WITH EXPOSURE

CHAPTER 20. INFLUENCE BY DESCRIPTION

CHAPTER 21. INFLUENCING WITH NARRATIVE

CHAPTER 22. INFLUENCE BY SUGGESTION

CHAPTER 23. INFLUENCING WITH ARGUMENTATION

CHAPTER 24. INFLUENCING WITH PERSUASION

CHAPTER 25. INFLUENCING THE CROWD

CHAPTER 26. RIDING THE WINGED HORSE

CHAPTER 27. CULTIVATING A VOCABULARY

CHAPTER 28. MEMORY TRAINING

CHAPTER 29. RIGHT THINKING AND PERSONALITY

CHAPTER 30. AFTER DINNER AND OTHER CASUAL TALK

CHAPTER 31. MAKING THE CONVERSATION EFFECTIVE

APPENDIX A. FIFTY QUESTIONS FOR DEBATE

APPENDIX B. THIRTY THEMES FOR SPEECHES

APPENDIX C. SUGGESTIVE SUBJECTS FOR SPEECHES

APPENDIX D. STUDIES AND PRACTICE

THE ART OF PUBLIC SPEAKING

DALE CARNEGIE

Translation and 2024 edition by David De Angelis

All rights reserved

THINGS TO THINK ABOUT FIRST. A PREFACE

The efficiency of a book is like that of a man in one important respect: its attitude toward its subject is the first source of its power. A book may be full of well-expressed good ideas, but if its writer sees his subject from the wrong angle even his excellent advice may prove ineffective.

This book stands or falls by the attitude of its authors toward its subject. If the best way to teach oneself or others how to speak effectively in public is to fill the mind with rules, and to set fixed standards for interpretation of thought, expression of language, gestures, and all the rest, then this book will be of limited value to those stray ideas in its pages that may prove useful to the reader: how an effort to enforce a set of principles must be considered a failure, because it is false.

It is therefore of some importance to those who pick up this volume with an open mind that they see clearly at the outset what is the thinking that underlies and builds through this structure. Simply put, it is this:

Training in public speaking is not a matter of externality, primarily; it is not a matter of imitation, fundamentally; it is not a matter of conforming to standards, at all. Public speaking is the public expression, the public issue, of the man himself; so the first thing both in terms of time and importance is for the man to be and think and feel things that are worthy of being given. Unless there is something of value in it, no trick of training can ever make the speaker anything more than a machine--even a highly perfected machine--for the delivery of other men's goods. So self-development is central to our plan.

The second principle is close to the first: Man must enthrone his will to govern his thinking, his feelings and all his physical forces, so that the outer self can give perfect and unhindered expression to the inner self. It is useless, we assert, to establish systems of rules for the culture of voice, intonation, gesture and whatnot, if these two principles of having something to say and making the will sovereign have not at least begun to make themselves felt in life.

The third principle, we suppose, will not arouse any controversy: No one can learn to speak unless he first speaks as best he can. This may seem a vicious circle in the statement, but it will be worth examining.

Many teachers started with the how. Vain effort! It is an ancient truth that you learn to do by doing. The first thing for the beginner in public speaking is to speak-not to study voice and gesture and the rest. Once he has spoken he can improve by self-observation or according to the criticism of the listener.

But how will he be able to criticize himself? Simply by discovering three things: What are the qualities that by common consent go to make up an effective speaker; by what means at least some of these qualities can be acquired; and what wrong habits of speech in himself work against the acquisition and use of the qualities he finds to be good.

Experience, then, is not only the best teacher, but the first and the last. But experience must be a twofold thing: the experience of others must be used to supplement, correct and justify our own experience; in this way we will become our own best critics only after we have trained ourselves in the knowledge of ourselves, in the knowledge of what other minds think, and in the ability to judge ourselves by the standards we have come to believe are right. "If I must," said Kant, "I can."

An examination of the contents of this volume will show how consistently these articles of faith have been stated, expounded and illustrated. The student is urged to begin by talking at once about what he knows. Then he is given simple suggestions for self-control, with a gradually increasing emphasis on the power of the inner man over the outer man. Then the way to the rich stores of material is shown. And finally, all the while he is urged to talk, talk, TALK as he applies to his methods, in his own personal way, the principles he has gathered from his own experience and observation and from the recorded experiences of others.

So now, at the outset, let it be clear as light that methods are secondary matters; that the full mind, the warm heart, the dominant will are primary -- and not only primary, but also fundamental; for if it is not a full being who uses methods, it will be like dressing a wooden image in a man's clothes.

J. BERG ESENWEIN. NARBERTH, PA, JANUARY 1, 1915.

EPIGRAPH

Common sense never fails to give those who have it, enough words to make themselves understood. It happens too often in some conversations, as in pharmacies, that empty jars, or with things of little value, are dressed as conspicuously as those filled with valuable medicines.

Those that soar too high often fall hard, making a low, flat dwelling preferable. Taller trees are more in the power of the winds, and ambitious men of the gusts of fortune. Buildings need a good base if they are so exposed to the elements.

-WILLIAM PENN.

CHAPTER 1. GAINING CONFIDENCE IN FRONT OF AN AUDIENCE

There is a strange feeling one often gets in the presence of an audience. It may stem from the gaze of the many eyes that turn to the speaker, especially if he or she allows himself or herself to constantly reciprocate that gaze. Most speakers have been aware of this in a nameless thrill, something real, pervading the atmosphere, tangible, evanescent, indescribable. All writers have testified to the power of a speaker's eye in impressing an audience. The influence we are now considering is the reverse of that image-the power their eyes can exert on him, especially before he begins to speak: after the inner fires of oratory have been kindled, the eyes of the audience lose all terror.

-WILLIAM PITTENGER, Arm's Speech.

Public speaking students continually ask, "How can I overcome the self-consciousness and fear that paralyzes me in front of an audience?

Have you ever noticed, looking out the window of a train, that some horses are feeding near the tracks and not even stopping to look at the thundering cars, while a little further on, at the next level crossing, a farmer's wife will nervously try to calm her frightened horse as the train passes by?

How would one care for a horse that is afraid of cars-let it graze on land in the woods where it would never see steam engines or cars, or take it to pasture where it would often see cars?

Apply horse sense to free yourself from self-consciousness and fear: face an audience as often as you can, and soon you will stop being shy. You can never achieve freedom from stage fright by reading a treatise. A book can give you great tips on how best to behave in the water, but sooner or later you will have to get wet, maybe even strangle yourself and be "half scared to death." There are plenty of "wetless" swimsuits worn at the seashore, but no one ever learns to swim in them. Diving is the only way.

Practice, practice, PRACTICE in speaking before an audience will tend to remove any fear of the audience, just as practice in swimming will lead to confidence and ease in the water. You must learn to speak by speaking.

The apostle Paul tells us that every man must work at his own salvation. All we can do here is to offer you suggestions on how best to prepare for your plunge. The real plunge no one can do for you. A doctor can prescribe, but you have to take the medicine.

Do not be discouraged if you suffer from stage fright at first. Dan Patch was more susceptible to suffering than a superhuman workhorse would be. It never hurts a fool to appear before an audience, because his capacity is not a feeling capacity. A blow that would kill a civilized man soon heals on a savage. The higher we go on the scale of life, the greater the capacity to suffer.

For one reason or another, some master speakers never quite overcome stage fright, but you'd better spare no effort to conquer it. Daniel Webster failed in his first appearance and had to take his seat without finishing his speech because he was nervous. Gladstone was often troubled by self-consciousness at the beginning of a speech. Beecher was always upset before public speaking.

Blacksmiths sometimes twist a rope around a horse's nose, and by inflicting some pain in this way they distract his attention from the shoeing process. One way to get air out of a glass is to pour water into it.

Get absorbed in your subject

Apply the homemade principle of blacksmithing when you speak. If you feel deeply connected to your topic you will be able to think about little else. Concentration is a process of distraction from less important matters. It is too late to think about cutting your coat when you are on the platform, so focus your interest on what you are going to say, fill your mind with the material of your speech, and, like water filling up in the glass, chase away your insubstantial fears.

Self-awareness is undue self-consciousness, and, for the purpose of delivery, the self is secondary to your subject, not only in the public's view but, if you are wise, in your own. To have any other point of view is to regard yourself as an object to be exhibited instead of as a messenger with a message worth delivering. Remember Elbert Hubbard's tremendous little treatise, "A Message to Garcia"? The young man subordinated himself to the message he carried. So must you, too, with all the determination you can muster. It is pure selfishness to fill your mind with thoughts of yourself when there is a greater thing: TRUTH. Tell it to yourself sternly, and shame your self-consciousness into quiescence. If the theater caught fire, you could run on stage and shout directions to the audience without any self-consciousness, because the importance of what you are saying would drive all thoughts of fear from your mind.

Much worse than self-consciousness due to the fear of doing wrong is self-consciousness due to the presumption of doing right. The first sign of greatness is when a man does not try to look and act great. Before you can call yourself a man, Kipling assures us, you must not "look too good or talk too wise."

Nothing advertises itself so well as conceit. One can be so full of oneself as to be empty. Voltaire said, "We must hide self-love." But this cannot be done. You know this to be true because you have recognized the excessive self-love in others. If you have it, others see it in you. There are things in this world greater than ourselves, and in working for them the self will be forgotten, or -- best of all -- remembered only to help us win to higher things.

Having something to say

The problem with many speakers is that they go before an audience with empty minds. No wonder nature, abhorring emptiness, fills them with the nearest thing at hand, which is generally, "I wonder if I'm doing this right! How is my hair? I know I will fail." Their prophetic souls are sure they are right.

It is not enough to be absorbed in your subject to gain self-confidence, you must have something to be confident in. If you go before an audience without any preparation, or prior knowledge of your subject, you should be self-conscious-you should be ashamed to steal your audience's time. Prepare yourself. Know what you are going to talk about and, in general, how you are going to say it. Have your first few sentences fully worked out so that you don't have trouble at first finding words. Know your topic better than your listeners do, and you will have nothing to fear.

After preparing for success, expecting it

Let your deportment be modestly confident, but above all let you be modestly confident within yourself. Overconfidence is bad, but tolerating premonitions of failure is worse, because a bold man can attract attention with his poise, while a rabbit-hearted coward invites disaster.

Humility is not the personal discount we must offer in the presence of others -- against this old interpretation there has been a very healthy modern reaction. True humility must be experienced by every man who knows himself thoroughly; but it is not a humility that assumes a worm-like meekness; it is rather a strong, vibrant prayer for greater power of service-a prayer that Uriah Heep could never have uttered.

Washington Irving once introduced Charles Dickens at a dinner given in his honor. Halfway through his speech Irving hesitated, embarrassed, and sat down awkwardly. Turning to a friend beside him he observed, "There, I told you I would fail, and I did."

If you believe you will fail, there is no hope for you. You will.

Get rid of this idea of "I am a poor worm in the dust." You are a god, with infinite capabilities. "Everything is ready if the mind is like that." The eagle looks into the face of the cloudless sun.

Assume mastery over your audience

In public discourse, as in electricity, there is a positive and a negative force. Either you or your audience possess the positive factor. If you assume it you can almost invariably make it your own. If you assume the negative you are sure to be negative. Assume a virtue or a vice vitalizes it. Gather all your power of self-direction, and remember that although your audience is infinitely more important than you, truth is more important than both, because it is eternal. If your mind falters in its guidance, the sword will fall from your hands. Your presumption of being able to instruct or lead or inspire a multitude or even a small group of people may frighten you as a colossal impudence -- as indeed it may be; but once you have tried to speak, be brave. Be brave - it is within you to be what you want. Make sure you are calm and confident.

Reflect that your audience will not harm you. If Beecher in Liverpool had spoken behind a screen he would have invited the audience to launch the overripe missiles he was loaded with; but he was a man, he faced his hostile listeners fearlessly-and he won them.

In facing your audience, stop for a moment and look at them: there are a hundred chances out of one that they want you to succeed, because what man is foolish enough to spend his time, perhaps his money, in the hope that you will waste his investment by talking in a boring way?

Concluding suggestions

Do not be in a hurry to start: haste shows lack of control.

Don't apologize. It shouldn't be necessary; and if it is, it won't help. Just go straight on your way.

Take a deep breath, relax, and begin in a calm, conversational tone as if you were talking to a great friend. You won't find it as bad as you imagined; really, it's like taking a cold plunge: after you get in, the water is fine. In fact, after talking a few times, you will even anticipate the plunge with elation. Standing in front of an audience and having them think your thoughts after you is one of the greatest pleasures you can know. Instead of dreading it, you should be as anxious as hunting dogs tensing the leash or racehorses pulling on the reins.

Therefore cast out fear, for fear is vile when it is not mastered. The bravest know fear, but do not yield to it. Face your audience with grit - if your knees tremble, make them stop. In your audience there is a victory for you and the cause you represent. Go out and win it. Suppose Charles Martel was afraid to beat the Saracen at Tours; suppose Columbus was afraid to venture into the unknown West; suppose our ancestors were too timid to stand up to the tyranny of George III; suppose every man who ever did anything worthwhile was a coward! The world owes its progress to the men who dared, and you must dare to speak the effective word that is in your heart, for it often takes courage to utter a single sentence. But remember that men do not erect monuments or weave laurels for those who fear to do what they can.

All this is obnoxious, you say?

Friend, what you need is not sympathy but a boost. No one doubts that temperament, nerves, illness, and even commendable modesty can, alone or combined, make the speaker's cheek pale in front of an audience, but no one can doubt either that pampering magnifies this weakness. Victory lies in a fearless state of mind. Prof. Walter Dill Scott says, "Success or failure in business is caused more by mental attitude than by mental ability." Banish the attitude of fear; acquire the confident attitude. And remember that the only way to acquire it is: acquire it.

In this founding chapter we have tried to strike the tone of much that will follow. Many of these ideas will be amplified and reinforced more specifically; but through all these chapters on an art that Mr. Gladstone believed to be more powerful than the public press, the note of justifiable self-confidence must ring again and again.

QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES.

1. What is the cause of self-awareness?

2. Why are animals exempt from it?

3. What is your observation regarding self-awareness in children?

4. Why does it release under the stress of unusual excitement?

5. How does moderate arousal affect you?

6. What are the two basic requirements for the acquisition of self-confidence? Which one is the most important?

7. What effect does the speaker's confidence have on the audience?

8. Write a two-minute speech on "Confidence and Cowardice."

9. What effect do thinking habits have on confidence? On this subject, read the chapter "Right Thinking and Personality."

10. Write down very briefly any experiences you may have had regarding the teachings in this chapter.

11. Give a three-minute talk on "stage fright," including a (gentle) imitation of two or more victims.

CHAPTER 2. THE SIN OF MONOTONY

One day out of uniformity Ennui was born.

-MOTTE.

Our English has changed over the years, so that many words now connote more than they did originally. This is true of the word monotone. From "having one tone," it has come to mean more broadly, "lack of variation."

The monotonous speaker not only drones on in the same volume and tone, but always uses the same emphasis, the same speed, the same thoughts-or does without the thought.

Monotony, the cardinal and most common sin of the public speaker, is not a transgression-it is rather a sin of omission, for it consists in living up to the prayer book's confession, "We have left unfinished the things we should have done."

Emerson says, "The virtue of art lies in detachment, in sequestering an object from awkward variety." This is precisely what the monotone speaker fails to do: he does not detach one thought or sentence from another; they are all expressed in the same way.

Telling you that your speech is monotonous may mean very little to you, so let us look at the nature and curse of monotony in other spheres of life, then we will more fully appreciate how it can ruin an otherwise good speech.

If the Victrola in the adjacent apartment grinds only three selections over and over again, it is quite safe to assume that your neighbor has no other records. If a speaker uses only some of his powers, this indicates very clearly the fact that the rest of his powers are undeveloped. Monotony reveals our limitations.

In its effect on the victim, monotony is actually deadly-it drives the blossom from the cheek and the luster from the eye as quickly as sin, and often leads to wickedness. The worst punishment human ingenuity has ever been able to invent is extreme monotony, solitary confinement. Put a marble on the table and for eighteen hours a day do nothing but change that marble from one point to another and back again, and you will go insane if you continue long enough.

So this life-shortening thing, which is used as the cruelest of punishments in our prisons, is the thing that will destroy the whole life and strength of a speech. Avoid it as you would avoid deadly boredom. The "idle rich" may have half a dozen houses, command all varieties of food gathered from the four corners of the earth, and sail to Africa or Alaska at their leisure; but the poor man must walk or take a streetcar -- he cannot choose between yachts, cars or special trains. He must spend most of his life in work and make do with the staples of the food market. Monotony is poverty, both in speech and in life. Strive to increase the variety of your speech as the businessman strives to increase his wealth.

Bird songs, forest glades and mountains are not monotonous-it is the long rows of brown stone facades and miles of asphalt roads that are so terribly the same. Nature in its richness gives us infinite variety; man with his limitations is often monotonous. Return to nature in your way of speaking.

The power of variety lies in its quality of giving pleasure. The great truths of the world have often been encapsulated in fascinating stories-"Les Miserables," for example. If you want to teach or influence men, you must please them, first or last. Play the same note on the piano over and over again. This will give you an idea of the unpleasant and jarring effect that monotony has on the ear. The dictionary defines "monotonous" as synonymous with "wearing out." That is putting it mildly. It is exasperating. The prince of department stores does not disgust audiences by playing just one tune, "Come Buy My Wares! He gives recitals on a $125,000 organ, and contented people naturally slip into a buying mood.

How to overcome monotony

We avoid monotony in dressing by filling our closets. We avoid monotony in speaking by multiplying our powers of speech. We multiply our powers of speech by increasing our tools.

The carpenter has special tools with which he constructs the various parts of a building. The organist has certain keys and stops that he manipulates to produce his harmonies and effects. Similarly, the speaker has certain tools and implements at his disposal with which he builds his argument, plays on the feelings and guides the beliefs of his audience. To give you a conception of these tools and practical help in learning how to use them are the purposes of the chapters immediately following.

Why didn't the children of Israel speed through the desert in limousines, and why didn't Noah have moving image entertainments and talking machines on the Ark? The laws that allow us to operate an automobile, to produce moving pictures or music on the Victrola, would have worked just as well then as now. It was ignorance of the law that deprived humanity of our modern conveniences for centuries. Many speakers still use oxcart methods in their speeches instead of employing automobile or overland-express methods. They ignore the laws that make speaking efficient. Only to the extent that you consider and use the laws we are about to examine and learn to use will you have efficiency and strength in your speaking; and only to the extent that you ignore them will your speaking be weak and ineffective. We cannot impress upon you too deeply the need for real operational mastery of these principles. They are the very foundation of successful speaking. "Get your principles right," said Napoleon, "and the rest is a matter of detail."

It is useless to shoe a dead horse, and all sound principles of Christianity will never make a living speech out of a dead one. So let it be understood that public speaking is not a matter of mastering some dead rules; the most important law of public speaking is the need for truth, strength, feeling and life. Forget everything else, but not this.

When you have mastered the speech mechanisms outlined in the next chapters, you will no longer be plagued by monotony. Complete knowledge of these principles and the ability to apply them will give you great variety in your powers of expression. But they cannot be mastered and applied by thinking or reading about them-you must practice, practice, PRACTICE. If no one else will listen to you, listen to yourself: you must always be your own best critic, and the harshest of all.

The technical principles we enunciate in the following chapters are not arbitrary creations on our part. They are all based on the practices that good speakers and actors adopt-whether naturally and unconsciously or under instruction-to achieve their effects.

It is useless to warn the student that he or she must be natural. Being natural can be monotonous. The small Arctic strawberry, with a few small seeds and a sour taste, is a natural berry, but it cannot compare with the improved variety we enjoy here. The dwarf oak on the rocky hill is natural, but a poor thing compared to the beautiful tree found in the rich, moist bottomlands. Be natural, but improve your natural gifts until you have come closer to the ideal, for we must strive for an idealized nature, in fruit, tree and word.

QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES.

1. What are the causes of monotony?

2. Cite some cases in nature.

3. Cite cases in human daily life.

4. Describe some of the effects of monotony in both cases.

5. Read aloud a speech without paying particular attention to its meaning or force.

6. Now repeat it after thoroughly assimilating its matter and spirit. What difference do you notice in its rendering?

7. Why is monotony one of the worst and most common faults of speakers?

CHAPTER 3. EFFICIENCY THROUGH EMPHASIS AND SUBORDINATION

In a word, the principle of emphasis ... is best followed by not remembering particular rules, but being filled with a particular feeling.

-C.S. BALDWIN, Writing and Speaking.

The gun that spreads too much does not bag the birds. The same principle applies to speech. The speaker who shoots his force and emphasis at random in a sentence will not get results. Not all words have special importance, so only some words require emphasis.

If you say MassaCHUsetts and MinneAPolis, you don't emphasize each syllable equally, but you hit the accented syllable hard and rush over the unimportant ones. Now, why do you not apply this principle in speaking a sentence? To some extent you do, in ordinary speech; but do you do it in public speech? It is there that the monotony caused by lack of emphasis is so painfully evident.

Regarding emphasis, you can consider the middle sentence as one big word, with the important word as the accented syllable. Note the following:

"Destiny is not a matter of chance. It is a matter of choice."

You could also say MASS-A-CHU-SETTS, emphasizing each syllable equally, as if to place equal emphasis on each word in the preceding sentences.

Speak out loud and you will see. Of course you will want to emphasize fate, because it is the main idea of your statement, and you will put some emphasis on not, otherwise your listeners might think you are stating that fate is a matter of chance. By all means you must emphasize chance, because it is one of the two big ideas in the statement.

Another reason the case takes emphasis is that it is contrasted with the choice in the next sentence. Obviously, the author contrasted these ideas on purpose, so that they could be more emphatic, and here we see that contrast is one of the very first devices for gaining emphasis.

As a public speaker you can help this contrasting emphasis with your voice. If you say, "My horse is not black," what color immediately comes to mind? White, of course, because it is the opposite of black. If you want to bring out the thought that destiny is a matter of choice, you can do it more effectively by saying first that "FATE is NOT a matter of CHANCE." The color of the horse is not impressed upon us more emphatically when we say, "My horse is NOT BLACK. It is WHITE" rather than hearing you simply state that your horse is white?

There is only one important word choice in the second sentence of the statement. It is the only word that positively defines the quality of the subject under discussion, and the author of these lines wanted to emphasize it emphatically, as he demonstrated by contrasting it with another idea. These lines, therefore, would read like this:

"DESTINY is NOT a matter of CHANCE; it is a matter of CHOICE." Now read this, hitting the capitalized words very strongly.

In almost every sentence there are a few SMALL MOUNTAIN WORDS that represent the big important ideas. When you pick up the evening paper, you can tell at a glance which articles are important. Thanks to the editor, he does not tell about a "robbery" in Hong Kong in the same font he uses to report the deaths of five firefighters in your town. Font size is his tool for showing emphasis in bold type. It highlights, sometimes even in red headlines, the striking news story of the day.

It would be a boon to speeches if speakers retained their audience's attention in the same way and emphasized only the words that represent important ideas. The average speaker will utter the above sentence about destiny with about the same amount of emphasis on each word. Instead of saying, "It's a matter of CHOICE," he will pronounce it, "It's a matter of choice" or "It's A matter of choice," both equally bad.

Charles Dana, the famous editor of the New York Sun, told one of his reporters that if he went down the street and saw a dog biting a man, not to pay attention to it. The Sun could not afford to waste its readers' time and attention on such unimportant events. "But," said Mr. Dana, "if you see a man biting a dog, run back to the office and write the story." Of course this is news; this is unusual.

Now the speaker who says "IT'S A MATTER OF CHOICE" is putting too much emphasis on things that are no more important to metropolitan readers than a dog bite, and when he fails to emphasize "choice" he is like the journalist who "passes over" a man's bite to a dog. The ideal speaker makes his great words stand out like mountaintops; his unimportant words are submerged like the bed of a stream. His great thoughts stand out like huge oaks; his ideas of no particular value are simply like the grass around the tree.

From all this we can deduce this important principle: emphasis is a matter of CONTRAST and CONFRONT.

Recently the New York American published an editorial by Arthur Brisbane. Note the following, printed in the same type as the one given here.

=We don't know what the president was thinking when he got that message, or what the elephant is thinking when he sees the mouse, but we do know what the president did.=

The words THOUGHT and DONE immediately catch the reader's attention because they are different from the others, not primarily because they are larger. If all the rest of the words in this sentence were made ten times larger than they are, and DID and THOUGHT were kept at their current size, they would still be emphatic because they are different.

Take the following from Robert Chambers' novel, The Business of Life. The words you, had, would, are all emphatic because they have been rendered differently.

He looked at her in angry amazement.

"Well, what do you call it if it's not cowardice, sneaking off and marrying a helpless girl like that!"

"Did you expect me to give you the chance to destroy me and poison Jacqueline's mind? If I had been guilty of the thing you accuse me of, what I did would have been cowardly. If not, it is justified."

A Fifth Avenue bus would draw attention to in Minisink Ford, New York, while one of the ox teams that frequently pass there would draw attention to Fifth Avenue. To make a word emphatic, pronounce it differently from the way the words around it are pronounced. If you have been speaking loudly, say the emphatic word in a concentrated whisper-and you will have intense emphasis. If you are going fast, go very slow on the emphatic word. If you have spoken in a low tone, jump to a high one on the emphatic word. If you have been speaking on a high tone, take a low tone on the emphatic ideas. Read the chapters on "Inflection," "Feeling," "Pause," "Change of Tone," and "Change of Time." Each of these will explain in detail how to achieve emphasis through the use of a certain principle.

In this chapter, however, we are considering only one form of emphasis: that of applying force to the important word and subordinating the unimportant words. Don't forget: this is one of the main methods you must continuously employ to achieve your effects.

Let us not confuse noise with emphasis. Shouting is not a sign of seriousness, intelligence or feeling. The kind of force we want to apply to the emphatic word is not entirely physical. True, the emphatic word can be spoken louder or softer, but the real quality desired is intensity, seriousness. It must come from within, from without.

Last night a speaker said, "The curse of this country is not the lack of education. It is politics." He emphasized curse, lack, education, politics. The other words were rushed and so no comparative importance was given to them. The word politics was inflamed with great feeling as he clapped his hands together indignantly. His emphasis was correct and powerful. He focused all our attention on words that meant something, instead of keeping it on words like of, a, of, is.

What would you think of a guide who agreed to show New York to a foreigner and then occupied his time visiting Chinese laundries and stevedoring "salons" on side streets? There is only one excuse for which a speaker demands his audience's attention: He must have either truth or entertainment for them. If he tires their attention with nonsense, they will have no liveliness or desire left when he gets to the important words of Wall Street and skyscrapers. You do not dwell on these small words in your daily conversation, because you are not a boring conversationalist. You apply the correct method of daily speech to the platform. As we have noted elsewhere, public speaking is much like extended conversation.

Sometimes, for great emphasis, it is advisable to place the emphasis on each individual syllable of a word, as absolutely in the following sentence:

I ab-so-lutely refuse to grant your request.

Occasionally this principle should be applied to an emphatic sentence, emphasizing each word. It is a good device to excite special attention, and it provides a pleasant variety. Patrick Henry's remarkable climax could be pronounced in this way very effectively, "Give-me-liberty-or-give-me-death." The italicized part of what follows could also be pronounced with this emphasis on each word. Of course, there are many ways to recite it; this is just one of many good interpretations one could choose.

Knowing the price we must pay, the sacrifice we must make, the burdens we must bear, the assaults we must endure-knowing full well the cost-we enlist, and we enlist for war. For we know the justice of our cause, and we also know its sure triumph.

-From "Passing Prosperity Around," by ALBERT J. BEVERIDGE, before the Chicago National Convention of the Progressive Party.

Strongly emphasizing a single word has a tendency to suggest its antithesis. Notice how meaning changes simply by placing emphasis on different words in the following sentence. Parenthetic expressions would not really be necessary to supplement emphatic words.

I was planning to buy a house this spring (although you didn't).

I was planning to buy a house this spring (but something prevented).

I was planning to BUY a house this spring (instead of renting as so far).

I was planning to buy a HOUSE this spring (and not a car).

I was planning to buy a house THIS spring (instead of next

Spring).

I was planning to buy a house this SPRING (instead of in the

Fall).

When a major battle is reported by newspapers, they do not keep emphasizing the same facts over and over again. They try to get new information, or a "new slant." News that occupies an important place in the morning edition will be relegated to a small space in the late afternoon edition. We are interested in new ideas and new facts. This principle carries a lot of weight in determining your emphasis. Do not emphasize the same idea over and over again unless you want to give it additional emphasis; Senator Thurston wanted to put maximum emphasis on "strength" in his speech on page 50. Notice how strength is emphasized repeatedly. As a general rule, however, the new idea, the "new slant," whether in a journalistic account of a battle or in the enunciation of a speaker's ideas, is emphatic.

In the following selection, "bigger" is emphatic because it is the new idea. All men have eyes, but this man asks for a BIGGER eye.

This man with the bigger eye says he will discover, not rivers or aircraft safety devices, but NEW STARS and SUNS. "New stars and suns" is not as emphatic as the word "bigger." Why? Because we expect an astronomer to discover celestial bodies rather than cooking recipes. The words "The republic needs" in the next sentence are emphatic; they introduce a new and important idea. Republics have always needed men, but the author says they need NEW men. "New" is emphatic because it introduces a new idea. Similarly, "land," "grain," "tools," are also emphatic.

The most emphasized words are italicized in this selection. Are there any others you would like to emphasize? Why?

The old astronomer said, "Give me a bigger eye, and I will discover new stars and suns." This is what the republic needs today-new men-men who are wise toward the earth, toward the grains, toward the instruments. If God would raise up for the people just two or three men like Watt, Fulton and McCormick, they would be worth more to the state than that treasure chest called California or Mexico. And the true supremacy of man is based on his capacity for education. Man is unique because of the length of his childhood, which means the period of plasticity and education. The childhood of a moth, the distance between the hatching of a robin and its maturity, represent a few hours or a few weeks, but twenty years of growth stand between man's cradle and his citizenship. This prolonged childhood makes it possible to deliver to the boy all the baggage accumulated by races and civilizations over thousands of years.

-Anonymous.

You must understand that there are no steely rules for emphasis. It is not always possible to designate which word should and which should not be emphasized. One speaker will give one interpretation to a speech, another speaker will use a different emphasis to bring out another interpretation. No one can say that one interpretation is right and the other wrong. This principle must be kept in mind in all our marked exercises. Here your intelligence must lead - and with great profit.

QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES.

1. What is emphasis?

2. Describe a method to destroy the monotony of thought presentation.

3. How does this relate to the use of voice?

4. Which words should be emphasized, which subordinates, in a sentence?

5. Read the selections on pages 50, 51, 52, 53, and 54, paying special attention to underlining important words or phrases and subordinating unimportant ones. Read again, changing the emphasis slightly. What is the effect?

6. Read a few sentences repeatedly, emphasizing a different word each time, and show how the meaning changes, as done on page 22.

7. What is the effect of lack of emphasis?

8. Read the selections on pages 30 and 48, emphasizing each word. What is the effect of emphasis?

9. When is it permissible to underline every single word in a sentence?

10. Notice the emphasis and subordination in some conversations or speeches you heard. Were they well done? Why? Can you suggest any improvements?

11. From a newspaper or magazine, cut out an account of a speech or a biographical eulogy. Mark the passage for emphasis and bring it with you to class.

12. In the following passage, would you make any changes in the author's signs for emphasis? Where, why? Keep in mind that not all marked words require the same degree of emphasis: in a wide variety of emphasis, and in a beautiful gradation of gradations, lies the excellence of emphatic speech.

I would call him Napoleon, but Napoleon made his way to the empire with broken oaths and through a sea of blood. This man never broke his word. "No reprisals" was his great motto and the rule of his life; and his last words to his son in France were these, "My boy, one day you will return to Santo Domingo; forget that France killed your father." I would call him Cromwell, but Cromwell was only a soldier, and the state he founded went down with him to the grave. I would call him Washington, but the great Virginian had slaves. This man risked his empire rather than allow the slave trade in the humblest village in his domains.

Tonight you consider me a fanatic, because you read history not with your own eyes but with your own prejudices. But fifty years from now, when the truth is heard, the Muse of history will put Phocone for the Greek and Brutus for the Roman, Hampden for England, Lafayette for France, she will choose Washington as the bright and consummate flower of our first civilization, and John Brown the ripe fruit of our noon, then, dipping her pen in the sunlight, she will write in the clear blue, above them all, the name of the soldier, the statesman, the martyr, TOUSSAINT L'OUVERTURE.

-WENDELL PHILLIPS, Toussaint l'Ouverture.

Practice the following selections for emphasis: Beecher's "Abraham Lincoln," page 76; Lincoln's "The Gettysburg Address," page 50; Seward's "Uncontainable Conflict," page 67; and Bryan's "The Prince of Peace," page 448.

CHAPTER 4. EFFICIENCY THROUGH STEP CHANGE

Speech is simply a modified form of chant: the main difference is that in chant the vowel sounds are prolonged and the intervals are short, whereas in speech the words are spoken in what may be called "staccato," the vowels are not particularly prolonged and the intervals between words are more distinct. The fact that in singing we have a wider range of tones does not properly distinguish it from ordinary speech. In speech we also have a variation of tones, and even in ordinary speech there is a difference from three to six semitones, as I found in my investigations, and in some people the range is as high as an octave.

-WILLIAM SCHEPPEGRELL, Popular Science Monthly.

By pitch, as everyone knows, we mean the relative position of a vowel tone, such as high, medium, low, or any variation between these. In public discourse we apply it not only to a single utterance, such as an exclamation or a monosyllable (Oh! or the) but to any group of syllables, words, and even sentences that can be uttered in a single tone. This distinction is important to keep in mind, because the efficient speaker not only changes the tone of successive syllables (see Chapter VII, "Efficiency through Inflection"), but also gives a different tone to different parts, or groups of words, of successive sentences. It is this phase of the subject that we are considering in this chapter.

Every change in thinking requires a change in tone of voice

Whether the speaker follows the rule consciously, unconsciously or subconsciously, this is the logical basis on which all good voice variation is based, yet this law is violated more often than any other by public speakers. A criminal can ignore a state law without being discovered and punished, but the speaker who violates this rule immediately suffers the penalty in his loss of effectiveness, while his innocent listeners have to endure monotony -- for monotony is not only a sin of the perpetrator, as we have shown, but a plague on the victims as well.

Changing tone is an obstacle for almost all beginners and even for many experienced speakers. This is especially true when the words of the speech have been memorized.

If you want to hear what the monotony of pitch sounds like, play the same note on the piano over and over again. You have in your speaking voice a range of pitches from high to low, with many nuances between the extremes. With all these notes at your disposal, there is no excuse for offending the ears and taste of your audience by using the same note over and over again. True, the reiteration of the same tone in music-as in the pedal point of an organ composition-can be made the foundation of beauty, because the harmony woven around that one basic tone produces a consistent and insistent quality not heard in the sheer variety of chord sequences. Similarly, the intoning voice in a ritual can-though rarely does-possess a solemn beauty. But the public speaker should avoid monotone as he would the plague.

Continuous change of pace is nature's highest method

In our search for the principles of efficiency we must continually return to nature. Listen - really listen - to the songs of the birds. Which of these feathered tribes is more pleasing in their vocal efforts: those whose voices, though sweet, have little or no range, or those which, like the canary, lark and nightingale, not only possess considerable range but utter their notes in a continuous variety of combinations? Even a sweet-toned chirp, if repeated without change, can become irritating to the forced listener.

The young child rarely speaks in a monotone tone. Observe the conversations of little ones you hear on the street or at home, and notice the constant changes in tone. Even the unconscious speech of most adults is full of pleasant variations.

Imagine someone speaking as follows, and consider whether the effect would not be quite as indicated. Remember that now we are not discussing the inflection of individual words, but the general intonation with which sentences are spoken.

(High) "I would like to leave for my vacation tomorrow,-(lower) still, I have so much to do. (Higher) Yet I suppose if I wait until I have time I will never go."

Repeat this, first in the indicated heights, and then all in the one height, as many speakers would do. Observe the difference in the naturalness of the effect.

The following exercise should be delivered in a purely conversational tone, with numerous changes in tone. Practice until the way you speak makes a stranger in the next room think you are discussing a real incident with a friend, instead of uttering a memorized monologue. If you have doubts about the effect you have secured, repeat it to a friend and ask if it sounds like memorized words. If so, it is wrong.

A SIMILAR CASE.

Jack, I heard you went and did it. Yes, I know; most people do; I tried it once myself, sir, although she sees I'm still single. And you met her--you told me--in Newport last July, and you decided to pop the question at a soiree? So I did.

I suppose you left the ballroom, with its music and light; for they say the flame of love is brightest in the darkness of the night. Well, you walked together, above the starry sky; and I bet, old man, you were scared. So was I.

So you strolled on the terrace, saw the light of the summer moon pouring all its splendor on the waters rippling on the shore, until finally you took courage, when you saw that no one was near - did you approach her and tell her you loved her? I did too.

Well, I don't need to ask you any more, and I'm sure I wish you good luck. Just think I'll come to see you when you're married, eh, my boy? When the honeymoon is over and you've settled down, we'll try.... What? What the hell are you talking about! Refused - did you refuse? I have been, too.

-Anonymous.

The need to change pitch is so obvious that it should be grasped and applied immediately. However, it requires patient practice to break free from the monotony of pitch.

In natural conversation one first thinks of an idea and then finds words to express it. In memorized speeches we are likely to say the words and then think about their meaning-and many speakers seem to care very little about this as well. Is it any wonder that reversing the process reverses the result? Go back to nature in your methods of expression.

Read the following selection casually, never stopping to think about what the words really mean. Try again, carefully studying the thought you have assimilated. Believe the idea, wish to express it effectively, and imagine an audience in front of you. Look seriously into their faces and repeat this truth. If you follow the directions, you will notice that you have made many changes in tone after several readings.

It is not work that kills men, it is worry. Work is healthy; you can hardly put more on a man than he can bear. Worry is the rust on the blade. It is not revolution that destroys the machinery, but friction.

-HENRY WARD BEECHER.

Change of pace produces emphasis

This is a very important statement. Variety in pitch keeps the listener's interest, but one of the surest ways to capture attention-to secure unusual emphasis-is to change the pitch of the voice suddenly and markedly. Great contrast always attracts attention. White appears whiter against black; a cannon roars louder in the silence of the Sahara than in the confusion of Chicago-these are simple illustrations of the power of contrast.

"What will Congress do now? (Loud voice)

I don't know. (Low voice)

With this sudden change of tone during a sermon, Dr. Newell Dwight Hillis recently gained great emphasis and suggested the seriousness of the issue he had raised.

The previous order of pitch change could be reversed with the same good effect, albeit with a slight change in seriousness: both methods produce emphasis if used intelligently, that is, with a common-sense assessment of the kind of emphasis to be achieved.

In attempting these tone contrasts, it is important to avoid unpleasant extremes. Most speakers have too high a voice. One of the secrets of Mr. Bryan's eloquence is his low, bell-like voice. Shakespeare said that a soft, gentle, low voice was "an excellent thing in woman"; it is no less so in man, for a voice need not be brash to be powerful, and it need not be so to be pleasing.

To conclude, we again emphasize the importance of using pitch variety. You sing up and down the scale, touching first one note and then another above or below it. Do the same in speaking.

Individual thought and taste should generally be your guide as to where to use a low, moderate or high tone.

QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES

1. Name two methods for destroying monotony and gaining strength in speech.

2. Why is a continuous change of tone in speaking necessary?

3. Notice your habitual tones in speaking. Are they too high to be pleasant?

4. Do we express the following thoughts and emotions in a low or high tone? Which ones can be expressed in a high or low tone? Excitement. Victory. Defeat. Sorrow. Love. Commitment. Fear.

5. How would you naturally vary the tone in introducing an explanatory or parenthetic expression such as the following:

He started-that is, made preparations to start-at

Sept. 3.

6. Pronounce the following verses with as much variation in tone as your interpretation of meaning may dictate. Try each verse in two different ways. Which, in each case, is the most effective and why?

What do I have to gain from you? Nothing.

To commit our nation to such a pact would be an infamy.

Note: In the previous sentence, experiment where it would be best to make the tone change.

Flowers once distilled their fragrance here, but now they see the ravages of war.

He had come to terms without a primary factor: his conscience.

7. Make a diagram of a conversation you heard, showing where high and low tones were used. Were these changes in pitch advisable? Why or why not?

8. Read the selections on pages 34, 35, 36, 37 and 38, paying attention to the changes in pitch. Reread, substituting low pitch for high pitch and vice versa.

Selections for practice

Note: In the following selections, passages that can best be rendered with a moderate tone are printed in ordinary (Roman) font. Those that can be rendered in a high tone-don't make the mistake of raising your voice too high-are printed in italics. Those that can be rendered in a low tone are printed in italics.

These provisions, however, are only suggestive-we cannot make strong enough the fact that you must use your own judgment in interpreting a selection. Before doing so, however, it is good to practice these steps as they are marked.

Yes, all men work. RUFUS CHOATE AND DANIEL WEBSTER work, critics say. But every man who reads the labor question knows that it means the movement of men who make a living with their hands, who are employed and paid: they are picked up under the roofs of factories, sent out on farms, sent out on ships, picked up on walls. In the popular meaning, the working class means the men who work with their hands, for a wage, so many hours a day, in the employ of the big capitalists; who work for everyone else. Why do we move for this class? "Why," one critic asks, "do you not move for all working men? WHY, WHILE DANIEL WEBSTER OPTS THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS TO CONTEST MEXICAN CLAIMS, there is no need for anyone to move for him. BECAUSE, WHILE RUFUS CHOATE EIGHTS FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS TO MAKE ONE ARGUMENT TO A JURY, there is no need to move for him, or for the men who work with their brains, who do highly disciplined and specialized work, invent and write books. The reason the labor movement is limited to one class is that that class of labor is NOT PAID, not protected. MENTAL LABOR is adequately paid and more than adequately protected. It can change its channels; it can vary according to supply and demand.

If a man fails to be a minister, he becomes a train conductor. If that fails him, he goes west and becomes governor of a territory. AND IF HE FINDS HIMSELF UNABLE TO DO ANY OF THESE POSITIONS, he returns home and becomes editor of a town. He varies his occupation as he pleases, and needs no protection. BUT THE GREAT MASS, CATENATED IN A TRADE, DESTINED TO BE ROLLED IN THE MILL OF SUPPLY AND DEMAND, WHO WORK MANY HOURS A DAY, AND MUST RUN IN THE BIG GRILLS OF BUSINESS,-these are the men whose inadequate protection, whose unfair share of the general product, calls for a movement in their favor.

-WENDELL PHILLIPS.

KNOWING THE PRICE WE HAVE TO PAY, THE SACRIFICE WE HAVE TO MAKE, THE CHARGES WE HAVE TO CARRY, THE ASSIGNMENTS WE HAVE TO ENDURE - KNOWING VERY WELL THE COST - yet we enlist, and we enlist for war. Because we know the rightness of our cause and we also know its sure triumph.

Not reluctantly then, but eagerly, not with a weak heart BUT

STRONG, let us now advance against the enemies of the people. FOR

THE CALL THAT COMES TO US is the call that came to our fathers_.

As they responded, so will we.

"He played a trumpet that will never retire.

He is squeezing the hearts of men before His judgment seat.

O LET OUR SOULS BE SWIFT TO ANSWER HIM, LET OUR FEET BE JUBILANT,

Our God is marching_"

-ALBERT J. BEVERIDGE.

Remember that two sentences, or two parts of the same sentence, that contain thought changes cannot be effectively given in the same tone. To repeat, every great change in thought requires a great change in tone. What the beginning student will think of as big changes in tone will be monotonously the same. Learn to say some thoughts in a very high tone, others in a very, very low tone. DEVELOP RANGE. It is almost impossible to use too much of it.