The Book Of Public Speaking Vol 1 Classic Reprint PDF Download

Excerpt from The Book of Public Speaking, Vol. 1 The art of public speaking is one thing - eloquence is another. Often one hears successful examples of the former far removed from the latter. The mere ability to speak fluently is not uncommon, but far more important than the mere flow of language is the power of putting forward convincingly the views and opinions which the speaker desires to impart. When to that ability is added the gift of polished and fluent diction, the added attraction of real eloquence, then one has the orator, although there are singularly few in the present age who can truthfully lay claim to that distinction. By the very nature of things real eloquence must be a diminishing quantity, and the dominating factor driving to that end is the growing cult of unemotionalism broadening widespread down through the Universities and Public Schools to the great middle-class. To-day the appeal is to the intellect, to the reason of one's audience. The growing change in the fashion of our speaking is nowhere more plainly evidenced than in our Courts of Law. Advocates are practised and professional speakers paid on each occasion to achieve by their powers of speech a particular end. It must be a foregone conclusion that they will endeavour to use the methods of speech which experience shows to be most successful. Only those who frequent the Courts can properly realize how seldom one hears the least attempt to employ the effect of mere language. Sheer earnestness sometimes carries an advocate before a jury into the appearance of a resort to eloquence, but such a state almost always is unintentional and unpremeditated. It is only in the ordinary public political meeting and when there is a tendency for the intellect to be subordinated to the loyalty of party feeling, that enthusiasm can be raised by the emotionalism of eloquence. The growth of cynicism and the repression of emotion are having a striking effect on public speaking in this country. The oratory of half a century ago is dead; the tearing eloquence of the Midlothian campaign has given place to the reasoned skill of Mr. Balfour, Mr. Asquith, and Mr. Bonar Law. Lord Rosebery is a lonely survivor of that greater age, unless Mr. Redmond can be bracketed with him. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.