To Christian intercessors. Follow not; I'll have no speaking! I will have my bond. Without the full command of the Final Stress, determined purpose, earnest resolve, manly protest, degenerrates into childish and angry utterance, and the expression of scorn, revenge, and contempt sink to the ridiculous tones of the shrew. In the delivery of lyric and dramatic poetry, in which high-wrought emotion is so frequently found, the Final Stress is an indispensable element of utterance. SECTION XXII. COMPOUND STRESS. Compound stress is the application of the force to the first and last parts of the word, passing over the intermediate parts lightly. Command of this style of stress can be best acquired by practicing words and sentences. COMPOUND STRESS-EXERCISE. The compound is the stress appropriate for the expression of surprise, contempt, and mockery, and sometimes of sarcasm and raillery. EXAMPLES: I. EXTREME SURPRISE. Compound Stress, Energetic Force, Aspirate Pure Tone, Expulsive Form [From "Hamlet."-Shakspeare.] Ham. A bloody deed; almost as bad, good mother, As kill a king, and marry with his brother. Queen. As kill a king? II. EXTREME SURPRISE. Compound Stress, Impassioned Force, Aspirate Pure Tone, Expulsive Form. [From Queen Constance, when confounded with the intelligence of the union of Lewis and Blanche, and the consequent injury to her son Arthur.-Shakspeare.] Gone to be married! Gone to swear a peace! False blood to false blood joined! Gone to be friends! Be well advised, tell o'er thy tale again: It cannot be; thou dost but say 'tis so. III. CONTEMPT AND MOCKERY. Compound Stress, Impassioned Force, Aspirate Pectoral Orotund, Explesive Form. [From "Cataline's Defiance."-Croly.] Banished from Rome! What's banished, but set free "Tried and convicted traitor!" The compound stress gives intensity and energy to the utterance of surprise, contempt and mockery most impressive in its effect. "The use of this form of stress belongs appropriately to feelings of peculiar force or acuteness; but on this very account it becomes an indispensable means of natural expression and true effect in many passages of reading and speaking. The difference between vivid and dull or flat utterance will often turn on the exactness with which this expressive function of voice is exerted." SECTION XXIII. THOROUGH STRESS. Thorough stress is the application of the force of the voice equally to all parts of the word or sound. To acquire control of this element of expression prac tice the elements and words with all the force you can command in the Orotund Expulsive. THOROUGH STRESS-FIRST EXERCISE. 1. ō, as heard in no, go. The thorough stress is appropriately employed in the expression of rapture, joy, exultation, lofty command, indignant emotion, oratorical apostrophe, and virtuous indignation. EXAMPLES: I. TRIUMPH AND EXULTATION. Thorough Stress, Impassioned Force, Orotund Quality, Expulsive Form [From "Sheridan's Ride.”—T. B. Read.] Hurrah! hurrah for Sheridan! Hurrah! hurrah for horse and man! And when their statues are placed on high, Under the dome of the Union sky, The American soldiers' Temple of Fame, By carrying Sheridan into the fight, From Winchester-twenty miles away!" II. LOFTY COMMAND. Thorough Stress, Impassioned Force, Orotund, Expulsive Form [From "Paradise Lost."-Milton.] Warriors, the flower of heaven! once yours, now lost, If such astonishment as this can seize Eternal spirits, Awake! arise! or be forever fallen! III. ORATORICAL APOSTROPHE. Thorough Stress, Impassioned Force, Orotund, Expulsive Form. O liberty! O sound once delightful to every Roman ear! O sacred privilege of Roman citizenship! once sacred, now trampled upon! But what then-is it come to this? Shall an inferior magistrate, a governor, who holds his power of the Roman people, in a Roman province, within sight of Italy, bind, scourge, torture with fire and red-hot plates of iron, and at last put to the infamous death of the cross, a Roman citizen? Shall neither the cries of innocence expiring in agony, nor the tears of pitying spectators, nor the majesty of the Roman commonwealth, nor the fear of the justice of his country, restrain the licentious and wanton cruelty of a monster, who, in confidence of his riches, strikes at the root of liberty and sets mankind at defiance ? IV. VEHEMENT INDIGNATION. Thorough Stress, Impassioned Force, Orotund, Expulsive and Explosive Forms. [From "Rebuke of Lord Suffolk."--Chatham.] These abominable principles, and this more abominable avowal of them, demand the most decisive indignation. I call upon that right reverend and this most learned bench to vindicate the religion of their God, to defend and support the justice of their country. I call upon the bishops to interpose the unsullied sanctity of their lawn, upon the judges to interpose the purity of their ermine, to save us from this pollution. I call upon the honor of your lordships to reverence the dignity of your ancestors, and to maintain your own. I call upon the spirit and humanity of my country to vindicate the national character. Thorough stress is one of the most powerful weapons of oratory. Its effect, when judiciously used, is magical It rouses the feelings, kindles the emotions, and stirs the very soul of an audience. If employed injudiciously and too frequently it degenerates into rant and vociferation, exciting only disgust and contempt in the mind of every cultivated hearer. SECTION XXIV INTERMITTENT STRESS. The intermittent stress is a tremulous emission of the voice from the organs. To acquire control of this style of stress practice the elements and words with a short, quick, broken ut terance. INTERMITTENT STRESS-FIRST EXERCISE. 1. ē, as heard in me, see. The intermittent stress is the natural expression of al. emotions attended with a weakened condition of the bodily organs, such as feebleness from age, exhaustion, fatigue, sickness and grief. It is also appropriate in the expression of extreme ten derness and ecstatic joy. |