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The principal charm in reading poetry consists in melody. Melodious utterance is mainly the result of the musical vanish given to words of the class before named, hence the importance of being able to give the open vowels and the sub-vowels with varying degrees of force in long quantity, and a delicate, rich, musical vanish on the last syllable of the emphatic word.

Give the following words affirmatively, interrogatively, and negatively, with the longest quantity and the greatest melody you can command consistent with easy and natural utterance: Bold, noble, round, all, storm, fall, prayer, snare, arm, calm, star, roll, law, cause, seem, queen, moan, groan, now, vow, toil, coil, roar, time, thine, view, knew, world, furled, hurled, wound, doom, soon, cool, same, name, vain.

EXAMPLES IN MELODY.

1. The scene was more beautiful far to my eye, Than if day in its pride had arrayed it;

2.

3.

The land-breeze blew mild, and the azure, arched sky
Looked pure as the spirit that made it;

The murmur rose soft, as I silently gazed

On the shadowy waves' playful motion,

From the dim, distant hill, 'till the light-house fire blazed
Like a star in the midst of the ocean.

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4. Thou art, O God! the life and light
Of all this wondrous world we see;
Its glow by day, its smile by night,
Are but reflections caught from thee.
Where'er we turn, thy glories shine,
And all things fair and bright are Thine!

5. Tell me, thou mighty deep,

Whose billows round me play,
Know'st thou some favored spot
Some island far away,

Where weary man may find
The bliss for which he sighs,

Where sorrow never lives,

And friendship never dies?

The loud waves rolling in perpetual flow,
Stopped for awhile, and sighed to answer-"No!"

QUALITY.

Quality has reference to the kind of voice with which we speak. There are as many different kinds or qualities of voices as there are voices. Every one's voice has its peculiar characteristic, and this peculiar quality enables us to distinguish persons as readily as by their names. A good voice, with respect to quality, is one, the tones of which are pure, round, full, smooth, clear, sweet, and musical. Of all the good qualities, purity of tone in the human voice is every way the most important. The bad qualities of the voice are impurity, roughness, hoarseness, harshness, wheeziness, flatness, hollowness, shrillness, and the nasal twang.

The good qualities of the voice are the most easy, audible, and agreeable, and it is to them that attention should be chiefly given with a view to improvement in vocal expression. The training required for this consists in exercising frequently and carefully on all the good qualities of the voice.

PAUSE.

Pauses are necessary, not only to take breath, but in order to give the hearer a more clear perception of the meaning of each clause and sentence, and a more perfect understanding of the whole passage.

The length of the pause can not in any case be determined by rules. There are, however, a few general principles which may be safely observed: one is, that the pause should be in proportion to the rate of utterance, the pause being comparatively long when the utterance is slow, and short when it is quick. They should correspond in frequency and duration with those that we make when we express ourselves in ordinary, animated, or in serious conversation, and not in any formal or artificial manner. Although there is a measure for words in poetry, there is no measure for pauses.

The pauses that are made in the natural flow of speech have no definite and invariable proportion. Every word or group of words conveying a distinct idea should be followed by a pause. In the natural flow of conversation we notice pauses of various lengths—some scarcely perceptible, others long enough for the speaker to take breath, others much longer.

The Grammatical Pauses, indicated by punctuation marks, are not a sufficient guide to the reader, either as to when or how long he ought to pause. A good reader will frequently pause where no grammarian would insert a point.

The Rhetorical Pause consists in suspending the voice, either directly before or directly after, or both before and after, the utterance of a word that is intended to be very significant or expressive.

The pause before the word awakens curiosity and excites expectation; after the word, it carries the mind back to what has already been said. A pause of greater or less

duration is always necessary wherever an interruption occurs in the progress of thought, or in the construction of the sentence, as in the case of the dash, the exclamation, etc. In these cases the action of the mind is supposed to be checked or arrested by the sudden change of sentiment or passion.

All the examples given for practice in antithesis, climax, exclamation, interrogation, or under any of the rules, are suitable passages for exercise in the pause.

MOVEMENT.

Movement, or the rapidity with which the voice moves in speech, will necessarily vary with the nature of the thought, sentiment, and emotion which prompts the utterance. It should, however, never move so slowly that those who listen can anticipate what is about to be said, nor so rapidly that some of the words spoken are indistinctly heard. Both are serious faults, but the latter much the worse. Practice will enable even those who are very slow of speech to speak with great rapidity, and yet, at the same time, to be perfectly distinct. The rate of utterance in reading or speaking should be increased or diminished as sound judgment and correct taste may direct.

"Learn to speak slow; all other graces
Will follow in their proper places;

And while thus slowly onward you proceed,
Study the meaning of whate'er you read.”

A very rapid utterance, especially at the beginning of a discourse or a reading, is almost certain to lead the speaker into a high pitch, an artificial tone, and a strained, unnatural manner of delivery, and has a tendency to produce a kind of nervous excitement, which, at the same time,

tends to confound memory, confuses thought, and often causes distressing embarrassment. The ability to change the rate of utterance with perfect ease and naturalness, from the most slow and solemn to the most rapid and excited movement, is essential to the accomplished reader and the eloquent speaker.

EXERCISES IN MOVEMENT.

Select a passage and deliver it very slowly, taking special care to avoid every thing like drawling. Read the same passage again, with a slight increase of movement. Continue to repeat the passage with gradually increasing rapidity, until you can speak no faster without becoming somewhat indistinct. Having done this, repeat the same passage more and more slowly, until you again obtain the slowest movement. While increasing the rate of utterance, take care not to let the voice run into a high key. Keep it in the same key, as near as you can, and do not at any time speak indistinctly.

Although there are a great many shades or degrees of difference in movement, between very slow and very fast, yet five are as many as the pupil needs to observe in exercises in movement. These may be named very slow, slow, moderate, rapid and very rapid. In uncontrollable and intense excitement, the rate in which words are uttered is very rapid, and the pervading quantity is short. In solemnity, adoration, and other deep feelings of our nature, the pervading quantity is very long and the movement of the voice is very slow.

The examples given in short quantity are suited for practice in rapid and very rapid movement; those in long quantity, are equally adapted for practice in slow and very slow movement. Continue to exercise in movement until words can be uttered distinctly, forcibly, and with ease at the rate of three hundred words a minute.

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