Public Speaking

Public Speaking

The Project Gutenberg EBook of Public Speaking, by Irvah Lester
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Title: Public Speaking

Author: Irvah Lester Winter
Release Date: August, 2004 [EBook #6333] [Yes, we are more than
one year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on November 27,
2002]
Edition: 10
Language: English
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, PUBLIC
SPEAKING ***

Anne Soulard, Charles Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading
Team.

PUBLIC SPEAKING PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE
BY IRVAH LESTER WINTER

IN OFFERING A BOOK TO STUDENTS OF PUBLIC SPEAKING
THE AUTHOR WOULD PAY WHAT TRIBUTE IS HERE
POSSIBLE TO CHARLES WILLIAM ELIOT WHO FOR MANY
YEARS HAS TAUGHT BY EXAMPLE THE POWER AND
BEAUTY OF PERFECTED SPEECH

PREFACE

This book is designed to set forth the main principles of effective
platform delivery, and to provide a large body of material for student
practice. The work laid out may be used to form a separate course of
study, or a course of training running parallel with a course in debating
or other original speaking. It has been prepared with a view also to that
large number who want to speak, or have to speak, but cannot have the
advantage of a teacher. Much is therefore said in the way of caution,

and untechnical language is used throughout.
The discussion of principles in Part One is intended as a help towards
the student's understanding of his task, and also as a common basis of
criticism in the relation between teacher and pupil. The preliminary
fundamental work of Part Two, Technical Training, deals first with the
right formation of tone, the development of voice as such, the securing
of a fixed right vocal habit. Following comes the adapting of this
improved voice to the varieties of use, or expressional effect, demanded
of the public speaker. After this critical detailed drill, the student is to
take the platform, and apply his acquired technique to continued
discourse, receiving criticism after each entire piece of work.
The question as to what should be the plan and the content of Part
Three, Platform Practice, has been determined simply by asking what
are the distinctly varied conditions under which men most frequently
speak. It is regarded as profitable for the student to practice, at least to
some extent, in all the several kinds of speech here chosen. In thus
cultivating versatility, he will greatly enlarge his power of expression,
and will, at length, discover wherein lies his own special capability.
The principal aim in choosing the selections has been to have them
sufficiently alive to be attractive to younger speakers, and not so heavy
as to be unsuited to their powers. Some of them have proved effective
by use; many others are new. In all cases they are of good quality.
It is hoped that the new features of the book will be found useful. One
of these is a group of lighter after-dinner speeches and anecdotes. It has
been said that, in present-day speech-making, humor has supplanted
former-day eloquence. It plays anyway a considerable part in various
kinds of speaking. The young speaker is generally ineffective in the
expression of pleasantry, even his own. Practice in the speaking of
wholesome humor is good for cultivating quality of voice and ease of
manner, and for developing the faculty of giving humorous turn to
one's own thought. It is also entertaining to fellow students. Other new
features in the book are a practice section for the kind of informal
speaking suited to the club or the classroom, and a section given to the
occasional poem, the kind of poem that is associated with speech-
making.
A considerable space is given to argumentative selections because of
the general interest in debating, and because a need has been felt for

something suited for special forensic practice among students of law.
Some poetic selections are introduced into Part Two in order to give