The Training of a Public Speaker

Training of a Public Speaker, by
Grenville Kleiser

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Title: The Training of a Public Speaker
Author: Grenville Kleiser
Release Date: April 28, 2006 [EBook #18277]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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THE TRAINING OF A PUBLIC SPEAKER
BY GRENVILLE KLEISER

Formerly Instructor in Public Speaking at Yale Divinity School, Yale
University. Author of "How to Speak in Public," "Great Speeches and
How to Make Them," "Complete Guide to Public Speaking," "How to
Build Mental Power," "Talks on Talking," etc., etc.
[Illustration: Publisher's logo]
FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY
NEW YORK AND LONDON
1920
COPYRIGHT, 1920, BY
GRENVILLE KLEISER
[Printed in the United States of America]
Published, February, 1920
Copyright Under the Articles of the Copyright Convention of the
Pan-American Republics and the United States, August 11, 1910

PREFACE
The power of eloquence to move and persuade men is universally
recognized. To-day the public speaker plays a vital part in the solution
of every great question and problem. Oratory, in the true sense, is not a
lost art, but a potent means of imparting information, instruction, and
persuasion.
Eloquence is still "the appropriate organ of the highest personal
energy." As one has well said, "The orator is not compelled to wait
through long and weary years to reap the reward of his labors. His
triumphs are instantaneous."

And again, "To stand up before a vast assembly composed of men of
the most various callings, views, passions, and prejudices, and mold
them at will; to play upon their hearts and minds as a master upon the
keys of a piano; to convince their understandings by the logic, and to
thrill their feelings by the art of the orator; to see every eye watching
his face, and every ear intent on the words that drop from his lips; to
see indifference changed to breathless interest, and aversion to
rapturous enthusiasm; to hear thunders of applause at the close of every
period; to see the whole assembly animated by the feelings which in
him are burning and struggling for utterance; and to think that all this is
the creation of the moment, and has sprung instantaneously from his
fiery brain and the inspiration imparted to it by the circumstances of the
hour;--this, perhaps, is the greatest triumph of which the human mind is
capable, and that in which its divinity is most signally revealed."
The aims and purposes of speaking to-day have radically changed from
former times. Deliberative bodies, composed of busy men, meet now to
discuss and dispose of grave and weighty business. There is little
necessity nor scope for eloquence. Time is too valuable to permit of
prolonged speaking. Men are tacitly expected to "get to the point," and
to be reasonably brief in what they have to say.
Under these circumstances certain extravagant types of old-time
oratory would be ineffectual to-day. The stentorian and dramatic tones,
with hand inserted in the breast of the coat, with exaggerated facial
expression, and studied posture, would make a speaker to-day an object
of ridicule.
This applies equally to speech in the law court, pulpit, on the lecture
platform, and in other departments of public address. The implicit
demand everywhere is that the speaker should say what he has to say
naturally, simply, and concisely.
This does not mean, however, that he must confine himself to plain
statement of fact, with no manifestation of feeling or earnestness. Men
are still influenced and persuaded by impassioned speech. There is
nothing incompatible between deep feeling and clear-cut speech. A
man having profound convictions upon any subject of importance will

always speak on it with fervor and sincerity.
The widespread interest in the subject of public speaking has suggested
this adaptation of Quintilian's celebrated work on the education of the
orator. This work has long been regarded as one of the most valuable
treatises ever written on oratory, but in its original form it is ponderous
and inaccessible to the average reader. In the present abridged and
modernized form it may be read and studied with benefit by earnest
students of the art of public speaking.
A brief account of Quintilian says: "Quintilianus, M. Fabius, was born
at Calagurris, in Spain, A. D. 40. He completed his education at Rome,
and began to practise at the bar about 68. But he was chiefly