Lectures on Rhetoric and Oratory: Delivered to the Classes of Senior and Junior Sophisters in Harvard University, Volume 1Before becoming President of the United States, John Quincy Adams was a Harvard professor of language, rhetoric and oratory, with this book comprising his lectures. Published in 1810 when Quincy Adams was in his forties, this work is a collection which demonstrates the breadth of knowledge which he passed to students eager to learn about the arts of speaking. The early lectures cover the basic principles of oratory and eloquence in the context of public speaking, and the origins of rhetoric as a celebrated art form in ancient Greece and Rome. It is clear that the author possesses an intense knowledge of the subject and its professional application. Later on in the text are more specific lectures, such as the importance of perfecting oratory for the courtroom, and the personal qualities a good speaker should cultivate. Keeping tight control of one's emotions when speaking or debating with others, and delivering compelling lectures from the church pulpit, are also discussed at length. Although this material is well over 200 years old with much of the language archaic by modern standards, the ideas and principles espoused by Quincy Adams remain both relevant and important to students and those working in fields where speech is vital. |
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... in possession of persuasion . To enume- rate all the instruments of persuasion , would be to give a catalogue of all the passions and motives , í which can , without the exercise of force , be $ 6 [ LECT . I. GENERAL VIEW OF.
... exercise of force , be made to operate upon the human mind . Persuasive speech , and more persuasive sighs , Silence , that speaks , and eloquence of eyes . POPE'S ILIAD , XIV . 250 . To this it has been justly replied , that persua ...
... exercise in the familiar converse of life the practices of an orator by system ; and we must be always under- stood , as having reference to public speaking , when we define oratory , as the art of speaking well . Oratory then is an art ...
... exercise , in the progress of your future lives . In the state of society , which exists among us , 30me professional occupation is , to almost every man in the community , the requisition of necessi- ty , as well as of duty . None of ...
... exercise these more than magic powers ? Who is it , that will most effectually stem the torrent of human passions , and calm the raging waves of human vice and fol- He is to inflame the lukewarm , to ly ? Who is it , that , with the ...