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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... genius of our Alma Mater , he consult- ed the best good of the pupils , and " sought to temper them such lectures and explanations upon every opportunity , " as might " lead and draw them in willing obedience , inflamed with the study ...
... - sired . A subject , which has exhausted the genius of Aristotle , Cicero , and Quinctilian , can neither require nor admit much additional illustration . To select , combine , and apply their precepts , 28 INAUGURAL ORATION ,
... genius . Equally proper and necessary will it be to separate in our minds the science of rhetoric , or of speaking well , from that of grammar , or the science of speaking correctly . Grammar stands in the same relation to rhetoric ...
... genius for the invention , a skill for the disposition , and a voice for the elocution of every argument to convince and of every sentiment to persuade ? If then we admit , that the art of oratory qualifies the minister of the gospel to ...
... genius , and never applicable to any valuable purpose in the business of the world . Second , that it is a frivolous science , substituting childish declamation instead of manly sense , and adapted rather to the pageantry of a public ...