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2. PAUSE OR GROUPING OF SPEECH.

"A pause is often more eloquent than words."

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1. Sentential. Founded upon the syntactical structure of the sentence and indicated by the marks of punctuation. It is addressed to the eye, and may or may not be used as a rest of the voice.

The old-school fashion of stopping invariably at the comma long enough to count one, at a semicolon two, at a colon three, etc., has, we hope, with other relics of school barbarism, passed away.

"How did Garrick speak the soliloquy, last night?"— “Oh! against all rule, my lord, most ungrammatically! Betwixt the substantive and the adjective, which should agree together in number, case and gender, he made a breach thus-stopping, as if the point wanted settling; and betwixt the nominative case, which, your lordship knows, should govern the verb, he suspended his voice in the epilogue a dozen times, three seconds and three-fifths by a stop-watch, my lord, each time." "Admirable grammarian! But, in suspending his voice, was the sense suspended? - Did no expression of attitude or countenance fill up the chasm? - Was the eye silent? Did you narrowly look?"—"I looked only at the stop-watch, my lord!"-"Excellent observer!"

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Sterne's sketch of the critic at the theatre.

2. Rhetorical. Wholly dependent upon the sense and feeling, and, while it rests the voice of the speaker, is addressed to the ear of the listener.

We give a few examples covering the principal ground of Rhetorical Pause.

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1. (1.) After the subject of a sentence.

Intemperance | is a vice.

(2.) After the subjective phrase.)

The pleasures of sin | are but for a season.

(3.) When the subject is inverted.

The meekest of men | was Moses.

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Mary is a good girl.

+3. Before the prepositional phrase.)

We are going into the country.

4. Wherever an ellipsis occurs.

Boy Britton, only a lad, | a fair-haired boy, | sixteen, 【

In his uniform.

Into the storm, into the roaring jaws of grim Fort Henry,
Boldly bears the Federal flotilla,

Into the battle storm.

5. In order to arrest the attention.)

The sentence was | Death.

The student will locate rhetorical pauses in the following examples, giving also names of authors:

1.

It was a maxim of Raffaelle's that the artist's object was to make things not as Nature makes them, but as she would make them; as she ever tries to make them, but never succeeds, though her aim may be deduced from a comparison of her effects; just as if a number of archers had aimed unsuccessfully at a mark upon a wall, and this mark were then removed, we could by the examination of their arrow-marks point out the probable position of the spot aimed at, with a certainty of being nearer to it than any of their shots.

2.

I am not come

To stay: to bid farewell, farewell forever,
For this I come! 'Tis over! I must leave thee!
Thekla, I must-must leave thee! Yet thy hatred
Let me not take with me. I pray thee, grant me
One look of sympathy, only one look.

3.

Ha! bind him on his back!

Look!-as Prometheus in my picture here!

Quickor he faints!

stand with the cordial near!

Now-bend him to the rack!

Press down the poisoned links into his flesh!
And tear agape that healing wound afresh!

So

let him writhe! How long

Wil he live thus? Quick, my good pencil, now!
What a fine agony works upon his brow!
Ha! gray-haired, and so strong!

How fearfully he stifles that short moan!
Gods! if I could but paint a dying groan !

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+ Pitch is the degree of the elevation or depression of sound.

In music, exactness can be reached in regard to pitch, while in elocution, we can only use terms which are modified by different voices and gradations of emotion with different persons. 1. Middle. Used in conversational language:

1.

The first step towards becoming a good elocutionist, is a correct articulation. A public speaker, possessed of only a moderate voice, if he articulates correctly, will be better understood, and heard with greater pleasure, than one who vociferates without judgment. The voice of the latter may indeed extend to a considerable distance, but the sound is dissipated in confusion. Of the former voice not the smallest vibration is wasted, every stroke is perceived at the utmost distance to which it reaches; and hence it has often the appearance of penetrating even farther than one which is loud, but badly articulated. Comstock.

2.

In slumbers of midnight, the sailor-boy lay;

His hammock swung loose at the sport of the wind;
But, watch-worn, and weary, his cares flew away;
And visions of happiness danc'd o'er his mind.

Dimond.

2. High. Indicates joy, grief, astonishment, etc.:

1.

"The slogan's ceased — but hark! din ye no hear
The Campbell's pibrock swell upon the breeze!
They're coming, hark!" then falling on her knees,—
"We're saved," she cries, "we're saved."

2.

Go ring the bells and fire the guns,

And fling the starry banners out;

Vandenhoff.

Shout "FREEDOM" till your lisping ones
Give back their cradle shout.

Whittier.

3. Low. Expresses grave, grand, solemn or reverential feeling.) The use of the low pitch is very effective in reading. Ruskin says of painting, "If you wish to express vivid light, you must make the shadows sharp and visible," and this rule will apply to word pictures as well.

It will not do to give any particular rendering for the voiceeffect alone, but if taste is not sacrificed, some shading will only bring out the beauty of the picture:

And he hangs, he rocks between - and his nostrils curdle in,— Toll slowly!

And he shivers head and hoof- and the flakes of foam fall off;
And his face grows fierce and thin,

And a look of human woe, from his staring eyes did go

Toll slowly!

And a sharp cry uttered he, in a foretold agony
Of the headlong death below.

Mrs. Browning.

4. Transitions. It is very important that the student in vocal culture be able to take any pitch at will, making sudden transitions. Who has not suffered agonies untold, when listening to a speaker whose voice was keyed upon and sustained, without variableness or shadow of turning, upon the highest and sharpest pitch possible? The minister who preaches upon an even pitch, whether high or low, lulls his audience to sleep. The high voice is at first offensive to the ear, but bye and bye

the sameness is found to be a fatal opiate. Nothing rests the voice like transitions of pitch, time, force and quality.

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2. MONOTONE.)

Sameness of voice, indicating solemnity, power, reverence, vastness, or a "dead level" in surface or sentiment.

1.

Deep in the wave is a coral grove,

Where the purple mullet and gold-fish rove,
Where the sea-flower spreads its leaves of blue,
That never are wet with falling dew,

But in bright and changeful beauty shine
Far down in the green and glassy brine.

2.

Percival.

And the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; and the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. Bible.

We must not confound monotony with the monotone. Much of the school room reading is monotonous in the extreme, and yet if the monotone would give the reading grand effect, without doubt the pupil will read in his most lively manner.

The haste and monotony often exhibited in reading the beautiful words of the church service is to be deplored. Some one has said, that haste seems to be the only requisite of worship. The clerk of the Assembly may read the bills so that no member can possibly know their import, but when the magistrate administers the sublime oath—“Do you solemnly swear in the presence of Almighty God, etc.," as if he were reading an invoice of goods, and the person taking the oath kisses the Bible with as much solemnity as he would a walking stick," the whole transaction seems like a sacrilegious farce. + 3. DIATONE.

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The progress of pitch through the interval of a whole tone, used in expressing lively emotion, or in common conversation.

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