I. LEVEL NEGATIVE STATEMENT. THE tone adopted in reading these negative statements is pretty much the same as that in reading affirmative statements; but the words containing the negation-no, not, never, and others—will generally have a strong emphasis. This emphasis must be given by putting a stress-not sudden, nor violent-upon the emphatic word, and by making a pause after it, and sometimes also before it. In some cases, however, it would be a very great mistake to place an emphasis on the not. In No. 12, for example, not one not can be emphasised without spoiling the feeling of the passage; and the weight of emphasis must be reserved for the no more and the none at the end of each stanza. 1. 2. Hearken what the rill doth say, Sweet as skylark on the wing, What a worker is the rill! Tell me not of joy, there's none, 3. This grass is tender grass; these flowers they have no peers 3; And that green corn, all day, is rustling in thy ears. 4. 5. Wondrous truths, and manifold as wondrous, But not less in the bright flowrets under us Do not thy servant's simple prayer refuse. NEGATIVE STATEMENTS. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. He were nō lion were not Romans A leader seemed hinds. Each warrior single as in chief, expert Of victory. He would not with a peremptory 3 tone, He humbly hopes, presumes, it may be so. 4 He that works me good with unmoved face, Britannia 5 needs no bulwarks, No towers along the steep; Her march is o'er the mountain waves, Slowly and sadly we laid him down, From the field of his fame fresh and gory; We carved not a line, and we raised not a stone, I weigh not fortune's frown or smile; I quake not at the thunder's crack; 6 13. Turn, Fortune, turn thy wheel and lower the proud; Our hoard is little 45 Smile and we smile the lords of many lands; Frown and we and master of his fate. II. IMPASSIONED NEGATIVE STATEMENT. These are, for the most part, of two kinds : A. Pathetic, and B. Indignant. The pathetic sentences will generally need to be read very slowly the indignant passages may be read less slowly, but always with the most intense clearness and distinctness. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. A. PATHETIC NEGATIVE. For them1 no more the blazing hearth shall burn, No children run to lisp their sire's return, Or climb his knees the envied kiss to share. It was not in the battle: No tempest gave the shock; She ran upon no rock,3 Seasons return, but not to mé returns 4 Think not, the good, The gentle deeds of mercy thou hast done, Who daily own the bounty of thy hand, Oh, not a minute, king, thy power can give : But, dead, thy kingdom cannot buy my breath. 1. NEGATIVE STATEMENTS. B. INDIGNANT NEGATIVE. Blow, blow, thou wintry wind, As man's ingratitude; Thy tooth is not so keen,- Though thou the waters warp 4 SHAKSPEARE. 47 2. Tell me not of rights-talk not of the property of the planter in his slaves:-I deny the right, I acknowledge not the property. The principles, the feelings of our common nature rise in rebellion against it. LORD BROUGHAM. 3. It is not often, in the wide world's history, that you see a man so lavishly gifted by nature, and called-in the concurrence of eventsto a position like that which he occupied on the seventh of March, surrender his great power, and quench the high hopes of his race. No man, since the age of Luther, has ever held in his hand so palpably the destinies and character of a mighty people. He stood like the Hebrew prophet betwixt the living and the dead. He had but to have upheld the cross of common truth and honesty, and the black dishonour of two hundred years would have been effaced for ever. Wendell Phillips on Daniel Webster. 4. Speak not to me of truce, and pledge, and wine! And cunning! all the pity I had is gone; Because thou hast shamed me before both the hosts. 1. In general there should be a pause after no, not, never, and other negatives. The reason of this is that they are almost always emphatic; and the best way of calling attention to them is by making a pause after them. 2. Though a pause is made after this not, there should not be a strong emphasis or stress upon it. Tellme-not is said in a sort of weary way. The weight of the emphasis falls upon the none; and that, too, is soft and mild rather than strong. 3. The emphasis is on no; and the verse-accent which falls upon have is to be carefully avoided. 4. But, not less to be said with great clearness and slowness. 5. Emphasis on Do; slight pause after not. (To p. 44.) 1. This line means: He would not be considered so brave, if Romans were not such cowards-as cowardly as deer. 2. Open out the ranks. 3. The emphasis The forgetting of benefits. + The fact that a friend has been forgotten by his friend. is on peremptory. 4. Does good to me. 5. The emphasis is on Britannia. 6. There are no pauses after the negatives in this poem. 7. A slight emphasis on this not-to escape from the verse-accent upon am. 8. Wreck. (To p. 45.) 1. Emphasis on them. 2. Ply her evening care, means ply her spinning wheel in the evening. 3. The pause after each no in this verse is slight; but the emphasis upon them is strong. 4. The emphasis is on me. (The lines are from a lament on blindness, and are by Milton.) 5. The last line must be read very slowly, as if counting off the list of beautiful things which his blindness has deprived him off. 6. A slow and weighty emphasis upon all. 7. Strong emphasis on kingdom. (To p. 46.) 1. Weighty and reproachful emphasis on Thou and Thy. 2. Slight emphasis on not; and great care must be taken not to let the verse-accent strike art. 3. Emphasis on Thou, and the line must be read thus: Thou dost-not-bite so nigh. 4. Strong emphasis on right and property. (To p. 47.) |