An Illustration of the Principles of Elocution ...

laughter. The falling circumflex begins with the rising, and ends with the falling movement. This will appear in Hamlet's reply to his mother.

Q. Hamlet, you have your father much offended.

H. Madam, you have my father much offended.

These movements of the voice have an important agency in forming the emphasis of scorn and irony.

If you have writ your annals true, 'tis there,
That like an eagle in a dove-cote, I
Flutter'd your Volsces in Corioli:
Alone I did it-Boy!

And it came to pass at noon, that Elijah mocked them, and said, cry aloud; for he is a God: either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is on a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth, and

must be awaked,

SECTION II. Of Rhythmus.

Rhythmus or melodious reading, signifies the uniform recurrence of accented syllables in a given time, called feet. Each foot begins with an accented, and ends with an unaccented syllable or more. But as there is not in the English language this regular alternation of accented and unaccented syllables, pauses are introduced to supply the deficiency. Thus, if in dividing a sentence into feet it should happen, as it often does, that the first word in the bar is unaccented, a rest or pause is introduced, and the remaining measure is filled with unaccented syllables: so that there shall be in each foot, really or artificially, one accented, and one or more unaccented syllables. And as every accented syllable must begin a bar, it often happens that the measure of the preceding foot, for the want of unaccented syllables, must be completed by the introduction of pauses. Thus in the Exile of Erin :

To wander a lóne 7 | 7 by the wind 7 | beaten | hill |—

That the ear requires rhythmus in reading poetry, no one will dispute. The regular alternation of heavy and light sound is absolutely indispensable. The most uncultivated speaker, in reciting the following lines of Pope, would be apt to imitate the following reading :

But in reading prose, and less musical poetry, there would be a greater departure from rhythmus. The uncultivated reader in those instances would imagine there is no music. Such, however, is not the fact: for in every species of composition, there is more or less of this attribute; and reading is good or bad, in proportion to the exhibition of it.

As the benefits of rhythmical reading consist, not merely in the improvement of the ear, the ease of the reader, and the pleasure it affords the auditor, but also of useful exercises in accentuation, and the delicate intermixture of light and heavy sound, it should be attended to with great assiduity. The following examples, if completely mastered, will contribute much to the formation of a taste and aptitude for rhythmical reading.

HOHENLINDEN.

I lay the un❘ tródden | snów, 7|

7 But Linden - saw an | other | sight 7

7 Commanding firés of 7The darkness 17 of her

| fast ar | ráyd7

7 And furiousévery charger | neighed 7 | 7 To join the dreadful | révelry. 777

Thén 7 shook the hills 77 with | thúnder | ríven, |
Then 7rúshed the | steed, 7|7 to | battle | driven, }
17 And loúder 17 than the | bólts of heaven,
Får 7 | flashed 717 the | réd 717 ar ↑ tillery, |

7 The combat deépens. |

O'n 717 ye | brave 7

:7]

7 Who rush to glory||7 or the | gráve : 71 | | Wave 7 Múnich || áll thy | bánners | wave; 7| | 7 And | charge 77 with all 7 | 7 thy | chivalry. Į

THE THUNDER STORM.

BY MONTGOMERY.

O' for evening's | brównest | shade ; 7 |

Where the breezes | pláy 7|7 by stealth, 7

7 In the forest- | cinctured | gláde, 7| Round the hermitage of | Health: 7]

Through the | dim7|7 de | lírious | aír, 7 | A'gonizing silence | reigns; 7|

Clouds on clouds 7|7 por | téntous | spréad ; 7} Black 7 as if the | day of doóm, 7|

Trémble,

Darkness

1 His mystérious | híding | pláce ; 7|

Should he |7 from his |árk of stórms 7]

Háil and | ráin, 7 tem | péstuous | fall, 7 |

Lóuder déeper | thúnders | crash, 71
Désolation threatens all. 7 |

While thine | awful | bólts are | húrl'd, 7 |

[ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors]

| 0', 7 | 7 re | mémber |

thóu 77 art love; 7

Nów 7 ye winds 7 | 7 pro | claim a | loúd 7¦

Peace on earth, 77 to | mán 7 good 7 | will, 71 } { Nature, Gód's repenting child, 7|

S'ee thy parent |

réconcil❜d. I

}

17 a far, 71

For the farther discussion of this subject, I refer, with great pleasure, to Dr. J. Barber's Exercises in Rhythmus. As he is now preparing a new edition of this work, with considerable im

« Previous Continue »

Books