so few speeches read well in the reports on the morning after: statements appear

crude and exaggerated because they are unaccompanied by the forceful delivery of

a glowing speaker before an audience heated to attentive enthusiasm. So in

preparing your speech you must not err on the side of mild statement--your

audience will inevitably tone down your words in the cold grey of afterthought.

When Phidias was criticised for the rough, bold outlines of a figure he had

submitted in competition, he smiled and asked that his statue and the one

wrought by his rival should be set upon the column for which the sculpture was

destined. When this was done all the exaggerations and crudities, toned by

distances, melted into exquisite grace of line and form. Each speech must be a

special study in suitability and proportion.

 

Omit the thunder of delivery, if you will, but like Wendell Phillips put "silent

lightning" into your speech. Make your thoughts breathe and your words burn.

Birrell said: "Emerson writes like an electrical cat emitting sparks and shocks

in every sentence." Go thou and speak likewise. Get the "big stick" into your

delivery--be forceful.

 

QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES

 

1. Illustrate, by repeating a sentence from memory, what is meant by employing

force in speaking.

 

2. Which in your opinion is the most important of the technical principles of

speaking that you have studied so far? Why?