d if thou said'st I am not peer
To any lord in Scotland here,
Lowland or Highland, far or near,
Lord Angus-THOU-HAST-LIED!
EMPHATIC PAUSE.
The emphatic expression of a sentence often requires a pause where the
grammatical construction authorizes none. This is sometimes called the
rhetorical pause. Such pauses occur chiefly before or after an emphatic
word or phrase, and sometimes both before and after it.
EXAMPLES.
Rise--fellow-men! our country--yet remains!
By that dread name we wave the sword on high,
And swear for her--to live--with her--to die.
But most--by numbers judge the poet's song:
And smooth or rough, with them is--right or wrong.
He said; then full before their sight
Produced the beast, and lo!--'t was white.
VI. MODULATION.
Modulation includes the variations of the voice. These may be classed
under the heads of Pitch, Compass, Quantity, and Quality.
PITCH AND COMPASS.
If anyone will notice closely a sentence as uttered in private
conversation, he will observe that very few successive words are
pronounced in exactly the same key or with the same force. At the same
time, however, there is a certain PITCH or key, which seems, on the whole,
to prevail.
This keynote, or governing note, as it may be called, is that upon which
the voice most frequently dwells, to which it usually returns when
wearied, and upon which a sentence generally commences, and very
frequently ends, while, at the same time, there is a considerable play of
the voice above and below it.
This key may be high or low. It varies in different individuals, and at
different times in the same individual, being governed by the nature of
the subject and the emotions of the speaker. It is worthy of notice,
however, that most speakers pitch their voices on a key too high.
The range of the voice above and below this note is called its COMPASS.
When the speaker is animated, this range is great; but upon abstract
subjects, or with a dull speaker, it is small. If, in reading or speaking,
too high a note be chosen, the lungs will soon become wearied; if too low
a pitch be selected, there is danger of indistinctness of utterance; and
in either case there is less room for compass or variety of tone than if
one be taken between the two extremes.
To secure the proper pitch and the greatest compass observe the following
rule:
RULE XII.--The reader or speaker should choose that pitch in which he can
feel himself most
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