SUGGESTIONS ON BIOGRAPHICAL SPEECHES 19 the impression which the speaker compels the thought in the message to make upon himself. Pub- 8. Intensity ob lie speakers have long realized that
- Peeling** impression depends largely upon the
vividness of the imagination of the speaker, his keenness of insight. We say, and say very truly, that if the speaker does not 'Hhink and see and hear and feel" in connection with a mighty message, — if he is not somehow stirred to his very depths, — he will not move his hearers to action. Of all the criticisms uttered by Public Speaking in- structors, the most repeated probably are these: '*You do not appreciate the import of the thought"; '^You do not catch the deeper spirit of the message " ; * * You do not do your com- position justice." Long-continued brooding over a speech is the road to adequate impression. This process is absolutely essential. The object of the orator is to convince of truth and persuade hearers to act thereon: and if he has intense but thoroughly controlled passion for his cause, he wiU in large measure allay opposition. On the other hand, ' * the saying a piece," the mechanical reciting of words and sentences, is not worthy the serious student. In the treatment of the Composition of Oral Discourse we found that while public appeal is based upon facts, it is vastly more than a statement of facts : that it must aim at the en- forcement upon the hearer of a vital principle. And to that end some general directions, especially as to the THEME and OUTLINE, were offered. And now we have found that while the presentation of the public appeal is based upon thought, it is always more than the mere thought: that the oral message bears the reactions, the peculiarly personal responses of the speaker to his thought : and that suggestion plays an important part. And so with a view to the adequate expression of the thought and the accompanying ** spiritual content," attention has been called briefly to the four elements of delivery : VOICE, ENUN- CIATION or WORDMAKING, PHYSICAL EXPRESSION, and INTENSITY or FEELING.
