Imatges de pàgina
PDF
EPUB

EXAMPLES.

1. TIME.

Touch us gently, Time!

Let us glide adown thy stream
Gently, as we sometimes glide
Through a quiet dream.
Humble voyagers are we,

O'er life's dim, unsounded sea,
Seeking only some calm clime;
Touch us gently, Time!

BARRY CORNWALL.

2. DEATH OF THE OLD YEAR.

Full knee-deep lies the winter-snow,

And the wintry winds are wearily sighing, Toll ye the church-bell, sad and slow,

And tread softly and speak low,

For the old year lies a-dying.
Old year, you must not die.

3. THE DEATH-BED.

TENNYSON.

We watched her breathing through the night,

Her breathing soft and low,

As in her breast the wave of life

Kept heaving to and fro.

Our very hopes belied our fears,

Our fears our hopes belied

We thought her dying when she slept,
And sleeping when she died.

4. THE FAERIE QUEEN.

HOOD.

Eftsoons they heard a most melodious sound
Of all that might delight a dainty ear.
Such as, at once, might not on living ground,
Save in this paradise, be heard elsewhere:
Right hard it was for wight which did it hear

To weet what manner music that might be,
For all that pleasing is to living ear

Was there consorted in one harmony;

Birds, voices, instruments, winds, waters, all agree.

SPENSER.

5. THE ARSENAL..

Down the dark future, through long generations,
The echoing sounds grow fainter and then cease;
And like a bell, with solemn, sweet vibrations,

I hear once more the voice of Christ say, "Peace!"

LONGFELLOW.

6. THE LOST CHORD.

Seated one day at the organ,

I was weary and ill at ease,
And my fingers wandered idly
Over the noisy keys.

I do not know what I was playing,
Or what I was dreaming then ;
But I struck one chord of music,
Like the sound of a great Amen!
It flooded the crimson twilight,
Like the close of an angel's psalm,
And it lay on my fevered spirit,
With a touch of infinite calm.

It quieted pain and sorrow,

Like love overcoming strife;
It seemed the harmonious echo
From our discordant life.

It linked all perplexed meanings
Into one perfect peace,
And trembled away into silence,
As if it were loath to cease.

ADELAIDE PROCTOR.

III. MODERATE FORCE.

Moderate force is the prevailing tone in the reading of unimpassioned narrative, descriptive, or didactic composition, in a small room, or to a small number of persons. It is the degree of force used in conversation. The characteristic quality of moderate force is "pure tone," and the stress. "unimpassioned radical."

EXAMPLES.

1. There was a sound of revelry by night.

2. What constitutes a state?

3. Scrooge never painted out old Marley's name.

4. The history of England is emphatically the history of progress.

5. The eyes of men converse as much as their tongues. 6. Spake full well in language quaint and olden,

One who dwelleth by the castled Rhine,
When he called the flowers, so blue and golden,
Stars, that in earth's firmament do shine.

7. The way was long, the wind was cold,
The minstrel was infirm and old.

8. I met a little cottage girl,

She was eight years old, she said;
Her hair was thick with many a curl,
That clustered round her head.

9. Blessings on thee, little man,
Barefoot boy with cheeks of tan,
With thy turned-up pantaloon,
And thy merry whistled tune.

10. I wrote some lines once on a time
In wondrous merry mood,

And thought, as usual, men would say
They were exceeding good.

They were so queer, so very queer,
I laughed as I would die;
Albeit, in the general way,
A sober man am I.

11. Listen, my children, and you shall hear
Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere,

On the eighteenth of April, in seventy-five;—
Hardly a man is now alive

Who remembers that famous day and year.

12. Around I see the powers that be;

I stand by Empire's primal springs;

And princes meet in every street,

And hear the tread of uncrowned kings!

13. Mrs. Siddons once had a pupil who was practicing for the stage. The lesson was upon the "part" of a young girl whose lover had deserted her. The rendering did not please that Queen of Tragedy, and she said: "Think how you would feel under the circumstances. What would you do if your lover were to run off and leave you?" "I would look out for another one," said that philosophic young lady; and Mrs. Siddons, with a gesture of intense disgust, cried out, "Leave me!" and would never give her another lesson.

14. READING AS AN ACCOMPLISHMENT.

We had rather have a child return to us from school a first-rate reader, than a first-rate performer on the piano-forte. We should feel that we had a far better pledge for the intelligence and talent of our child. The accomplishment, in its perfection, would give more pleasure. The voice of song is not sweeter than the voice of eloquence. And there may be eloquent readers, as well as eloquent speakers.

IV. LOUD FORCE.

Loud force is the tone used to express courage, boldness, defiance, anger, grandeur, and sublimity. It is used by the public speaker in addressing a large audience, or when speaking under the sway of strong emotion.

This degree of force requires full and deep breathing, and a vigorous use of the vocal organs.

The middle pitch is the appropriate key of loud force. A high pitch weakens the effect of forcible reading or declamation.

EXAMPLES.

1. Joy! Joy! Shout, shout aloud for joy. 2. Hark to the brazen blare of the bugle!

Hark to the rolling clatter of the drums.

3. Not in vain the distance beacons. Forward, for ward, let us range;

Let the great world spin forever down the ringing grooves of change.

4. ALEXANDER'S FEAST.

Now strike the golden lyre again;

A louder yet, and yet a louder strain.

Break his bands of sleep asunder,

And rouse him, like a rattling peal of thunder.

5. REVENGE.

And longer had she sung-but, with a frown,

Revenge impatient rose.

[ocr errors]

DRYDEN.

He threw his blood-stained sword in thunder down, And, with a withering look,

The war-denouncing trumpet took,

And blew a blast, so loud and dread,

Were ne'er prophetic sounds so full of woe:
And ever and anon, he beat

The doubling drum with furious heat.

COLLINS.

« AnteriorContinua »