Emphasis of quantity.-A very extended time given to words, exalts their import. It is applicable only to syllables of long quantity, and to dignified and pathetic subjects. It describes time, quality, and the properties of things generally. The following are conspicuous examples of quantity. "Nine times the space that measures day and night, Lay vanquished." "But his doom Reserved him to more wrath." Better to reign in hell, than serve in heaven. "Darkened so, yet shone Above them all, the arch-an-gel." "Or of the eternal co-eternal beam; This knows my punisher." In thy sight shall no man living be justified. Sometimes this long quantity is united with the semitone; the following are examples. "Spare thou those, O God, who confess their faults." "Res-tore thou them that are penitent." The whole of these two last sentences require a plaintive movement; but the words marked in italics, require a great deal of quantity to distinguish them from the others. Emphasis of pitch.-Words receive emphasis by differing in their concrete and radical pitch, from other words which accompany them. Slide of the rising octave.-This is employed in Interrogation, of the most piercing and earnest kind; and also when a question is accompanied with strong sneer, with raillery, and mirthful banter. The following are instances. Shylock. What should I say to you, should I not say A cur can lend three thousand ducats? The last quoted, is a fine example, and is given by Dr. Rush, Philosophy of the Human Voice. Falstaff. A king's son? You, Prince of Wales? Discrete rising octave. "So frowned the mighty combatants, that hell This interval should be heard on the word "matched," in the dramatic reading, or public declamation of this piece. Elocutionist, page 344, sect. 12. Rising concrete 5th.-This is employed in earnest interrogation and emphasis. EXAMPLE. Hamlet. Saw who? Horatio. My lord, the king, your father? Hamlet. The king, my fa-ther? Rising radical 5th. EXAMPLES. "And shouted but once more aloud, My Father! must I stay?" Elocutionist, page 289, sect. 7. "Is there, as you sometimes tell us, Elocutionist, page 306, sect. 4. "He woke to hear his sentry's shriek, To arms! they come! The Greek! The Greek!" Elocutionist, page 308, sect. 3. Rising concrete and radical third.-The rising concrete third, is appropriate to that kind of interrogation employed for the mere purpose of information. It is also employed for emphasis and especially for the purpose of marking emphatic words which are conditional and concessive. Concrete. "What, looked he frown-ingly? His beard was grizzled ?" Radical. "If thou hadst known the gift of God, And who it is that saith to thee, give me to drink," etc. The words in the last example, marked in italics, are, as may be seen, conditional, and require, for emphasis, to be raised a third in radical pitch. EMPHASIS OF THE DOWNWARD SLIDE AND OF DOWNWARD RADICAL PITCH. A command over the downward slide, and over the downward radical movements, is of the utmost importance to all who wish to read or speak with effect. In the first place the downward movements of the voice are in them selves very expressive: besides which a ready use of them enables a speaker to avoid the monotony of a constant or too frequent rise in his emphatic words. This is a very common fault of delivery. The falling slide marks exclusive emphasis. It insulates a word from the rest of the sentence, and sets it in a more prominent and imposing point of view than any other modification of pitch. It expresses strong conviction is required in positive assertion, in denunciation, in the expression of indignation, and indignant resolve, and is peculiarly proper in all cases where solemnity is combined with emphasis. The intensity of the downward slide differs in the various forms of an octave a fifth and a third, concrete and discrete. The following example will show the downward slide of the voice, in different degrees of intensity. The first word marked in italics is to be made a downward third-the next may be a fifth, and the climax may be completed upon the word "there," by the most intense form of the downward slide, that of an octave. "If I ascend into Heaven thou art there; if I make my bed in Hell, behold thou art there; if I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, ev-en there, shall thy hand lead me and thy right hand shall hold me." It will be necessary first to elevate the voice upon the word "there," in order to carry the slide low enough to exhibit its intensest form. Emphasis of the downward concrete fifth. "I am the resurrection and the life." "And Nathan said unto David, Thou art the man." Discrete. Army of fiends fit body to fit head. Sarcasm can always be expressed upon a succession of short syllables by alternate rising and falling radical fifths combined with stress. Where it becomes necessary to express a sneer and the syllables are too short for the slide of the unequal wave, the discrete fifths fulfil its of fice, as they do in this last example. Let the first "fit" descend a fifth in radical pitch below "body," and "head" a fifth below the second "fit," and the effect we contemplate will be produced. Falling concrete third. I am amazed, yes my Lords, I am amazed at his Grace's speech.' Discrete falling third. though he were dead, yet "He that believeth in me, shall he live." "Believest thou this?" The "this" descends a third for emphasis, and ends with a rising slide. "Ye know not what ye worship, We know what we worship." The following is an example of variety in emphasis. The syllables intended to be specified are in italics. 1. Are they He-brews? So am I. 2. Are they Is-raelites? So am I. 3. Are they the seed of Ab-raham? So am I. 4. Are they Ministers of Christ? I am more. Let No. 1 rise both discretely and concretely. 2 fall discretely and rise concretely. 66 66 3 fall concretely a third. 66 4 rise higher than the last discretely, and fall concretely with stress. |