READINGS AND RECITATIONS No. 1. ENGLISH CLASSICS. COMPILED AND ARRANGED BY SARA SIGOURNEY RICE. M NEW YORK EDGAR S. WERNER & CO. Copyright, 1890, by Edgar S. Werner PREFACE. २ T 'HE purpose of this collection is to offer readings that can be approved by refined taste and cultivated judgment. The opinion has, to a certain extent, obtained that highly-wrought, sensational elocutionary selections are alone likely to insure attention. WERNER'S READINGS AND RECITATIONS No. I is designed to elevate the student's thought and inspire him with admiration for the purer forms of English literature; also to awaken careful, analytic study. In order to do this the observance of a few direct principles is necessary, even if the intention be to do nothing more than acquire the utterance, in an unembellished manner, of an author's productions in prose or verse. The subject should first be clearly defined in the reader's mind by silent, thoughtful conning of the selection, determining it as narrative, descriptive, didactic, heroic, pathetic, or humorous. Then should follow a clear understanding of the manner in which to deliver the style decided upon; this involves a ready perception of types drawn from daily observation of character. Tones, action, facial expression, and a subordinating of personality to the requirements of the moment are aids by which are to be communicated to an audience the inner significance of what is read, recited, or declaimed. As poet or sculptor appeals first to nature for his inspiration, so should the orator or elocutionist study humanity in its kaleidoscopic showings of the various phases of mind and spirit. |