The eighteenth lesson from the series on Effective Public Speaking compiled by the Dean of the Public Speaking Department.https://digitalcommons.colum.edu/effective_public_speaking/1018/thumbnail.jp

Kline, R. E. Pattinson

English

Columbia College Chicago: Digital Commons

Columbia College ChicagoDigital Commons @ Columbia College ChicagoEffective Public Speaking Courses Columbia College of Expression1-1-1918Lesson No. 18, How to Develop EmotionR. E. Pattinson KlineFollow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.colum.edu/effective_public_speakingPart of the Speech and Rhetorical Studies CommonsThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works4.0 License.This Book is brought to you for free and open access by the Columbia College of Expression at Digital Commons @ Columbia College Chicago. It hasbeen accepted for inclusion in Effective Public Speaking Courses by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ Columbia College Chicago.Recommended CitationKline, R. E. Pattinson, "Lesson No. 18, How to Develop Emotion" (1918). Effective Public Speaking Courses. 19.https://digitalcommons.colum.edu/effective_public_speaking/19HOW TO DEVELOP EMOTION LESSON No. 18 One of a Series of Le111on11 in EFFECTIVE PUBLIC SPEAKING 8:, R. E. PATTISON KLINE Dean Public Speaking Department. Columbia College of Expre1111ion. Chicago NORTH AMERICAN INSTITUTE CHICAGO Copyria-ht 191~ By ~ORTH AMF.RICAN INSTl1'UTt-: CHICAGO HOW TO DEVELOP EiiOTION In the preceding lesson there were con-sjdered the problen1s connected \Vith mak-ing ideas clear. Since by far the greater portion of speech has clearness. as its end and since the securing- of other effects, such as emotion, conviction and action, is fre-quently dependent upon the clear under-standing of the idea presented, the impor-tance of acquiring the ability to set forth thoughts and relations unmistakably ,vould seem to need no further emphasis. The next most necessary end after clearness is that of impressiveness-the arousing of inter-. Pst. This interest may be either of the men-tal type or of the emotional. At this tin1e, however, there is to be considered the arousing of interest or the making of ideas impressive through the appeal to the emo-tions. The special field pertaining to the arousing of e1notion with action as the end ( 1 ] ~ HOW TO DEVELOP El\fOTION will be left to the consideration of that end, the arousing to action. It is desired bere to discuss the general process whereby e1notion may be strongly aroused. The re-sult will be the creating of a more or less lasting impression according to the intens-ity or sweep of the emotion aroused. The first principle to be laid down is that the public speaker cannot expect to arouse emotion in his audience unless he himself is deeply moved. It is true that there arc those of such fine sensibilities, such respon-sive syn1pathies, that mere presentation to their minds of an idea emotional in nature is sufficient to produce a decided degree of emotional response. There are a few who have kept active their power of imagina-tion, so that a suggestion is sufficient to arouse fullness of image or idea. When there is fullness of idea or image there is every likelihood that there will come also adequacy of emotion. But they of rather sensitive sympathies and alert imaginations are comparatively few in number, therefore if large num-bers in the audience are to be emotionally HOW TO DEVELOP EMOTION 3 aroused it·will be necessary to do more than to suggest or to present slightly the idea. 1iasses of people always have been cold, unemotional, indifferent toward those mat-ters which have not directly interested them. A Ii ttle fire ,vill not warm them; a feeble spirit ,vill not enliven them; low-proosure energy will not stir them; timidity will not drive them. In this day feeling, emotion, is frequently f ro,vned upon, being considered an evidence of soft-heartedness and w-eakness. But in spite of this condition men and women de-mand that from the speaker ,vhich they refuse to themselves. He must show the heat of fire. If he does radiate this fervent heat it will be communicated to· those in his audience and a fire ,vill be kindled within them that may burn with great intensity. Ruf us Choate in discussing the '' Elo-quence of Revolutionary Periods'' rapidly reviews the great questions that have caused people of different times and nations to carry on revolutions. He says: '' Filled with these, with these flashing in every '-Ye, swelling every heart, pervading 4 HOW TO DEVELOP EMOTION electric all ages, all orders, like a visitation, an 'unquenchable public fire,' men conH~ together,-the thousands of Athens around the Berna, or the temple of Dionysus,-the people of Rome in the Forum, the Senate in that Council Chamber of the ,vorld,-the masses of France, as the spring-tide, into her gardens of the Tuileries, her club-rooms, her hall of the Convention,-the representatives, the genius, the grace, the beauty of Ireland into the Tuscan Gallery of her I-louse of the Commons,-the dele-gates of the Colonies into the Hall of Inde-pendence of Philadelphia,-thus men come, -in an hour of revolution to hang upon the lips from ,vhich they hope, they need, they demand to hear the things which belong to their national salvation, hungering for the bread of life. '' .A.nd then and thus comes the orator of that time, kindling with their fire; sympa-thizing with that great beating heart; pene-trated, not subdued; lifted up rather by a sublime and rare moment of history made real to his consciousness.'' Here Choate represents the orator as one HO\V TO DEVELOP .EMOTION u ,vho reflects a fire ,vhich burns ,vithin t.lu:. bosoms of the people, bnt a study of great periods of history will sho,v that more fn·-quently the orator has beell the one to fePI first the heat of the burning ideas of na-tional salvation and has bcPn the onP 1 o kindle the national conflagration. rrhis point Choate himself rather sug·-g-ests ,vhen he says that the orator conies: '' Charged ·with the very mission of lif<:·, yet unassnred ,vhether they ,vill hear or will forbear; transcendent good within their grasp, yet a possibility that the fatal and critical opportunity of salvation will be "·asted; the last evil of nations and of mf~n overhanging, yet the siren song of peace-peace when therP is no peace-chanted rnadly by son1e Yoice of sloth or fear.'' He ,vho is to 1nove audiences, then, mu~t ]earn to realize the issues of his o,vn heart Hnd spirit. He must not only be willing to be 1noved to great e1notional heights, prop-erly controlled, but lie n1ust learn to shar() his spiritual possessions, even to the extent of occasionally baring the naked soul to the 6 HOW TO DEVELOP EMOTION gaze of the world. The men who have most profoundly influenced social and political affairs have been those great spirits capa-ble of a fire of emotion which ,vas ,vell nigh consuming. The world is not led or 1noved by the great intellect alone, it is the heart of man appealing to the heart of his fello-\vs which secures the great changes in the upward march of humanity. The great orators and speakers of the ,vorld have always possessed great hearts which became passionately aflame for the rights and happiness and good of every fellow-man. It was a Moses, or an Isaiah, or a Demos-thenes, or a Christ, or a Cicero, or a Savon-arola, or an O'Connell, or a Mirabeau, or a Luther, or a Gladstone, or a Patrick Henry, or a Phillips, or a Grady, or a Webster, or a Lincoln who had the unerring sight of truth and a soul that could burn white hot with the passion for truth and righteous-ness and for the rights of humanity who has vitalized this too careless, unfeeling and un-imaginative human mass and compelled it to be up with a quickened march toward the higher things of life. HOW TO DEVELOP EMOTION 7 There are two principles involved in arousing personal en1otion. These are the length of time and the concentration with which a thought is held in the mind, and the presence of motive. Examining your per-sonal experience you remember having remarked to yourself or to someone else on some occasion, '' The longer I thought of it, the angrier I became,'' or '' the longer I thought of it, the deeper my humiliation,'' or '' the longer I thought of it the more I laughed.'' To keep the attention keenly fixed upon some thought which carries emotion is to intensify the emotional re-sponse. What is true of the individual is also true of an audience. The greater the length of time an idea is held before their attention and the more keenly that attention can be centered upon the idea, the greater the emotional response. It will be well to remember at this point that the very matter of keen'ly and unreservedly holding the at-tention of a large audience upon the given idea is a more difficult task than doing the same thing for a small audience. It, there-8 no,v TO DEVELOP RlHO'l'ION fore, follo,vs that as the audience increases in size the speaker will be co1npelled to Pn-la rge and intensify his process of opera-tion. rrhe question n1ay hP asked what is i1nplied in this process of keeping an idea hpfore the attention of an audience and con-(~entrating their attention. l(eenly consid(\l' the concrete illustration: ,Vere the speaker to say to an audience, "I stnv a 1nan strike a boy yesterday afternoon,'' the chances are that there would be a f e,v in the audi-ence so mentally alert and irr1agi11ative that nothing f nrther would be needed to arouse a considerable degree of sympathy and feeling. But were the speaker to say, '' I saw a big, burly, strong brute of a man :-;trike a hoy of six years of age upon the head yesterday afternoon. 'rhis boy was lame; he used a crutch; he had done nothing to provoke this brutish attack; he was peaceably minding his o,vn business, selling papers in an effort to help his widowed mother support a family," it will readily be seen that the sympathies and feelings of an audience will be much more quickly and HO\V TO DEVELOP EMOTION ~} 1nore thoroughly aroused. Examining tlH" process somewhat, it will be seen that de-tails of the affair have been rather fully put in and that these details appeal to sym-pathy quickly because they are of that na-ture which universally arouse the sympa-thies pretty readily of even cold-hearted men and won1en. So out of these illustra-tions there gro,v two fundamental sugges-tions, first, the statement of details tends to arouse feeling more greatly because it 1nore keenly concentrates the attention, and second, the appeal to syn1pathies which are pretty thoroughly fundamental and univ~r-sal can be counted upon generally to pro-duce the strong emotiona I rPsponse. A suggestion made at the beginning of this discussion may be stated here as a truth that may be considered as a method of procedure. Emotion begets- emotion of a like nature. There is H story told of H gentleman who happened to g-et into a church ,vher(~ a funeral service was being· held. It was noticed that he appeared un-touched emotionally while the entire audi-ence otherwise seemed to be greatly moved. 10 HOW TO DEVELOP EMOTION Afterward he was asked why he remained unmoved, and he replied: '' I did not belong to the parish.'' The author does not believe the story illustrates a general condition. Those watching an individual ,vhose ap-pearance indicates that he is deeply moved by some strong emotional impulse will find the same emotion developing in their hearts. The old saying, "Laugh and the ,vorld laughs ,vith you,'' illustrates the point, but the second part of the saying is not always true, ''Weep and you weep alone.'' There may be a cold world that refuses to be touched by pity and by sym-pathy, but fortunately there are many who have responded to grief and sorrow and shame and despair. The expression of emo-tion by the bodily agents : the eyes, the face, the chest, the arms, and even the whole body at times, is the one cause which may be relied upon to arouse emotion similar to that which is being expressed. So he who would move men and women in large numbers must have emotion himself. He must have it in abundance. He must often feed it until it is well nigh a consum-HOW TO DEVELOP EMOTION 11 ing fire. He must know ho,v to share this emotion with his audience; he must radiate his own heat until it warms, or melts, or even scorches or fires the hearts of his hearers. It must, however, be remembered that this emotion must be under control. Emo-tion uncontrolled leads often to ridiculous results, and the greater the uncontrolled emotion, the more unfortunate the results. The concrete example will more readily make this clear. In real life tears stream do,vn the face when one is deeply moved by grief, but upon the stage or upon the public platform the tears must be repressed. The intensity of emotion that would produce tears must be present, but the tears must be repressed. The appearance before an audi-ence of an actor or speaker with a face wet with tears would be the cause for laughter and ridicule. On the other hand when the will controls the grief so that the tears are prevented from streaming down the face the effect is very great. The audience is moved deeply by this sight and many of them may not succeed in holding back the tears as the actor or orator has done. 12 HOW TO DEVELOP E.aiIOTION ()ne last obserYation is to be made. That ,vhich the speaker must secure is the genu-iue emotion. rrhere must be no counter-f Pi ting. Many see1n to think that real ,•1notion is not necessary; that as long as thPre are the out,vard appearances of emo-tion, this is sufficient. Often, in every field of public speech, those are heard ,vho, lack-ing the real spirit, make every effort to ~ecure in their delivery those elernents and qualities ,vhich the real emotion would de-,·tdop. The result is an insincere, untrue, unreal type of utterance. It has a sound, hut the sound is that of '' sounding brass and clanging cymbal.'' It is maudlin and horn bas tic. To '' tear a passion to tatters, to very rags'' is as great an offense against tdfective speech as can be given. EXERCISES. These exercises are prnvided as a means of testing the students' knowledge of the subject and for training through actual practice. Exercises are not to be sent to the School. 1. Write do\\rn a list of principles, causes, ideals, or hun1an sufferings about which you feel intensely. ~·· 2. Analyze your feelings to ascertain the facts, states or reasons for your intense feelings. 3. Consider 'Whether the reasons for your feeling keenly about these matters would be sufficient to arouse strong feeling in others. 4. Forrnulate a topic for each one of these causes, principles, ideals or sufferings you feel deeply about, having as the end that of impressiveness. 5. Plan, in the form of a speech outline, the various means you think you can use to impress an audience intensely with the strength and significance of your idea. 6. Having thoroughly memorized your [ 13] 14 HOW TO DEVELOP EMOTION outline, and fixed in 111ind your methods of appeal, rnake the speech at least thrPe timPs before an ima!:,rinary audiPtH·P, seeking to secure within yourself th<' gPnuine e1notion, and thPn seeking to comrnnnicate it to the audience. This duplicate page has been edited for visual accessibility. EFFECTIVE PUBLIC SPEAKING LESSON No. 18 HOW TO DEVELOP EMOTION NORTH AMERICAN INSTITUTE - CHICAGO This duplicate page has been edited for visual accessibility. 

Lesson No. 18, How to Develop Emotion

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Lesson No. 18, How to Develop Emotion

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