THE CRITERION OF FORCE
Force manifests the degree of mental energy. When we speak in a
loud voice there is much energy; when softly, there is little.
This criterion is the easiest of the four to understand, because,
perhaps, it is the most tangible. We need not stay, therefore, to
illustrate, but may pass on to consider a subdivision of Force, the
understanding of which is very necessary to good teaching.
In reading the following lines note how explosive is the utterance
on the emphatic words:
Down! down! your lances, down!
Bear back both friend and foe!
Now observe how differently we apply the force on the emphatic
words of this extract:
Ye gods! ye gods! Must I endure all this?
In the first example, upon the emphatic words, there was heard
a loud explosion of the voice, followed by a gradual diminution
in force; in the second, the voice perceptibly swelled on the
significant words. This swell or diminish has been called “Stress.”
Perhaps it is not the best word, but since its meaning in the sense
in which we are using it here is generally understood, it may be
well to retain it. “Stress” refers to the manner of applying the
force to the emphatic syllable. In the first of the preceding
illustrations, the greatest force was at the beginning of the
emphatic syllable. This form is called “Radical” stress. In the
second, the force was applied in the opposite manner. This form is
denominated “Final” stress.
Radical stress marks all forms of animated utterance. It is the
result of the normal action of the vocal chords, which, coming
together before syllabic impulses, suddenly part, causing a slight
degree of explosion. Absence of this form of stress gives the
delivery a kind of drawling effect. It is further to be noted that
even in those utterances characterized by other forms of stress
this form yet manifests itself on most of the syllables. After the
student has practiced the other forms of stress, he will better
understand this remark. He will have noticed that the other forms
are significant just in so far as they differ from this one, which
is the normal; and, further, that because the radical stress _is_
normal, the use of other forms of stress on a comparatively few
(emphatic) syllables will give a very significant coloring to a
whole paragraph.
We must guard against over-developing this abruptness. If we do
not, our delivery will be very likely to become explosive, and then
we shall create the impression of being too dogmatic. On the other
hand, slovenliness and drawling may be overcome by drilling on this
element of expression, and much vitality will thereby be imparted
to the speaking.
All speech, then, has this abrupt character. It has become so
familiar to us that we do not notice it except, as it were, in its
absence, when the delivery becomes drawling or slovenly. Hence, we
can say that radical stress in its milder forms is not essentially
expressive; it is an inherent part of our vocal production. It
becomes expressive only in its stronger forms. The student whose
delivery is sufficiently vital need not practice on the milder
form. It need hardly be said that the form and the thought should
not be separated in this practice.
It should also be borne in mind that there are different degrees
of stress as well as kinds. Professor Raymond truly says, “Never
confuse the kind of stress with the degree.” To illustrate: the
decided stroke of the voice is heard in,
Come, and trip it as ye go
On the light fantastic toe;
but a strong attack would spoil the daintiness. Let us remember
that a grain of gunpowder explodes as well as a ton. This
admonition applies as well to other forms of stress.
It has been urged, that if the claim is true that the complete
assimilation of the thought and feeling will, through practice,
lead to adequate expression, why bother the student with such
drills as these? The answer is plain. One’s temperament may be of
such a nature that he cannot express a single sentence without,
say, the greatest insistency. The insistency is temperamental,
and it shows in everything the speaker does. By a careful study
of “Stress,” he is introduced to his own consciousness, soon
recognizes his weakness, and his delivery is improved through
improving his mental action. If this is true for the creative
speaker, the orator, how much more is it true of him who reads or
recites the words of another.
A few years ago, a well-known minister spoke these words: “You
may read the tragedies of Sophocles, and the philosophy of Plato
and Aristotle; you may be familiar with the lore of the Hindus
and the Brahmins; you may know your Shakespeare, your Milton, and
your Dante, your Wordsworth, your Browning, and your Tennyson,
but [raising aloft a limp-covered Bible] it’s _all here_!” And he
brought the book down on the palm of his hand with a thwack that
was heard throughout the building. He fairly exploded on “all
here,” and the congregation laughed. Paraphrased, his stress said,
I--I, who know what I am talking about, tell you people--deny it
if you can--it’s all here. There was no appeal, no tenderness, no
gentle persuasiveness. His purpose ought to have been (to avoid
argument, let it be said that the context justifies this remark--he
was appealing for a more careful and reverential study of the
Bible) to express, Oh, my friends, this holy work, this revelation
of God’s goodness, contains all you need. Why not take it up, and
study it? You read all literatures; will you not read this too? The
trouble was that the preacher, being naturally of an aggressive
nature, lost sight of his final purpose, and spoiled what might
have been a very effective appeal, by obtruding himself between his
illustration and his audience. It may be of interest to state that
the speaker’s attention was called to this; and he admitted the
justice of the criticism, while disclaiming all knowledge of what
he had done, and how he had done it.
This illustrates the contention. He had had no idea that he had
become so assertive that he virtually said, _I_ tell you so, on
every emphatic word. A study of “Stress” and its psychology would
certainly have helped him.
In _The Orator’s Manual_ the author sums up this matter of
radical stress thus: “The radical stress is exerted on account of
a subjective ... motive; in other words, because a man desires
chiefly to express an idea on his own account.... In [this] case
the sound bursts forth abruptly, as if the man were conscious
of nothing but his own organs to prevent the accomplishment of
his object.... It is used whenever one’s main wish is to express
himself so as to be distinctly understood. In its mildest form, it
serves to render articulation clear and utterance precise; when
stronger, it indicates bold and earnest assurance, positiveness,
and dictation.... Without [this] stress, gentleness becomes an
inarticulate and timid drawl, and vehemence mere brawling bombast.
With too frequent use of it, one’s delivery becomes characterized
by an appearance of self-assertion, assurance, or preciseness.” In
other words, it is the “I” stress.
Of final stress, Professor Raymond says: “It is exerted on account
of an objective idea. The sound is pushed forth gradually, as
if the man were conscious of outside opposition, and of the
necessity of pressing his point. It is used whenever one’s main
wish is to impress his thoughts on others. It gives utterance, in
its weakest form, to the whine or complaint of mere peevishness
demanding consideration; when stronger to a pushing earnestness
or determination; in its strongest form, to a desire to cause
others to feel one’s own astonishment, scorn, or horror....
Without final stress there can be no representation of childish
weakness or obstinacy, or of ... resolution; used too exclusively,
or excessively, it causes delivery to be characterized by an
appearance of wilfulness, depriving it of the qualities of
persuasion that appeal to the sympathies.”
A very little of final stress will give a decided coloring to the
delivery. The student should be careful, therefore, not to overdo
it. To illustrate: a speaker is urging the colonists to abandon the
idea of war, claiming that they are weak, and so on. Patrick Henry
rises and says, “Sir, we are _not_ weak if we make a proper use
of those means which the God of nature hath placed in our power.
Three millions of people armed in the holy cause of _liberty_, and
in such a country as that which _we_ possess, are _invincible_
by _any_ force which our enemy can send against us.” On the word
“not,” the speaker is plainly pushing aside the argument of his
opponent. When he utters “liberty,” we note again the insistent
idea. He tells us by his stress, Other revolutions may have failed
through lack of numbers, but the gentleman forgets that ours will
be a struggle for liberty. Again, in “we,” “invincible,” and
“any,” we plainly discern the idea of overcoming opposition. Now,
it must be clear that while it is only on the five words italicized
we note the insistence, yet the whole statement is strongly tinged
by it.
There is a third form of stress commonly called “Median.” This
is a combination of the final and radical, and manifests a
combination of the objective and subjective states. There are other
combinations and forms of stress, but they are rarely heard and
need not be dwelt upon here.
Attention needs to be directed to the fact that stress sometimes
extends through several words and gives a characteristic color to
an entire phrase or sentence. For instance, we note that the swell
continues from the opening word to “despised,” in the following
speech of Cassio, who is opposing Iago’s plan. Note further the
same effect on phrases italicized:
I will rather sue to be despised, than to deceive so good a
commander, with _so slight_, _so drunken_, and _so indiscreet_ an
officer. Drunk! and speak parrot? and squabble? swagger? swear?
and discourse fustian with one’s own shadow? O thou invisible
spirit of wine, if thou hast no name to be known by, let us call
thee--devil!--_Othello_, Act ii., Sc. 3.
Observe how the force increases up to “Lord” and dies away to the
end in the following:
O, sing unto the Lord a new song.
It may be well to remark here that there are certain writers who
hold that the study of stress is misleading, or at best useless.
To these answer is made that music uses these stresses very much
in the sense in which they are used here. The attack necessary
for pure singing or instrumental tone is our radical (normal)
stress. The “staccato” and “sforzando” are more intense forms
of this stress. The “crescendo,” “diminuendo,” and “swell” are
respectively equivalent to “final,” prolonged “radical,” and
“median” stresses.
It may be well to call attention to a very general confusion of
ideas in the use of the word “low.” It is applied to force and
pitch indiscriminately, to the loss of an important distinction.
Low pitch is the result of low tension, while soft force is
diminished mental energy. High pitch may accompany soft force, and
loud force may be simultaneous with low pitch. It is because low
pitch has generally accompanied soft force that the confusion has
arisen.
EXAMPLES ILLUSTRATING THE USE OF RADICAL STRESS.
Are you ready? Go!
Carry--Arms.
Present--Arms.
Right about--face.
Halt.
Stop, don’t take another step.
Give me that pencil; it’s mine.
Leave the room, sir.
One, two, three, fire.
Back! beardless boy!
Back! minion! Holdst thou thus at naught
The lesson I so lately taught?
Man, who art thou who dost deny my words?
But in the gloom they fought, with bloodshot eyes
And laboring breath; first Rustum struck the shield
Which Sohrab held stiff out; the steel-spiked spear
Rent the tough plates, but fail’d to reach the skin,
And Rustum pluck’d it back with angry groan.
Then Sohrab with his sword smote Rustum’s helm,
Nor clove its steel quite through; but all the crest
He shore away, and that proud horsehair plume,
Never till now defiled, sank to the dust.
--_Sohrab and Rustum._ M. ARNOLD.
He spoke, and Rustum answer’d not, but hurl’d
His spear; down from the shoulder, down it came,
As on some partridge in the corn a hawk,
That long has tower’d in the airy clouds,
Drops like a plummet; Sohrab saw it come,
And sprang aside, quick as a flash; the spear
Hiss’d, and went quivering down into the sand,
Which it sent flying wide;--then Sohrab threw
In turn, and full struck Rustum’s shield; sharp rang,
The iron plates rang sharp, but turn’d the spear.
And Rustum seized his club, which none but he
Could wield.
--_Sohrab and Rustum._ M. ARNOLD.
Girl! nimble with thy feet, not with thy hands!
Curl’d minion, dancer, coiner of sweet words!
Fight, let me hear thy hateful voice no more.
--_Ibid._
Thou art not in Afrasiab’s garden now
With Tartar girls, with whom thou art wont to dance;
But on the Oxus sands, and in the dance
Of battle, and with me, who make no play
Of war; I fight it out, and hand to hand.
Speak not to me of truce, and pledge, and wine!
Remember all thy valor; try thy feints
And cunning! all the pity I had is gone;
Because thou hast shamed me before both the hosts
With thy light skipping tricks, and thy girl’s wiles.
--_Ibid._
The armaments which thunderstrike the walls of rock-built cities,
Bidding nations quake, and monarchs tremble in their capitals;
The oak leviathans, whose huge ribs make their clay creator
The vain title take of lord of thee, and arbiter of war,--
These are thy toys; and as the snowy flake they melt into thy
yeast of waves,
Which mar alike the Armada’s pride, or spoils of Trafalgar.
--BYRON.
EXAMPLES ILLUSTRATING THE USE OF FINAL STRESS.[6]
I _won’t_!
_No_, sir; I am not guilty.
_Away_, slight man!
Must _I_ budge? Must _I_ observe you?
I am _astonished_, _shocked_, to hear _such_ principles avowed in
_this_ house.
CASSIUS. _Ye gods! ye gods!_ Must I endure _all this_?
BRUTUS. All this? Ay, more.
SHYLOCK. May I speak with Antonio?
BASSANIO. If it please you to dine with us.
SHYLOCK. Yes, to smell _pork_; to eat of the habitation which
your prophet the Nazarite conjured the _Devil_ into. I will _buy_
with you, _sell_ with you, _talk_ with you, _walk_ with you, and
so following; but I will not _eat_ with you, _drink_ with you,
nor _pray_ with you.--_The Merchant of Venice_, Act i., Sc. 3.
SALARINO. Why, I am sure, if he forfeit, thou wilt not take his
flesh: What’s that good for?
SHYLOCK. To bait fish withal: if it will feed nothing else, it
will feed my revenge. He hath disgraced me, and hinder’d me half
a million: laugh’d at my losses, mock’d at my gains, scorned my
nation, thwarted my bargains, cooled my friends, heated mine
enemies; and what’s his reason? I am a Jew. Hath not a Jew eyes?
hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections,
passions? fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons,
subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means, warmed
and cooled by the same winter and summer, as a Christian is? If
you prick us, do we not bleed? if you tickle us, do we not laugh?
if you poison us, do we not die? and if you wrong us, shall we
not revenge?--_The Merchant of Venice_, Act iii., Sc. 1.
WORCESTER. Those same noble Scots,
That are your prisoners,--
HOTSPUR. I’ll keep them all;
By heaven, he shall not have a Scot of them.
No, if a Scot would save his soul, he shall not.
I’ll keep them, by this hand.
WORCESTER. You start away,
And lend no ear unto my purposes.--
Those prisoners you shall keep.
HOTSPUR. Nay, I will; that’s flat.--
He said, he would not ransom Mortimer;
Forbade my tongue to speak of Mortimer;
But I will find him when he lies asleep,
And in his ear I’ll holla--Mortimer!
Nay,
I’ll have a starling shall be taught to speak
Nothing but Mortimer, and give it him,
To keep his anger still in motion.
--_King Henry IV._, Part I., Act i., Sc. 3.
And now, go bring your sharpest torments. The woes I see
impending over this guilty realm shall be enough to sweeten
death, though every nerve and artery were a shooting pang. I die!
but my death shall prove a proud triumph; and, for every drop of
blood ye from my veins do draw, your own shall flow in rivers.
Woe to thee, Carthage! Woe to the proud city of the waters! I see
thy nobles wailing at the feet of Roman senators! thy citizens
in terror! thy ships in flames! I hear the victorious shouts of
Rome! I see her eagles glittering on thy ramparts. Proud city,
thou art doomed! The curse of God is on thee--a clinging, wasting
curse. It shall not leave thy gates till hungry flames shall lick
the fretted gold from off thy proud palaces, and every brook runs
crimson to the sea.--_Regulus to the Carthaginians._ KELLOGG.
EXAMPLES ILLUSTRATING THE USE OF MEDIAN STRESS.
Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is
risen upon thee.
For, behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness
the people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory
shall be seen upon thee.
And nations shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness
of thy rising.
Lift up thine eyes round about, and see: they all gather
themselves together, they come to thee; thy sons shall come from
far, and thy daughters shall be nursed at thy side.
Then thou shalt see, and be lightened, and thine heart shall
tremble and be enlarged; because the abundance of the sea
shall be unto thee, the wealth of the nations shall come unto
thee.--_Isa._ lx. 1-5.
Thou kingly Spirit throned among the hills,
Thou dread ambassador from earth to heaven,
Great hierarch! tell thou the silent sky,
And tell the stars, and tell yon rising sun,
Earth, with her thousand voices, praises God.
--COLERIDGE.
The Lord reigneth; he is appareled with majesty;
The Lord is appareled, he hath girded himself with strength:
The world also is stablished that it cannot be moved.
Thy throne is established of old:
Thou art from everlasting.
The floods have lifted up, O Lord.
The floods have lifted up their voice;
The floods lift up their waves.
Above the voices of many waters,
The mighty breakers of the sea,
The Lord on high is mighty.
Thy testimonies are very sure:
Holiness becometh thine house,
O Lord, for evermore.--_Ps._ xciii. 1-5.
He was a man, take him for all in all,
I shall not look upon his like again.
--_Hamlet_, Act i., Sc. 2.
This was the noblest Roman of them all.
* * * * *
His life was gentle; and the elements
So mix’d in him, that Nature might stand up
And say to all the world, _This was a man!_
--_Julius Caesar_, Act v., Sc. 5.
For even then, Sir, even before this splendid orb was entirely
set, and while the western horizon was in a blaze with his
descending glory, on the opposite quarter of the heavens
arose another luminary, and, for his hour, became lord of the
ascendant.... And I did see in that noble person such sound
principles, such an enlargement of mind, such clear and sagacious
sense, and such unshaken fortitude, as have bound me, as well as
others much better than me, by an inviolable attachment to him
from that time forward.... I stood near him; and his face, to use
the expression of the Scripture of the first martyr--his face was
as if it had been the face of an angel. I do not know how others
feel; but if I had stood in that situation, I never would have
exchanged it for all that kings in their profusion could bestow.
I did hope that that day’s danger and honor would have been a
bond to hold us all together forever.--BURKE.
O, sing unto the Lord a new song:
Sing unto the Lord, all the earth.
Sing unto the Lord, bless his name;
Show forth his salvation from day to day.
Declare his glory among the nations,
His marvelous works among all peoples.
For great is the Lord, and highly to be praised:
He is to be feared above all gods.
For all the gods of the people are idols:
But the Lord made the heavens.
Honor and majesty are before him:
Strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.
--_Ps._ xcvi., 1-6.
Ho! gallant nobles of the League, look that your arms be bright!
Ho! burghers of St. Genevieve, keep watch and ward to-night!
For our God hath crushed the tyrant, our God hath raised the
slave,
And mocked the counsel of the wise, and the valor of the brave.
Then glory to his holy name, from whom all glories are;
And glory to our sovereign lord, King Henry of Navarre.
--_The Battle of Ivry._ MACAULAY.
PEDAGOGICAL ASPECTS.
These aspects, having been dwelt upon at some length in the
preceding discussion, may be dismissed with a few words. The
knowledge of the psychology of Force and Stress is to serve as a
standard of criticism, not as a foundation for mechanical drills.
There is a school of reading pedagogy, with lamentably extended
sway, that argues, since there are found various kinds of stress in
our speech, therefore we must drill our pupils on these. Nothing
could be farther from the truth. Stress denotes a state of mind.
If our philosophy of stress is sound, it should teach us that the
mental state finds instinctive expression in one form of stress
or another, and consequently we must get the state before we can
get the stress. We might add that this is true of Time, Pitch, and
Quality, as well as of Stress.
Do not tell a child to read louder. If you do, you will get
loudness--that awful, grating schoolboy loudness--without a
particle of expression in it. Many a child reads well, but is
bashful. When we tell him to read louder, he braces himself for the
effort and kills the quality, which is the finer breath and spirit
of oral expression, and gives us a purely physical thing--force.
Put your weak-voiced readers on the platform; let them face the
class and talk to you, seated in the middle of the room, and you
will get all the force you need. On the whole, we have too much
force rather than too little. Let the teacher learn that we want
quality, not quantity, and our statement of the mental action
behind force will be of much benefit in creating the proper
conditions.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] In describing what is small, delicate, nice, we often note the
tendency to use a rather high key. This is no doubt due to the
tension that results from unconscious imitation. The voice is to
a certain extent squeezed in endeavoring to express the smallness
of the idea, with the result that the key is raised. Note how the
child’s key rises when he asks for a “leetle, teeny bit.”
[2] The rising inflection will be heard only on the last syllable
of this word. Note the discreet skip of the voice between the first
and second syllables.
[3] Prof. W. B. Chamberlain in his “Rhetoric of Vocal Expression.”
This work is now out of print, but a revision and enlargement of it
is published by Scott, Foresman & Co., of Chicago, under the title
“Principles of Vocal Expression and Literary Interpretation.”
[4] The falling inflection may properly be given on the italicised
words; but the latter are not therefore necessarily to be
emphasized.
[5] See Tyndall on “Sound;” or Prof. Halm on the same subject.
[6] A few words are italicized in order to draw attention to the
places where we should be likely to use this stress. Observe, too,
how the stress impresses us with the desire of the speaker to push
away opposition.
PART TWO
METHOD OF INSTRUCTION