THE ART OF SPEAKING VERSE

Evening Star, Issue 22449, 21 September 1936, Page 12

THE ART OF SPEAKING VERSE

[Written by Paul Edmonds, for the ‘Evening Star.’] In the course of my work as an examiner in elocution for Trinity College of Music, I am unable to avoid the conclusion that there are still people who have not grasped the fact that the speaking of poetry is an art, and not a cheap and vulgar elocutional stunt. 1 had hoped that the day of the ranting reciter, with his exaggerated and artificial delivery, his theatrical tricks and posturing, his complete lack of the very elements of good taste, was over for ever.’ Apparently it is not. A few words, therefore, on the subject of verse speaking from the modern point of view may be apposite, and help to clear up some of the misconceptions that still survive. , . In the first place verso should bo spoken naturally and with restraint, and such emotion as there is should come from within and not be superimposed from without. Emotion is alreadv contained in the words of the poem, and the speaker’s business is to present these words to the audience in a pleasant appropriate, and rhythmic manner, so that every word is heard and the meaning made quite clear. Take, for instance, a poem like Stevenson’s ‘Home No More Home to Me, Whither Shall I Wander? There is emotion and to spare in the words themselves; therefore the addition of extraneous emotion by the speaker is not only unnecessary, but impertinent, and degrades a beautiful poem by making it appear sentimental and. insincere. Emotional colour will come into the voice unconsciously if the speaker really understands and feels the inner meaning of the poem. And if understanding and feeling are absent, and the speaker tries to simulate an emotion which he does not really experience, unless he is a very accomplished artist, his delivery will be poisoned by artificiality and falseness, and the result will inevitably be failure. , , , ~ . It is not as a rule advisable to use a wide range of inflections when speaking poetry, and the idea that interest and expression can be given to a poem by making the voice run wildly up and down the scale is yin entire fallacy, [nflections should never be studied or deliberately intentional, but should be natural and as far as possible unconscious. And in this connection the placing by-teachers of sloping lines over the words of a poem in order to indicate inflections is greatly to be deprecated, as it tends to make the pupil s delivery stilted and unnatural. The chief points to be aimed at by the student of verse speaking are:— Good voice control from the diaphragm and ribs (a necessity which cannot be too strongly insisted upon). A sustained and clear vocal tone. Crisp and vigorous articulation. A rhythmic flow of phrase. Audibility and intelligibility, which cannot be called in question even by “ the man in the back row of the gallery.” Further, the delivery must be perfectly sincere, simple, and natural, and tricks of any kind, whether of face, gesture, or vocal expression, must be scrupulously avoided. Also, every phrase must be spoken from the first syllable to the last without unnecessary breaks or pauses, which only destroy the rhythm and make the meaning no clearer. This applies equally to dramatic extracts, to poetry, and to prose. Audibility, good vocal tone, rhythmic flow, naturalness, and sincerity, coupled with understanding and feeling, are, in short, the essentials of good verse speaking, and the lack of these qualities can never be compensated for_ by artificial expression or the theatrical methods dear to the elocutionists of the past.