Lectures on Rhetoric and Oratory: Delivered to the Classes of Senior and Junior Sophisters in Harvard University, Volume 1Before becoming President of the United States, John Quincy Adams was a Harvard professor of language, rhetoric and oratory, with this book comprising his lectures. Published in 1810 when Quincy Adams was in his forties, this work is a collection which demonstrates the breadth of knowledge which he passed to students eager to learn about the arts of speaking. The early lectures cover the basic principles of oratory and eloquence in the context of public speaking, and the origins of rhetoric as a celebrated art form in ancient Greece and Rome. It is clear that the author possesses an intense knowledge of the subject and its professional application. Later on in the text are more specific lectures, such as the importance of perfecting oratory for the courtroom, and the personal qualities a good speaker should cultivate. Keeping tight control of one's emotions when speaking or debating with others, and delivering compelling lectures from the church pulpit, are also discussed at length. Although this material is well over 200 years old with much of the language archaic by modern standards, the ideas and principles espoused by Quincy Adams remain both relevant and important to students and those working in fields where speech is vital. |
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... causes seemingly capa- ble of producing such effects . At one period the barbarian conqueror destroys , at another he adopts , the arts of the vanquished people . The Grecian muses were led captive and in chains to Rome . Once there ...
... cause of eloquence , and eloquence in return was the most effectual aux- iliary to the passion . In proportion to the won- ders , she achieved , was the eagerness to acquire the faculties of this mighty magician . Oratory was taught ...
... yet a faculty of the human mind . Among the causes , which have contributed thus to depress the oratory of modern times , must be numbered the indifference , with which it has The an- 1 been treated , as an article of 24 INAUGURAL ORATION :
... causes , have concurred in delaying the execution of his intentions until the present time ; and even now they have the prospect of little more than honest zeal for their accomplishment . In reflecting upon the nature of the duties I ...
... cause of justice ; to defend the per- sons , the property , and the fame of your fellow citizens from the open assaults of violence , and the secret encroachments of fraud ? Fill the fountains of your eloquence from inexhaustible ...