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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... , must relate merely to speculative sub- jects . Here is no issue for trial , in which the life or fortune of an individual may be involved . Here is no vote to be taken , upon which 60 [ LECT . II . OBJECTIONS AGAINST.
... trial ; and Theodore of Byzantium . All these writers are included by Plato under the contemptuous denomination of word weavers . Gorgias was the first , who extended so far the principles of his art , that he professed to pre- pare his ...
... trial of judicial causes . This practice however having exposed him to a prosecution , under a certain Athenian law , which it was supposed to infringe , he abandoned the employment , and opened a school of rhetoric , which soon became ...
... trial of skill for his amusement , and that his affectation of ignorance was an artifice to elude the suspicion and distrust , which a high reputation of learning is apt to ex- cite in the minds of judges against an advocate ; a ...
... trial and of temptation , if you should occasion- ally meet with a man , blessed with all the power of words , do not too hastily conclude , that his moral worth must be of equal preeminence with his mental faculties . Reserve the ...