Having chosen a selection, read it over first in a general way to secure an impression of it in its entirety. Then read it a second time, giving particular attention to each part. Consult a dictionary for the correct meaning and pronunciation of every word about which you are in doubt. Next underline the emphatic words—those which you think best express the most important thoughts. Underscoring one line for emphatic words and two lines for the most emphatic will do for this purpose. Now indicate the various pauses, both grammatical and rhetorical, by drawing short perpendicular lines between the words where they occur. In a general way use one line for a short pause, two lines for a medium pause, and three lines for a long pause. On the margin of the selection you may make other notes, such as the dominant feeling, transitions, changes of rate, force and pitch, special effects, gestures, facial expression, etc.
There is, of course, nothing arbitrary about this work of analysis. Its purpose is to make the student think, to analyze, to be painstaking. The following annotated selection should be carefully considered. Words on which chief emphasis is to be placed are printed in small capitals; those on which less emphasis is to be placed, in italics. It is not intended to be mechanical, but suggestive. After a few selections have been analyzed in this way, pausing and emphasis, and many other elements of expression, will largely take care of themselves.
"To BE || or NOT | to be, || that | is the question:—|||
Whether | 't is nobler | in the mind, || to suffer
The slings | and arrows || of outrageous fortune; ||
Or | to take arms | against a sea | of troubles, ||
And by opposing || end them? ||| —To DIE,— || to SLEEP, |||
No more;—||| and, by a sleep, || to say we end
The heart-ache, | and the thousand natural shocks ||
That flesh is heir to,—||| 't is a consummation ||
Devoutly | to be wish'd. ||| To DIE,—||| to SLEEP:—|||
To SLEEP ||| perchance to DREAM: || ay, | there's the rub; ||
For in that sleep | of death || what dreams | MAY | come, ||
When we have shuffled off | this mortal coil, ||
Must give us pause. ||| There's the respect, |
That makes calamity | of so long life: |||
For who would bear | the whips and scorns | of time, ||
The oppressor's wrong, || the proud man's contumely, ||
The pangs | of despis'd love, || the law's delay, ||
The insolence | of office, || and the spurns |
That patient merit | of the unworthy takes, ||
When he himself | might his quietus make ||
With a bare bodkin? || who'd these fardels bear, ||
To grunt and sweat | under a weary life, ||
But that the dread | of SOMETHING | after death—||
The undiscover'd country, || from whose bourn |
No traveler returns,—|| puzzles the will, ||
And makes us rather bear | those ills we have, ||
Than fly | to others || that we know not of? |||
Thus CONSCIENCE || does make COWARDS | of us all; ||
And thus | the native hue | of resolution ||
Is sicklied o'er | with the pale cast | of thought; ||
And enterprises | of great pith and moment ||
With this regard | their currents turn awry, ||
And lose | the name || of ACTION."
BEFORE THE AUDIENCE
As you present yourself to your audience, bow slightly and graciously from the waist. Be courteous, but not servile. Avoid haste and familiarity. Be punctilious in dress and deportment, and be prompt in keeping your appointments.
Be sure you have everything ready in advance. If you have to use any properties, such as a table, chair, eye-glass, books, reading-stand, coat, hat, gloves, letters, etc., see that everything is provided and in its place before the time set for your appearance.
Success often depends upon the judicious choice of selections for the occasion. What will be acceptable to one audience may not please another. The sentiment and the length of selections depend upon the time and place where they are to be given. When an audience expects to be entertained with humorous recitations, to announce in a sepulchral voice that you will give them a poem of your own composition, entitled "The Three Corpses," of melancholy character, is likely to send a chill of disappointment through them.
Never keep your audience waiting. If an encore is demanded, return and bow, or if the demand is insistent, give another number, preferably a short one. Do not be too eager to give encores; if the applause is not insistent, a bow will suffice.