Crowned Masterpieces of Eloquence, Representing the Advance of Civilization, as Collected in the World's Best Orations, From the Earliest Period to the Present Time, Vol. 5 (Classic Reprint)

Download or read book Crowned Masterpieces of Eloquence, Representing the Advance of Civilization, as Collected in the World's Best Orations, From the Earliest Period to the Present Time, Vol. 5 (Classic Reprint) written by David J. Brewer and published by . This book was released on 2015-07-11 with total page 452 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Excerpt from Crowned Masterpieces of Eloquence, Representing the Advance of Civilization, as Collected in the World's Best Orations, From the Earliest Period to the Present Time, Vol. 5 It is the fashion to say that oratory is dead, but that is like saying that art and music and sculpture exist no more. There may be less distinguished and striking public speech than there once was, but to-day the orator emerges from the millions he sways, just as Demosthenes or Cicero, or Savonarola or Bolingbroke, or Fox and Pitt and Burke, or Lincoln and Cavour did in their time. Even in the British Empire alone Rosebery. Laurier and Deakin maintain the great traditions. It is true that the rush and bustle of modern life, the multiplicity of public meetings, with the consequent inroads of colloquialism, have made public speaking less stately, less formal, less literary, less rhetorical, and on a less elevated plane than it was wont to be; but there is still much notable oratory, and it will continue so long as the human mind is capable of passion and crises come in the affairs of men and of nations. Oratory will take different forms with the changing periods of human development, but it will never die while the human mind seeks to express itself with intensity, with force and with purpose. If oratory is an art, then it has its rules, its conventions, its architectural qualities, like every other art; and its final test is beauty, as with every other art; while its first vital test is passion - intellectual passion. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.