Exercises to Improve
The Rhythm of Your Speech

In the reading of both prose and poetry, there is a rhythmic movement that is physiological in its basis. The succession of heavy and light sounds, or accented and unaccented syllables, is in keeping with the action and reaction found in the larynx itself, where an alternate tension and relaxation of the vocal chords takes place. This marking of time is as natural as the beating of the pulse and is essential to musical utterance. Professor Raymond, in "Poetry as a Representative Art," says: "With exceptions, the fewness of which confirms the rule, all of our English words of more than one syllable must necessarily be accented in one way; and all of our articles, prepositions, and conjunctions of one syllable are unaccented, unless the sense very plainly demands a different treatment. These two facts enable us to arrange any number of our words so that accents shall fall on syllables separated by like intervals. The tendency to compare things, and to put like with like, which is in constant operation where there are artistic possibilities, leads men to take satisfaction in this kind of an arrangement; and when they have made it, they have produced rhythm."

Here are some excerpts to help practice your rhythmic speech:

1. In slumbers of midnight the sailor boy lay,

His hammock swung loose to the sport of the wind: But watch-worn and weary his cares flew away,

And visions of happiness danced o'er his mind.

"The Sailor Boy's Dream." DIMOND.

2. For the moon never beams without bringing me dreams

Of the beautiful Annabel Lee, And the stars never rise but I feel the bright eyes Of the beautiful Annabel Lee.

And so all the night-tide I lie down by the side Of my darling, my darling, my life and my bride,

In her sepulchre there by the sea,

In her tomb by the sounding sea.

"Annabel Lee." POE.

3. A hurry of hoofs in a village street, A shape in the moonlight, a bulk in the dark, And beneath from the pebbles, in passing, a spark

Struck out by a steed flying fearless and fleet: That was all! And yet, through the gloom and the light, The fate of a nation was riding that night; And the spark struck out by that steed, in his flight,

Kindled the land into flame with its heat.

"Paul Revere's Ride." LONGFELLOW.

4. When the mists have rolled in splendor

From the beauty of the hills, And the sunshine, warm and tender,

Falls in kisses on the rills, We may read Love's shining letter

In the rainbow of the spray; We shall know each other better

When the mists have rolled away. We shall know as we are known,

Never more to walk alone, In the dawning of the morning,

When the mists have rolled away.

5. Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the wicked

Nor standeth in the way of sinners,

Nor sitteth in the seat of scoffers:

But his delight is in the law of Jehovah;

And on his law doth he meditate day and night.

And he shall be like a tree planted by the streams of water,

That bringeth forth its fruit in its season,

Whose leaf also doth not wither;

And whatsoever he doeth shall prosper

The wicked are not so,

But are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.

Therefore the wicked shall not stand in the judgment,

Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.

For Jehovah knoweth the way of the righteous;

But the way of the wicked shall perish.

"First Psalm." THE BIBLE.

6. When I do count the clock that tells the time,

And see the brave day sunk in hideous night; When I behold the violet past prime,

And sable curls all silvered o'er with white; When lofty trees I see barren of leaves,

Which erst from heat did canopy the herd, And summer's green all girdled up in sheaves,

Borne on the bier with white and bristly beard; Then of thy beauty do I question make,

That thou among the wastes of time must go, Since sweets and beauties do themselves forsake, And die as fast as they see others grow;

And nothing 'gainst Time's scythe can make defense Save breed, to brave him when he takes thee hence.

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?

Thou art more lovely and more temperate: Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,

And summer's lease hath all too short a date. Sometimes too hot the eye of heaven shines,

And often is his gold complexion dimm'd; And every fair from fair sometimes declines,

By chance, or nature's changing course untrimm'd; But thy eternal summer shall not fade,

Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest; Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,

When in eternal lines to time thou growest.

So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see, So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

As an unperfect actor on the stage,

Who with his fear is put besides his part, Or some fierce thing replete with too much rage,

Whose strength's abundance weakens his own heart; So I, for fear of trust, forget to say

The perfect ceremony of love's rite, And in mine own love's strength seem to decay,

O'ercharged with burthen of mine own love's might. 0, let my books be then the eloquence

And dumb presagers of my speaking breast, Who plead for love, and look for recompense,

More than that tongue that more hath more expressed.

0, learn to read what silent love hath writ:

To hear with eyes belongs to love's fine wit.

"Sonnets." SHAKESPEARE.