Show WHITNEYS LECTURE The Bishop Discusses Oratory Poesy and Prophesy SUBJECTS CLOSELY AKIN SHOULD GO HAXD I HAXD GUIDING GUID-ING HU3IAXITV TO PERFECTION Oratory i the Offspring of Poetry Bearing the Same Relation to Each Other as Speech to Thought Poets Are Born Orator Arc Made Oratory the Mother of Education Ian I Bishop Orson F Whitney delivered an exhaustive lecture on the subject Oratory Poetry and Prophecy to an immense audience at the tabernacle last night The speaker prefaced his remarks by saying that In selecting for a singie lecture the three subjects orator poesy and prophecy he was not unmindful un-mindful of the fact that each one in itself was sufficient for extensive elaboration elab-oration but he had connected them because oraton I cause they were akin to each other That the gift of oratory is poetic and the gift of poesy is prophetic the I speaker held needed no elaboration Oratory is the offspring of poetrythe same relation as speech to thought a the child to its parents as time to eternity We are born pets we make ourselves orators says Cicero the fore the gift of poetry was the greater The applause of listening senates is so much more pleasing that oratory seems greater than poesy Poesy however how-ever is the creator of orators This is also shown in part by the meaning of the two words Poesy means to make while oratory is taken from the Latin meaning to speak He would treat the powers and functions of the two however how-ever regardless of the meaning The orator delivers a speech after the poet ha made it a an actor plays a role that the playwright has created This is true of the orator The same man may have both gifts but it is the poets functions that the first brought in play before he can exert the oratorical torical gift Elocution is another name for oratory ora-tory for it means power to express thoughts by speech and gestures Some wanted to distinguish between the two claiming that the orator must be creative while the elocutionist or the actor express only the lines of others But there was very seldom a demand for original ideas in the orator the speaker maintained but rather the external finish or perfect power o delivery de-livery The truly great orator will be a man of intense earpestness one who despises vanity and listens not to the plaudits of his audience and would only be achieved by him who comes nearest in imitating the son of God the deliverer of the pure and simple Sermon on the Mount The oratory or art of speaking was largely if not entirely a matter of education All the other powers of the poet and orator are the creative or I poetical functions which cannot be obtained bv education but the oratorical I oratori-cal functions could be brought up to perfection by careful training I All poetry is not always expressed inverse in-verse The speaker had read essays and newspaper articles that were virtually poetry Not on account of the rhyme or the number of words to the line but because of the truth and the sublimity o thought expressed I is a strange but surprisingly true paradox he said that many who dislike poetry are poetical in their nature Notably is this the case with public speakers possessed of the power to sway a audience Where there is no poetry there can be no orator hence to be a successful orator one must be of a poetical nature na-ture Still i was very seldom that great orators ora-tors are poetical Ingersoll was the great orator of modern times but he was poetically shallow Where there are hills there must be hollows Speech is too often not like the Frenchman expressed it to conceal thought but rather an exposure of the total lack of thought I one hates poetry he should not be trusted Poetry is the music of thought mens souls are unison uni-son the mind and the heart of the great universe Education can not make a poet The poetic faculty must first be there Without i all the training in the world will not suffice sufce There are aptitudes of nature All men are not made great but rather become so by circumstances Natural aptitude the speaker said amounts to much as a prelude to education I is not easy to discoverwhere natural aptitude ap-titude lies Many speakers have been hissed down when making their first attempt and nothing could have atempt seemed seem-ed more ridiculous than to prophecy they should ever excel in oratory But there was in them the gift of proesy and when this grand power developed they have risen and made themselves famed as public orators Grand indeed Intoxicating to be sure the sound of applause but there are grander things There is nothing so grand so glorious so sublime as a great mind struggling with adversity the hero Nevertheless the orator is apt to be considered greater than the warrior in our times But what poet could have raised such tremendous responses during the time when Napoleons Na-poleons star was in the ascendancy What name as that of Grant could have aroused such a feeling of reverence rever-ence in the hearts of the people of the north The pen is mightier than the sword but what could the pen of Jefferson Jef-ferson have accomplished without the sword of Washington No the most intoxicating glories are the glories of the warrior But is the warrior greater than the geater te poet Verily I say unto you nay Poetry does not always find expression in words Even Byron standing in view of the mighty Alps felt his inability to express the emotions of his heart The poet is a heroic figurebelonging to all ages therefore must live and labor for all ages The orator can not expect the speedy triumphs of the poet He cannot like the latter awaken awak-en some morning and find himself famous fa-mous Thus oratory is truly a profession profes-sion of time The poet seldom reaps the fruits of his work in this life See how Wordsworth had to wait Even Shakespeares transcendent genius was not recognized until long after his death The speaker closed his brilliant address ad-dress by saying that poesy oratory and prophecy was a trinity of teachers that should go hand in hand guiding humanity inanity to perfection |