Course XXXIII - Teaching 2: Anatomy of the Speech. Oratorical Rules and Precepts

As we said in the first Teaching of this course, an orator could get little fruit from his natural qualities when he has not cultivated them and, in this sense, in relation to the need of cultivating those qualities that one receives, we can adhere to the Latin motto: Poeta nascitur, orator fit. Today we cannot follow Quintilian’s wishes in his admirable book about education of an orator since the very beginning, when he says that this education must start from the lap of his nanny, but obviously an orator must cultivate and develop his own natural faculties if his intentions are to convince, persuade and move through his own word. This education should be as much scientific as oratorical. Scientific education implies to acquire certain knowledge that is the foundation of any substantial eloquence. Ultimately this science should comprise: over and above, matters related to its own competence (in sacred oratory, dogmatic theology and moral, Holy Letters, history of the Church; in politics, government doctrine, history of the country; in judicial subjects, knowledge of laws and of their principles); second, knowledge more linked with the practice of oratory (logic, and historic and literary studies in general); and third, certain instruction as wide as possible, not only for an immediate application of the acquired knowledge, but also for the sake of the “yeast” that this knowledge leaves.
But at this point one should remember, first, that while there have been orators who, apart from this quality, have been outstanding scholars (would that were many of them in every subject), scientific studies of an orator can be reduced to narrower limits that those of a scholar; second, that an orator should offer the very best of science, but never forgetting, when his exclusive object is not to teach, the difference between an oratorical composition and a didactic lesson; and third, that knowledge is dead letter for him who should raise the spirits if that letter is not fertilized by a practical study of men, of himself and of his subject wherever he is.
Oratorical education comprises: a) simultaneous cultivation of different faculties, in order to strengthen the weakest faculties so that the strongest do not prevail and break the harmony that should exist among all of them; b) study of patterns not only classical but rather contemporary and as much as possible according to his especial kind of oratory and character, in which he should not be in search of isolated forms to imitate, but of a general coordination for improvising later, but by trying to restrain any regular verbosity and mistake; and c) study of the theory and reading of good critical judgments about oratorical works.
Inherent faculties of the speech are as follows:
Accurateness: this basic condition in oratory may result from avoiding outlandish, snobby or all-fashioned terms in detriment of the whole clarity of the speech.
Clarity: so, essentially, one should not to talk about a matter that is half-understood, under pretext of being inspired at the right moment, which is like obliging God to follow our own will. Sentences should not be too much long or too much short; the former are tiresome; through the latter, listeners have to go away empty-handed. Variety is always a solution of good sense. Also one should not display too much cleverness –this leads to a pompous and arrogant speech. La Bruyère said about those who use plenty subtleties and concepts: “They capital defects are two: one, they lack talent, and two, they strive for convincing you that they have talent”. If the orator does not know the matter, clarity will be spoilt. Remember, concision and clarity go hand in hand: “good if and when brief, is twice good”. Your words are if and when you avoid useless repetitions. Spontaneity becomes a great contribution to this pristine quality of the speech; remember, one suffers when is convinced of the past or present suffering of others, and an orator who strives for speaking properly, makes feel the audience quite uneasy, because the speech should be serene. So, the orator should consider closely his matter, since fluency will derive from it.
Sonority and cadence: a sort of musicality, also called harmony, or more properly melody, is the result of a close selection of words, of their close use in every part of the speech, and of the form and duration of sentences. Forms of the speech –inquisitive, affirmative or expositive– are elements in this part of oratory, which should not be overlooked, and deserve much moderation.
Now, as a resume, after certain inner properties of the speech, an orator should also know and recognize certain conventional properties. The common name of them is tropes.
Metaphor: it is the translation of a word from its own meaning into another quite different: “morning of life; winter of age”. Any metaphor possesses certain hidden similarity.
An allegory is just a continuous metaphor, entirely related to the same object that has been taken as an emblem.
Metonymy: it includes any kind of translation and uses the precedent one; therefore cause for effect, continent for the contained thing, author for his works, or the opposite: “an army of one hundred spears; respect for our gray hair”.
Synecdoche: use of a part for the whole, and vice versa; for instance, “sails” for “ships” , “kind” for “species”; an angel is the inborn condition of humanity (“humanity” for “man”); “matter” for the “thing” itself: “pealing” of the “bronze” [bell metal]”; “abstract” for “concrete”, and vice versa. Irony: a little hint of the contrary of one’s words. This meaning is not in the word, but in its respective tone.
Hyperbole: exaggerating or minimizing something beyond its natural terms; so, a light stab is a “pin prick”, and a wide lake “like an Ocean”.
Antonomasia: taking for general what is particular, or vice versa; for instance, by emphasizing the prestige of certain person through the name of another qualified individual: “He is a Cicero”, about he who is quite eloquent; “He is a Nero”, in relation to a very cruel person.
Of course, an orator uses tropes spontaneously, and just this grants beauty to his harmonious speech. It might be preposterous to stop pondering which trope to use. But certainly, through his own solitary meditation, study and practice, he should use one and all figures of this type and so, later, his fluent speech will embellish a dry concept, a doctrinal and strong harangue, and the outer expression of a secret and intimate experience.