The province of expression; a search for principles underlying adequate methods of developing dramatic and oratoric delivery

Front matter

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I. Nature Of Expression

" Inalienable, the arch-prerogative Which turns thought, act — conceives, expresses, too."

— Browning.

Before we can understand a part of a plant, the entire organism must be brought before the mind. Had we never seen anything belonging to an elm except a fragment of a limb, it would hardly be possible for us to conceive the grace and beauty, or even form an outline, of that beautiful tree ; for before we can understand a part of an object, we must have a conception of the whole. The mind can proceed from the whole organic structure to its parts in a perfectly natural order of conception, but it requires the most penetrating intelligence, with many years of thorough training, to conceive a fish belonging to an extinct species, from one of its bones.

Hence, as a wise traveler, before he visits a foreign land, feels it necessary to consult those who have gone before him, and to seek every means of becoming acquainted with the places he expects to visit, that he may carefully lay out his course, in order not to overlook places and objects of the greatest interest; so it is necessary in undertaking any study to understand as thoroughly as possible its essential nature, and its general bearings, so as to secure an adequate conception of the extent and limits of the field of investigation.

To define accurately any science or to indicate the exact ground to be covered by any form of investigation, is a most fundamental requisite to progress. Till this is done all search will be aimless, all results chaotic.

Cicero's statement that everything must proceed from a definition has been taken in the fullest and most literal sense regarding all scientific investigations ; but, unfortunately, the principle has not always been obeyed in investigations regarding any department of art. The best art writers are so afraid of having an artificial system, so anxious to consider art in direct harmony with nature, so desirous to be like art herself, suggestive, that they proceed from almost any point of view. Hence, many works upon art are simply called " talks" or " conversations."

But if we are to have, clear ideas and adequate conceptions, a definition is just as necessary in our endeavors to investigate any field of art as any department of science. This is especially true when the purpose of the investigation is to find the fundamental elements of a specific phase of art, the cause, means and instruments employed, in order to establish such methods of instruction as will be most helpful to its advancement. For art always presupposes science, and in such investigations, study must not only be devoted to the art itself, but to the scientific aspects of the department of nature upon which the art is founded.

Besides, in art, it is not a mere definition that is needed, not a mere statement of limitations, but more than this, it is a presentation of the ideal, a statement of the province, the subject matter, the means of manifestation, the possibilities and the end the art especially aims to accomplish. Every man feels the importance of an ideal in life, and we all respond in a measure to Browning when he says that the ideal of the worst man in the world is higher than the actual attainment of the best man in the world. No man in life ever grows greater or advances farther than his ideal. Certainly the same principle holds true in art, which is the image of all human life and activity. An artistic ideal may gradually extend and improve, but it is always ahead of actual attainment. No matter what a man's work may be, if his ideal conception of it is low, soon or late everything relating to it will be degraded. This is especially true in those forms of art where there is a continual tendency to lower the ideal. Here especially "a man's reach must exceed his grasp." Even vast knowledge and perfect technical skill cannot compensate for the lack of a high ideal.

Especially, however, in subjects where numerous misconceptions are scattered abroad is a statement of the fundamental elements of the art important ; because such a definition is the best means of correcting false ideas and bringing thoughtful minds back to a more thorough and definite study of the facts. Thus we find special need for such a method when we come to the study of the nature and relationship of all the living languages of man, with reference to thei^harmonious development and artistic employment. Here, more than anywhere else, do we find a vast number of loose expressions, incorrect ideas and inadequate opinions.

Writers of every age have recognized the importance of all subjects relating to delivery whether oratoric or dramatic, but, in relation to no subject of education are there such diverse views regarding proper methods of development. Articles and books are to. be found upon the subject without end, but most of these hardly get beyond the discussion of the general importance of delivery ; and in none of them do we find the real problem discussed, or any adequate outline of principles underlying proper methods for the education of the orator. The

22 TJic Problem.

establishment and endowment of a school of oratory has •been the subject of discussion since the time of Protagoras, but is the problem yet solved, or have adequate methods been unfolded ? We have had during the last few years in England and America many articles upon the importance of establishing a school of acting, but where can we find any discussion of the methods that, should be adopted, or any indication of the real work that needs to be done in such a school ? All that writers seem to think necessary is that there should be a school established and endowed, forgetting that a school with wrong methods would not only do no good, but would do an infinite amount of harm.

It is, therefore, with much hesitation that the work is undertaken of making a few suggestions regarding the solution of such a problem; for in coming to a subject as broad and general as this, great care and thorough study are required. A definition must not be a mere opinion, but must be the result of observation and directly founded upon facts. An adequate method for the accomplishment of such an important work as the development of human delivery must not be a result of mere theory, but of careful observation and long-continued experience. In all scientific investigation, even the necessary hypothesis must be founded upon facts. A working hypothesis in science must be the best apparent explanation of all facts regarding the subject as far as known, and must be proved or disproved by a careful comparison with additional facts.

All art tends to be conventional and traditional, so that the investigation of any subject connected with it has special difficulties. Reforms of methods in art require generations for their accomplishment ; for almost all men confound what is customary and conventional with what is natural, and too often substitute opinion for observation. If in our study of the facts of nature we may seem at first to arrive at conclusions opposed to many traditions, let it be remembered that all scientific investigation, before there can be any progress, must break away from mere traditional opinion and be directly concerned with nature herself. Opinions, however old, are not necessarily facts. If what is old is true, then it will not be harmed, but strengthened and confirmed by a fresh and rigid comparison with the phenomena of nature. Besides, opinions which are thoroughly sound, and originally discovered from careful observation of nature, become narrow, superficial and one-sided when there is not a constant comparison with nature. In art, more possibly than anywhere else, do we find that "the letter killeth but the spirit giveth life." Hence we can see a great necessity for renewed study of the nature of human expression.

So universal are the misconceptions and so various are the opinions regarding the whole work of dramatic and oratoric delivery, that we must begin with the subject at the foundation, and must come to it as children, assuming absolute ignorance, lest we lose sight of some of the most important elements of the subject, and so take for granted that which will lead us fundamentally astray at the very beginning of our work.

For of all phases of education, this is the most difficult ; nowhere is there so great danger of superficiality, conventionality and one-sidedness of every kind. There are many reasons for this. Expression is subjective as well as objective, and requires no mere study of appearance or even of the philosophy and anatomy of the body, but a\ /

) A clos e scrutiny of ^gv erything most^jnjtimately related to the soul and the soul's act ivities. We do not come to the ^tuo T y*of a leaf or plant or stone, but something con nected with fhe fundamental elements of our being. And this is not all. We come to study not only thought, but those mental actions that are involuntary and unconscious. We come to the investigation of the most complex and difficult of problems — the subjective in the objective. So that very soon every student of delivery feels like joining in the prayer of Burns —

" O wad some power the gif tie gie us, To see oursels as ithers see us !

It wad frae monie a blunder free us, And foolish notion."

What is meant by expression ? If we study a man standing face to face with his fellow-man, wrought up to the highest pitch of excitement, endeavoring to reveal his thoughts and feelings, wq find there are many means which he simultaneously employs in making himself understood. So that the term expression is here employed to cover all the living languages of man, natural or artificial, which he uses in speaking face to face with his fellow-man. Sometimes it is used as merely covering the natural languages of motions, actions and tones. Here it is used in a slightly wider sense than this, as including the living language of speech as well as of motions and voice.

The most fundamental element of expression is the idea of revelation of man's psychic nature through his physical organism. What our fellow-being thinks, feels or is, is shown us by what we see of the action of his body or what is heard from his voice. We see that expression is not of the body but through the body ; we feel that there is something mystic and hidden, unseen and unheard by our fellow-men and often only vaguely felt by ourselves ; but it is made manifest by the motions and actions of the body, and the tones and modulations of the voice. We feel conscious of something which is called emotion, and find this emotion tends to cause something outward which is motion. We are conscious of an inward condition, of indifference for example, or antagonism, and immediately the actions and positions of the body become expressive of the unseen condition, and, through this expression, the psychic state is seen and felt by our fellow-man. Inward emotion causes an outward motion ; inward condition, an outward position. Thus expression is, "the motion of emotion," the presentation of a vast complexity of physical actions which are directly caused by psychic activities. The objective phenomena are manifestive of subjective experience.

This conception of expression does not need to be established by argument ; it only needs careful observation. The facts can be seen on every side in the most familiar actions of men and animals. Expression is one of the most universal and fundamental characteristics of man ; it belongs directly or indirectly to every act, conscious or unconscious, from the first smile in the cradle to the fading away of the wrinkles around the eye after death ; and, indeed, if we look deeper, till the bones themselves return to dust.

As we study further, we can see that expression is not peculiar to man. Throughout the universe we find that everything which is revealed to sense is simply an external manifestation of something which is mystic, an outward sign of an inward substance, an outward action of an inward activity. Force is not revealed per se to sense, it is only the phenomena of force which are seen, felt or heard. But, though force is not itself revealed to sense, there is nothing manifest without force. Matter itself is but force in a state manifest to. sense; it may be called the expression of force. This conception of the universe is the result of experience common to us all ; all have felt "a presence that disturbs" us

"with the joy Of elevated thoughts, a sense sublime Of something far more deeply interfused, Whose dwelling is the light of setting suns, And the round ocean and the living air And the blue sky, and in the mind of man : A motion and a spirit that impels All thinking things, all objects of all thought, And rolls through all things."

Evidences of a half- conscious recognition of this conception of expression are to be found in the familiar words of every-day speech. The word emotion is formed from its most salient characteristic, a tendency to produce motion, or, as some think, to become a motive to will. Again we say that man "exists," but we do not say "man is," on the other hand we say "God is," but in the strict use of language we do not say "God exists." Existence, derived from the Latin word sis to, a reduplication of sto, means that which stands out, that which possesses borrowed essence; so that we may say existence is the expression of essence. The instincts of the race, therefore, bear testimony to the relation of force to matter, of the mystic to the manifest; and much of the ablest philosophy and the highest poetry have ever heard the voice of the Earth Spirit as she sings in Faust —

" Thus ever at the loom of time I ply, And weave for God the garment thou seest him by."

It can be seen at once that expression is most intimately related to language. The term language, originally applied only to speech, is now so generalized as to be applied to every means of communication between one man and another. Even all forms of art are recognized as simply forms of language. Ruskin in his "Modern

Painters" says : "Painting, or art generally as such, with all its technicalities, difficulties and particular ends, is nothing but a noble and expressive language, invaluable as the vehicle of thought, but by itself nothing. Take for instance, the ' Old Shepherd's Chief-mourner.' Here the exquisite execution of the glossy and crisp hair of the dog, the bright, sharp touching of the green bough beside it, the clear painting of the wood of the coffin and the folds of the blanket, are language — language clear and expressive in the highest degree. But the close pressure of the dog's breast against the wood, the convulsive clinging of the paws, which has dragged the blanket off the trestle, the total powerlessness of the head laid, close and motionless, upon its folds, the fixed and tearful fall of the eye in its utter hopelessness, the rigidity of repose which marks that there has been no motion nor change in the trance of agony since the last blow was struck on the coffin lid, the quietness and gloom of the chamber, the spectacles marking the place where the Bible was last, closed, indicating how lonely has been the life, how unwatched the departure of him who is now laid solitary in his sleep; these are all thoughts — thoughts by which the picture is separated at once from hundreds of equal merit, as far as mere painting goes, by which it ranks as a work of high art, and stamps its author, not as the neat imitator of the texture of a skin or the fold of a drapery, but as the Man of Mind." ..

Art itself is but the revelation of man's conceptions, "the intervention of personality." Landseer simply used the spectacles, the open Bible, the shepherd's crook, the coffin and the dog as means of revealing to us certain conceptions of his mind and feelings of his heart. These simple objects are presented to put us in communication with his thinking and feeling soul.

We must not think, however, that language and expression are the same ; above all we must not think that expression is simply a form of language ; it is really the aim of all language, the aim of all art, the aim of all modes of communicating the thoughts and feelings of man ; in short, language is only a means of expression.

Expression, however, belongs specifically and fundamentally to the living man, directly manifesting his feelings and thoughts through his organism. Man's natural languages are the first he employs, and expression belongs primarily to these. So that "the expression of man and animals " is broader and more specific than the language of man and animals. Language implies a more conscious and deliberate use of the means of communication, while expression covers all forms of revelation, conscious or unconscious, voluntary as well as involuntary, belonging to man or animals.

Every form of art is either expression itself or a means of permanently recording and preserving expression. In many forms of art expression is dependent upon the execution in some permanent medium of the fundamental elements of the direct revelation of man's powers. An expressive picture of a man, for instance, is that in which his most significant actions and features are represented and accentuated.

So that there is no doubt that the fundamental application of the word expression applies to the revelation of man by motion and tone. And just as language does not remain confined to speech, so expression is used in a broader sense and is not confined merely to the natural languages. Therefore in the study of methods to develop and to co-ordinate in the living man all means of communicating his thoughts and feelings, his states, conditions and purposes, expression is the most adequate term that can be found. Better than any other word, it represents all the means which consciously or unconsciously show simultaneously what man thinks, feels and is, to his fellow-man.

When we come further to study the actions and modifications of man's body, we find that they are not necessarily expressive. We find that expression is not of the body, but through the body. " It is the soul that speaks." Actions of the body may be merely external, accidental, mechanical or utilitarian. Nothing is ever expressive which is not the transparent means of manifesting the soul ; that is not directly caused by some thought, emotion or condition of the speaker's psychic faculties and powers.

Hence the most expressive man does not necessarily make many motions or a great display of voice. In fact, whenever motions of the body or tones of the voice call attention to themselves, they distract the attention of .the auditor from the thought, and in so far destroy expression. The object of training the voice and the body must always be to make them a better channel for the manifestation of thought and feeling. The highest perfection in the action of every agent of expression is always in proportion to the transparency.

However perfect the skill displayed by the circus rider, the dancer or the performer of any difficult physical feat, such an exhibition is not expression. Splendid tones in a singer may display wonderful skill in technique, but. sudden leaps and skips of the voice are not necessarily expressive ; for one of the most fundamental of all distinctions is that expression is not exhibition. But this distinction is unfortunately often forgotten. Performers often esteem it the height of their art to be able to make very beautiful gestures or attractive tones ; in fact, elocution especially has been regarded as mere skill in exhibition. Notice the class of selections which are the chief stock and store of our public readers. The piece which can exhibit technique of voice has been most popular. Medleys mixing up extracts from great authors, so as to pervert absolutely their meaning, selections with low characters so that the face or body can be twisted into abnormal shapes, and the voice constricted into some guttural, husky or nasal quality, or extracts full of oddities and abnormal emotions are the most popular with elocutionists. Rarely do we have selections from the best authors read from our platforms. In fact, our highest authorities in elocution justify abnormal qualities of the voice as essential elements of the art.

One of the best illustrations of this abnormal tendency is the way ordinary elocutionists read Dickens. Too often, his characters are made caricatures of nature, absolutely unlike any thing in existence.

Illustrations of confounding expression with exhibition are infinite. Notice the way some of our teachers and readers hold their hands — placing their fingers in an artificial position, such as would rarely if ever be found in nature. The result may be a very pretty hand, as is of course the object of the performer, but this confounds expression entirely with appearance. Indeed, to "appear" before an audience is often taken in the literal sense of making an appearance, overlooking the real province of expression as the art of revealing the ideals and conceptions, the emotions, experience and character of man. This position of the hands is discussed by Quintillian, and has been practised from his day to this, yet such placing of an agent externally limits its freedom, and as all expression is modulation of the body by emotion, it can be readily seen that hindrance to such modulation must fundamentally hinder expression. If an agent is externally fixed, it must be the same for all conditions and occasions ; and sameness is death to all power or truth or beauty in expression of any kind.

Thus we can see that not only is expression not exhibition but that exhibition is the greatest enemy of expression. Whenever a man makes a display of the means of expression for their own sake so that the attention of the mind is called to the execution, there can be little or no communication of thought or feeling. The only emotion awakened is wonder at the skill of the performer. When a speaker, for example, makes a great display of tears, the effect of grief is lost. Men may look at such a display and feel some weak emotion such as pity, but no sympathy can be awakened by such an exhibition. Emotion must ever transcend its sign. Whenever the signs and means of expression are greater than the thought, they cause all attention of the auditor's mind to be concentrated upon the physical action itself ; thus most radically perverting and destroying the true nature of expression.

And yet so long as the world is as it is, the public will desire exhibition for entertainment ; a show is something the world can see at a glance without making any intellectual effort to comprehend its meaning. Many are governed by what pleases their senses; what fascinates most the eye is taken for highest art. Unfortunately such spectacular exhibitions are considered by many as synonymous with dramatic expression, whereas there is not the least dramatic element in them ; for the most essential element of the dramatic is the revelation of human character.

All the arts are one, and the same principles or misconceptions will ever be found at work in each. Unfortunately we have many examples of exhibition in other departments of art. The painting of the present day shows the same evil tendency. An artist endeavors to paint striking pictures so as to be awarded a place in an exhibition. So that it has been said a young painter after working hard to get into the Paris Salon, has to work for several years to overcome the evil effects of his course. In an exhibition some time ago a very large painting occupied a post of honor in one corner of the gallery. The great black prow of an ocean steamer covered one-fourth of the canvas, making a striking picture which every one who came into the room would notice. But it gave no conception of the grandeur of the ocean or of man's power over it. A leading artist said, "A little curling smoke in the distance would give us a better conception of a steamer than that." As the earnest student goes into our exhibitions, he feels that this is one of the curses of our art. So that our best painters often do not send their best work to the exhibitions, and when asked about it by visitors to their studios they make some such answer as this, " If you were a musician you would not like to play a symphony in one corner of a room while a brass band is playing in another corner."

The preponderance of exhibition over expression has been a fundamental characteristic of bad art of every kind in every age. In fact it has been in all time the death of art. u The highest art conceals art." The best art is always expressive rather than decorative. The best art does not exist for the display of technique or the means employed, but for the revelation of that which is hidden. In all great art the impression steals upon us, we scarcely know how. Consciousness of the mere means destroys the perfection of the communication. The greater the art the more transparent the mechanical means of execution. Every great art work seems to bring soul face to face with soul, and causes both to lose sight of the means by which their thoughts cross from one to the other.

All art is an endeavor to tell the truth, and the highest art is the manifestation of those deepest and subtlest truths which are most liable to be lost sight of by the race. Hence the power of expression is dependent on the amount and character of the inner psychic conditions revealed, and upon the transparency of the manifestation. In short the true artist in any form of delivery as in any art, never presents his technique, his voice or body, his gesture or his attitude as an end to the audience, but uses them only as a means of manifesting his thoughts, emotions and convictions — his real manhood. Vocal or gesture training which tries to introduce beautiful tones or graceful movements for their own sake as a means of decoration is absolutely vicious. Mere admiration for voice and skill may result, but no deep, genuine passion is ever awakened. We are very little impressed with that which seems to cause great labor; the most ignorant mind will feel that something is wrong, though unable to give any adequate reason.

There are two ordinary forms of imperfect expression, which seem entirely opposite and yet have one element in common : they both attract attention to the mechanism of the speaker. One of these faults is due to an absolute lack of control over the voice and body, or the misuse of the mechanism in speech, a physical friction, so to speak, which will call the attention of the speaker himself to his mechanical action, and the same effect greater in degree will be produced upon his audience. The opposite fault is affectation. This results from a misconception of art or of delivery, from pride in a graceful body and beautiful voice, or from some kind of aggregation. While this fault seems to be so antithetic to the other, yet it has the same effect ; for the speaker's consciousness is centred upon the mechanism, and the mind of the audience always follows that of the speaker.

In one case there is too little voluntary control, and in the other there is nothing but voluntary control. In both cases the action is apt to be conscious. Too much consciousness of manner, of language or of any means adopted in expression is wrong from whatever cause it may arise. Awkwardness is simply too much self-consciousness due to lack of control, while affectation is due to too much consciousness in control, to an over-plus of volition. There can be no great expression without ability to use the means of expression, with little consciousness of the mechanism both on the speaker's part and on the part of the audience.

We must not, however, fall into the great error of supposing that truth is antagonistic to either beauty or grace, or that fidelity to truth must necessarily lead to awkwardness or ugliness ; for all true beauty is of the soul, and all true grace, of the spirit; so that artistic fidelity to truth will bring us to the very highest beauty. For though the statement that " beauty is the splendor of the true" may not have been written by Plato, yet it is an aphoristic expression of the soundest philosophy of aesthetics.

Not only is this true, but we find that when we come to study the aim of expression, whether that aim be to please or to win men to the truth, there is fundamentally implied the necessity of expressing charmingly. It is love of truth, love of our kind, that leads man to expression. Therefore fidelity to truth itself demands that it shall be put in the best possible way, that it shall be so rendered that no antagonism may be awakened, but on the contrary a disposition to receive it. In fact, it is the deeper, more delicate and beautiful, the more subtle and spiritual elements that are most apt to be lost sight of in ordinary expression ; so that fidelity to truth demands freedom from all sham and restoration to the simplicity, the plenitude, the beauty and charm of nature.