Modern Literature For Oral Interpretation

MODERN LITERATURE for ORAL INTERPRETATION By Gertrude E. Johnson Associate Professor in the Department of Speech in the University of Wisconsin Author of Dialects for Oral Interpretation 9 and Choosing a Play REVISED EDITION D. APPLETON-CENTURY COMPANY INCORPORATED NEW YORK LONDON COPYRIGHT, 1920, 1930 BY THE CENTURY CO, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, INCLUDING THE RIGHT TO REPRODUCE THIS BOOK, OR PORTIONS THEREOF, IN ANY FORM, 496 DEDICATED TO TIIK MEMORY OF DR. AND MRS. S. S. CURRY, TO WHOM I OWE MY FINEST INSPIRATION, AND TO THOSE FRIENDS AND STUDENTS WHOSE SYMPATHY, INTEREST, AND . APPRECIATION HAVE MADE ---. . MY WORK POSSIBLE PREFACE The decade which has elapsed since this book first made its appearance has frequently been noted as wit nessing great changes and advance in the field of speech education. Certainly no similar period has brought forth so many books on the subject, new and revised, touching upon every phase of speech activity. The period too has seen the greatest advance in aca demic recognition ever known in the history of the teaching of speech in its various forms. Because of this interest and the wide and constant use this book has enjoyed during this decade, I have been led to revise and renew it in the hope that it may continue to be of use and possibly of inspiration. I have retained much of the material that appeared in the earlier edition and have made many additions, notable both in authorship and quality. New selec tions covering monologues, poetry modern and classic, stories, and one-act plays, form a large part of the added material for interpretation. Certain training problems were in mind in the choice, such as study of word values, tempo, practice in Shakespearian lines. The Mountain Whippoorwill, Go Down Death, Common Clay and In a Garden are a few of the selections presenting interesting problems in technique. vii Vlll PREFACE I am particularly fortunate in being able to present several poems, stories, and plays which have never before appeared in any collection or volume of the given authors works. And it is with a special feeling of pride that I am permitted to include the work of several former students whose interest in writing I like to think I helped, in some small measure, to stim ulate. I have added also to the general discussion of prob lems confronting us in the field of interpretative reading, still - keeping in mind the teaching of inter pretation in classes of fifteen or more, in general college classes, or in high school situations. I wish still to stress the thought I had in the earlier collection that this book, discussion and selections, is for study purposes first, and presentation second. In the selec tions there is here included a wide range of choice for both purposes, but it is the students development through a study and practice of interpretative speech that I have foremost in mind. I desire again to emphasize the need for teachers to appreciate, and to help others to appreciate, the pos sibilities in presentation from, and with, the printed page before the interpreter. I have retained many selections of considerable length in the hope that they may receive this treatment. It will be noted also that I have shortened and made new arrangements of sev eral of the selections previously included. Train stu dents to give adequate expression to selections with the printed page before them and many of the artificialities with which interpretation is saddled may be PREFACE ix stopped at the source. I am, of course, not referring to selections which from their very nature may de mand a fully acted presentation. These are, after all, comparatively few. Such rendition, naturally, de mands complete memory, like a part in a play. In the bibliographical section I have added a great deal of new material which will be found useful...