Delsarte System of Oratory by Various
page 58 of 576 (10%)
page 58 of 576 (10%)
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If we attribute something ignominious or abject to the word _medley_,
there is an ellipse in the phrase, because the ignominy is implied rather than expressed. Gesture is then necessary here to express the value of the implied adjective, _ignominious_. Suppress this ellipse, and the gesture must also be suppressed, for gesture is not the accompaniment of speech. It must express the idea better and in another way, else it will be only a pleonasm, an after conception of bad taste, a hindrance rather than an aid to intelligible expression. _Division of Gesture._ Every act, gesture and movement has its rule, its execution and its _raison d'être_. The imitative is also divided into three parts: the static, the dynamic and the semeiotic. The static is the base, the dynamic is the centre, and the semeiotic the summit. The static is the equiponderation of the powers or agents; it corresponds to life. The dynamic is the form of movements. The dynamic is melodic, harmonic and rhythmic. Gesture is melodic by its forms or its inflections. To understand gesture one must study melody. There is great affinity between the inflections of the voice and gesture. All the inflections of the voice are common to gesture. The inflections of gesture are oblique for the _life_, direct for the _soul_ and circular for the _mind_. These three terms, oblique, direct and circular, correspond to the eccentric, normal and concentric states. The movements of flection are direct, |
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