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Open Access Thesis

Keywords

Gesture;

Abstract

The purpose of this thesis was to make an historical study examining a selected list of textbooks dealing with the subject of gesture in elocution, expression, or oral interpretation between the years 1870 and 1930 in the United States. A preliminary chapter reviewed the backgrounds of elocution in the United States before 1870. The succeeding chapters reviewed the textbooks chosen for study for each twenty-year period to gain an insight into each author's philosophy of teaching gesture in delivery. Each textbook contained definitions of the various terms involved, which definitions also served to disclose the author's attitude toward the teaching of gesture in delivery. The chapter covering the period from 1870 to 1890 presented the theories of Francois Delsarte as presented by three of his pupils, Abbe Delaumosne, Angelique Arnaud, and James Steele MacKaye, and by two teachers of the Delsarte system, Genevieve Stebbins and Anna Morgan. The chapter covering the period from 1890 to 1910 presented the theories of Moses True Brown, Robert I. Fulton and Thomas C. Trueblood (collaborators), Emily M. Bishop, J. W. Shoemaker, and S. S. Curry. The chapter devoted to the period from 1910 to 1930 presented the theories of S. H. Clark, Lee Emerson Bassett, and Charles Henry Woolbert. The only unifying effort within each period was that of progressing through time with a major emphasis in the study of gesture during each twenty-year period. The first period reflected the mysticism of Delsarte's trinitarian system for studying all phenomena of life. The Delsarte system produced "elocutionists," who gave readings for the entertainment of audiences with little effort made to communicate the thought of the selection or material read. The second period, 1890 to 1910, reflected the search for principles other than those of Delsarte and resulted in an eclecticism which attempted to synthesize many theories relating directly or indirectly to gesture. The indirect influences were borrowed from academic disciplines other than speech and included psychology, physiology, philosophy, and aesthetics. Dr. Curry used the word expression rather than the word elocution to disassociate himself from the elocutionists and their methods. During the third period, 1910 to 1930, emphasis changed from the study of the use of gestures to the study of the textual material to be read and interpreted to an audience. By this change, gesture took its place with other speech techniques as a means to an end, the end being the communication of thought and feeling in the art of oral interpretation. Thus the transition from elocution, to expression, to interpretation was complete. The study indicated a shift away from gesture as a separate study to the study of gesture as part of delivery in the total speecn process. By the end of the period the reader or interpreter was being taught to search for the unity of the text and its delivery. The major theories and emphases found from this study which related to gesture were: (1) the Delsarte system of the trinity, (2) eclecticism, (3) the natural method, (4) the emphasis on the forms of literature for interpretation, (5) the conversational method, (6) the concept of abandon, (7) the recognition of the importance of the audience, and (8) the emphasis on the unity of the speech process.

Year of Submission

1969

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Department

Department of Speech

First Advisor

Elaine McDavitt

Second Advisor

H. Wendell Alford

Third Advisor

Edward Thorne

Comments

If you are the rightful copyright holder of this thesis and wish to have it removed from the Open Access Collection, please submit a request to scholarworks@uni.edu and include clear identification of the work, preferably with URL.

Date Original

1969

Object Description

1 PDF file (105 leaves)

Language

en

File Format

application/pdf

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