Johnson states that, in the nineteenth century, rhetoric was defined as “a general expertise in speaking and writing applicable to a wide range of public and professional uses and settings…Relying heavily on the academic discipline’s extended definition of the range of rhetoric, popular rhetorical educators designed a program of study tailored to everyday uses of rhetoric by the average individual…[Therefore,] more stress was placed on the practice uses of rhetoric in business, community, and private life” (140-1). This was emphasized in the popular press too. “By awarding critical attention to elocution, the popular press aided the academy in the enterprise of instilling in the public mind the notion that rhetorical skills, especially delivery, were essential to speech making and dramatic readings, no matter the occasion” (143). In addition, “[n]ineteenth-century popular elocutionists confidently proclaimed that the study and practice of principles could allow even the most unpromising initiates to capitalize on their natural expressive inclinations. Practice in elocution helps the speaker become self-conscious in the use of the voice and body and therefore more skilled” (145). “One of the most insistent messages of the popular elocution movement was the maxim that the person who speaks correctly wins affection and acceptance; the person who speaks poorly is isolated from social rewards. By equating correct speaking with access to the respect and affect of others, popular elocutionists define elocution as a necessary study for anyone who hoped to enjoy happiness and success in daily life” (148). “By stressing that the dramatic reading of a poem or essay at a backyard picnic was just as likely a means of practicing and acquiring forceful powers of expression as the giving of formal lectures and orations, the popular elocution movement made rhetorical training relevant to a whole group of people from whom formal training in oratory was irrelevant or impractical. The mission of the popular elocution movement to offer ‘the private learner’ the opportunity to develop more dignified and forceful speech drew support not only from the powerful pragmatism of its appeal but also from the commonly held cultural view that improvement in expression contributed in a general way to the improvement of character and the mind” (157).
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