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in rebuttal. After the main speeches have been given at two meetings, and are pretty well in mind, they may be omitted at some of the subsequent meetings, that the whole time may be devoted to the rebuttal speaking. This is the crucial test of ability in debate and requires the largest share of the time for training. Successful rebuttal is never an accident. It comes from the thorough study of the question, in the course of which every objection is discovered and a way is found for meeting it. For the well-informed debater there are no surprises in the final debate. Everything that really counts has been foreseen and provided against some one of the team is ready to answer; and as the objections are brought forward, they look like old friends whose coming is expected. Each speaker should know beforehand what objections he is to attend to personally and at the beginning of his own speech if an objection has been made that is to be answered by some other debater, should not hesitate to say,

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My colleague will answer that objection. I wish now to call attention to another," etc. All first speeches, except the opening one on the affirmative, even if memorized, should be timed to leave a margin of a minute or two for noticing an objection that has been raised just before, and if it belongs to the speaker to refute it, the most effective plan is to refute first and follow the refutation immediately with the corresponding direct argument. But one should be economical in refutation; one should not allow one's intended speech to be broken in pieces by attempting too much in the way of refutation. It is sufficient to use the first minute or two or the last minute or two for this

purpose. Otherwise, stick to the speech as planned. The first speaker on the affirmative has the extra duty of explaining the proposition, stating and defining the issues, and thus dividing the work for his colleagues. He will usually have time also to establish one of the chief arguments. At the close of the debate he will summarize the points proved. The leader of the negative will also include a summary in his final speech just preceding. In all of this practice work, each speaker will also practise fairness and courtesy to opponents, especially in restating the objections that they have raised. He will try to keep cool without losing earnestness; and will try to maintain his earnestness without losing his good humor.

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CHAPTER XI.

POETRY.

Introductory.

163. Ruskin says that poetry is "the suggestion by the imagination, in musical words, of noble grounds for noble emotions, love, veneration, admiration, and joy, with their opposites." The poet working upon the imagination creates or awakens in us new and beautiful conceptions of the world.

The object of poetry is the communication of exalted pleasure; and thus the term poetry implies an antithesis to the term science, since the object of science is not pleasure, but truth, “hard facts." Poetry is usually expressed in verse, and science in prose; but not everything that is written in verse is poetry, and poetic thought is often found in prose form.

In style, poetry is rhythmical and regular; that is, its preferred form is verse arranged in lines of fixed lengths, composed of regularly recurring accented and unaccented syllables. In diction, poetry may employ abbreviated expressions, picturesque expressions, epithets, and archaic words, in cases in which these would be out of place in prose. Poetry frequently takes other liberties which would not be permitted to prose, in an unusual order of words and sentence-elements.

The materials of poetry are drawn (1) from external

nature, the sounds, colors, movements, and. impressiveness of which we are helped to appreciate by means of poetry; (2) from human life, - man's deeds, emotions, intellectual powers, courage, and greatness.

Poetry deals with concrete rather than abstract notions; that is, if a poet wishes to hold up for our admiration generosity, for instance, he does this by detailing a particular and beautiful instance of generosity, and not by talking about the abstract virtue generosity itself. He embodies general ideas in particular images, and for this reason he expresses his thought largely in figures, many of which owe their effectiveness to their concreteness.

Kinds of Poetry.

164. Poetry is of three kinds : epic, dramatic, and lyric poetry. A fourth division is often made for convenience, called didactic poetry. Epic and dramatic poetry are alike in one respect: both embody a story; but they differ in many respects, one of which is this, in the epic the poet narrates the story himself, whereas in the drama the poet himself does not appear; he makes the actors show what the story is by what they do and say.

Epic Poetry.

165. Epic poetry is that kind in which the poet himself narrates a story as if he were present. In this sense, epic poetry and narrative poetry mean the same thing. Epic poetry is subdivided as follows:

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1. The Great Epic. In this the poet narrates, in stately, uniform verse, a series of great and heroic

events, in which gods, demigods, and heroes play the most conspicuous parts. The Great Epic (1) has a noble theme based on mythology, legend, or religion, involving, therefore, a supernatural element; (2) it has a complete and unified story-plot, the action of which is concentrated in a short time, and the chief events partly or wholly under superhuman control; (3) it has a hero, of more than human proportions, and other characters human and divine; (4) it is simple in structure, smooth, uniform, and metrical, dignified and grave in tone; (5) it employs dialogue, and may employ episode, which is a story not needed for the main plot, although connected with some part of the action; (6) it enforces no moral; the moral must be discovered from the story, and the interest centers in the action.

The Odyssey and the Iliad are great epics which grew up among the early Greeks; Beowulf is a great epic which grew up among our remote ancestors. Later poets who made great epic poems are Vergil, who made the Æneid, and the English poet Milton, who made Paradise Lost.

The Mock Epic treats of a trivial subject in the heroic style of the great epic. An example is Pope's Rape of the Lock. Butler's Hudibras is satire in mock

epic style.

2. In the Metrical Romance, or narrative of adventure (1) the theme is less noble and grand than in the great epic, and the supernatural element, if occasionally admitted, is less prominent; (2) the action is less concentrated, and the chief events are partly or wholly under human control; (3) the element of love, which

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