Book contents
- British Romanticism and the Matter of Voice
- Cambridge Studies in Romanticism
- British Romanticism and the Matter of Voice
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- Chapter 1 Erasmus Darwin and the Mechanics of Speech
- Chapter 2 John Thelwall and the Physiology of Speech
- Chapter 3 Percy Bysshe Shelley and the Poetry of Speech
- Coda
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
- Cambridge Studies In Romanticism
Introduction
‘Mechanic Art and Elocutionary Science’
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 16 January 2025
- British Romanticism and the Matter of Voice
- Cambridge Studies in Romanticism
- British Romanticism and the Matter of Voice
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- Chapter 1 Erasmus Darwin and the Mechanics of Speech
- Chapter 2 John Thelwall and the Physiology of Speech
- Chapter 3 Percy Bysshe Shelley and the Poetry of Speech
- Coda
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
- Cambridge Studies In Romanticism
Summary
Taking the notion of the ‘mechanic’ as its starting point, this chapter outlines how an interest in the mechanic and scientific aspects of speech production is a pervasive feature of Romantic-era treatments of spoken utterance. The chapter investigates the numerous contemporary senses of the term ‘mechanic’, to highlight these senses’ common concern with physical movement, whether of the human hands, a constructed machine, or the material world. It examines how Romantic innovations in the theory of speech production which present utterance as a form of motion – of bodies, of machines, and of matter itself – combine, engage with, and react to traditions of materialist philosophy and elocution teaching and explores how such studies of speech rely on blending knowledge-based fields of study with traditionally non-theoretical practices including medicine and elocution.
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- British Romanticism and the Matter of Voice , pp. 1 - 16Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2025