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About this book

What makes a passage strong enough to hold a room when you speak it aloud?

Standard Selections brings poetry and prose together for reciting, reading aloud and declaiming. Robert I. Fulton, Edwin P. Trueblood and editor Thomas C. Trueblood gather passages chosen for sound, feeling and force. This is a collection to explore with your voice, where the shape of a sentence matters as much as its meaning.

The anthology belongs to the American tradition of teaching elocution. Its verse and prose offer material for the practical work of public speaking: standing, breathing, shaping the voice and holding listeners’ attention. Grief, humour, courage and conviction give the reader different feelings to express, and different ways to make words reach a room.

What you’ll discover

  • Words made to carry Explore passages selected for the sound and force they bring to spoken words.
  • Poetry beside prose Move between verse and prose, discovering how each gives your voice different work.
  • A range of feeling Find grief, humour, courage and conviction in pieces meant to move the listener.
  • The classroom speaking tradition Explore the kind of collection used to practise elocution in schools and colleges.
  • A slower first reading Read silently, then aloud, noticing where the sense asks you to pause.

Is it for you?

This book suits readers who enjoy speeches, recitations and poems made for the voice, and anyone curious about how public speaking was taught. If you want a single story or one sustained argument, a mixed anthology may feel scattered.

What’s inside

The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary

  1. A book built for the speaking voice
  2. Poetry and prose sit side by side
  3. Chosen for eloquence and feeling
  4. How to read the pieces aloud

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8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
Large print hardcover
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25 languages, side by side

Poetry & Drama

Choix de textes

by Robert I. Fulton; Edwin P. Trueblood; Thomas C. Trueblood (éditeur)

Poetry and prose provide practice for speaking aloud.

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Choix de textes by Robert I. Fulton; Edwin P. Trueblood; Thomas C. Trueblood (éditeur), the cover

From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1 of 4

A book built for the speaking voice

Standard Selections belongs to a type of book once found in many classrooms, the elocution reader. Its purpose is practical. Each piece is chosen because it can be performed, not only silently read.

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The author

Robert I. Fulton

American elocutionist and author

Robert I. Fulton and Thomas C. Trueblood were American teachers of oratory and public speaking, and Edwin P. Trueblood is credited alongside them. Thomas C. Trueblood is known as the editor of this collection and was linked with teaching elocution at the University of Michigan.

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What is Standard Selections?

It is an anthology of poetry and prose chosen for reading aloud and public speaking. It was made as practice material for students of elocution and oratory.

Who edited Standard Selections?

Thomas C. Trueblood is named as editor, with Robert I. Fulton and Edwin P. Trueblood credited as authors on the title page. They worked in the American teaching of public speaking.

Is Standard Selections a novel or a story?

No. It is a collection of separate pieces in verse and prose, so there is no single plot. You can read the pieces in any order.

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