A Classical Experience essays

A Classical Experience essays On September fourth of 2002, I attended a lecture by Agate Nesaule. Agate was the author of the freshman connectoins novel, A Woman In Amber. The lecture was about two hours long. During the lecture Agate spoke of her childhood during the war. The lecture was supposed to include discussion on her book and how she came to writing, but instead Agate spoke on her childhood in further detail. I found the lecture rather slow and tedious. Agate brought up many topics that were in A Woman In Amber, such as the harsh conditions of wartime and the effects that these conditions can have on a family such as hers. She stressed the importance of putting emotions into words to relieve anxieties. During the lecture Agate rarely changed her tone and seldomly looked up from her notes. As a public speaker, and as an English teacher (which she is), she should have been prepared to speak to the audience. Agate contradicted herself by saying she would "rather not speak about it", when talking on a difficult subject that troubled her when earlier in the lecture she wanted to stress the importance that writing and speaking are forms of therapy. Agate used many real life examples and told many stories of her childhood during the war in detail. She talked about how it took her almost fourty years to start writing because she was ashamed and afraid of being different. Agate said that writing takes a huge iniative. Throughout Agates speech, there were many good qualities of a good speaker. She spoke in great detail which could be easily understood by the audience. Agate also used many real life examples and held everyone's attention for almost two hours. She also had poor qualties in her speech. She did not seem confident while giving her presentation. Agate had very little, if any, eye contact with a monotone voice. Agate did not read the audience. She spoke on whatever she wanted reguardless audience reaction. ...