Conversation What to Say and How to Say It

Good conversation is more simply described by what it is not than by what it is. To reach any conclusions on this issue, one needs first determine: What is the objective of conversation? Should the objective be to make interaction with our fellows a free school in which to gain information; should it be to distribute knowledge; or should the purpose be to divert and to amuse? It could appear that any person with a good topic must communicate well and be fascinating. Alas! highly developed individuals are frequently the most quiet. Or, if they speak well, they are likely to talk too well to be excellent conversationalists, as did Coleridge and Macaulay, who spoke long and hard about intriguing things, but were still noted as bores in conversation because they talked at people instead of conversing with them. In society Browning was pleasant in his conversation. He would not debate poetry, and was as chatty on the topic of a sandwich or the exploits of some woman's train at the last drawing-room as on more substantial issues. Though to some he may have looked esoteric in his skill, everyone agreed that he was plain and natural in his talk. Whatever he spoke about, there could not be a moment's question as to his meaning.