Rhetoric of Political Speeches and Documents

Rhetoric• Rhetoric: the art of choosing and

using words to effectively persuade an audience

• In addition to the content of the appeals, political documents and speeches also often employ rhetorical strategies

Political Rhetoric• Political speeches and essays are

generally persuasive• Recall the 3 modes of persuasion:

• Appeals to ethics (ethos)• Appeals to emotion (pathos)• Appeals to reason (logos)

Analyzing DocumentsFirst look at Who and Why: • Audience – to whom is the speaker

delivering the speech?• Purpose – why is he/she giving a

speech?

Analyzing DocumentsNext, look at the HOW:• Types of appeals (logos/pathos)• Use of literary devices (metaphor,

simile, personification, imagery)• Use of rhetorical devices• Tone and word choice• Persuasive efficacy

Rhetorical Devices

Rhetorical strategies include:• Parallelism• Repetition• Restatement• Rhetorical Questions• Aphorisms• Diction / Charged Words

Parallelism

• Parallelism is the use of words, phrases, clauses, or sentences that are similar in structure. • “He has plundered our seas, ravaged our

coasts, burned our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.”

Parallel Words• Using words from same part of

speech; sometimes alliterative:• “He has called together legislative

bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public records.”

Parallel Phrases• He has constrained our fellow

citizens taken captive on the high seas to bear arms against their country, to become the executioners of their friends and brethren, or to fall themselves by their hands.

Repetition

• Repetition is added for emphasis (and conveys tone)

• Look for words or phrases that are repeated, word for word• “I have a dream…”

Restatement• Restatement is repeating an idea in a variety

of ways. • In “The Declaration of Independence”, Thomas

Jefferson states that the people have a right to overthrow an abusive government in several ways:• “…under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is

their duty, to throw off such government”• “Our repeated petitions have been answered only by

repeated injury…A tyrant is unfit to be the ruler of a free people”

Rhetorical questions• asking a question whose answer is

self-evident:• “But if a thief breaks into my house,

burns and destroys my property, and kills or threatens to kill me, or those that are in it…am I to suffer it?”

Aphorisms• Brief, pointed statements

expressing a wise observation.• “Early to bed, early to rise, makes a

man healthy, wealthy, and wise” (Franklin).

• “No gains without pains” (Franklin).• “All men are created equal”

(Jefferson).

Diction / Word Choice

• Look at the words chosen- the nouns, verbs, and adjectives.

• Why is one word used rather than a synonym or similar word?

• Example: Why would someone use “friend” instead of “acquaintance”?

Charged Words• Charged words are those

producing an emotional response: • “unalienable rights”• “absolute despotism”• “patient sufferance”• “harass our people and eat out their

substance”

Recap• When analyzing:

• Who is the audience?• What is the purpose?• How does the document achieve its

purpose?• What appeals and devices does the

speech employ?

• Is the piece effective?

Writing Practice• Please copy the following prompt in

your notebook:• Write an essay in which you compare TWO

of the following: “The Declaration of Independence,” the excerpt from “The Crisis, Number 1”, and “Speech in the Virginia Convention.” In your essay, focus on the purposes of the authors and rhetorical strategies they used to achieve those purposes.

• Read Henry’s “Speech” p. 186, then write.