Brandon Klinetobe Donna Robertson English 101 16 October 2011 Speechwriters throughout history have considered their word choice, imagery and what others have said before them when creating their own speeches. William Safire in “A Spirit Reborn” analyzes the use of reading “The Gettysburg Address” at the first anniversary of September 11 and James Wood in “Victory Speech” analyses Barack Obama’s November 2008 speech on election night. Safire and Wood analyze similar key factors in their discussion of the power and impact of Lincoln and Obama’s speeches. Both articles analyze the diction in the speeches of Obama and Lincoln. In “A Spirit Reborn,” William Safire chooses to point out the word choices of Lincoln’s speech that continue
The fresher metaphors are the ones he uses when he’s speaking about the future of the United States. These metaphors make his speech adaptable to many audiences. 4) Some words in the speech seem archaic or old-fashioned, some examples of these words would be “foe”, “solemn oath”, “asunder”, and “forebears”. These words not only make Kennedy sound more experienced and wise, but they also make the speech sound more formal and trustworthy. Syntax 1) Kennedy used these short paragraphs because they offer natural pauses so his audience can process and reflect about his main points.
Another strong motive of Kennedy is his concern with improving America further. He expresses this motive by incorporating antithesis into his speech. Throughout his speech, he makes many statements on the different ways the country can improve, “My fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you- ask what you can do for your country.”
Amazingly an author can really engage his/her audience, but that really takes a lot. Thurston Clarke was convincing his audience on how and why Kennedy’s speech succeeded, but at the same time giving the reader a model for a well worded and put together writing. All he provided were quotes from JFK’s Inaugural Address, descriptive background information on the actual speech and also on Kennedy’s life, and lastly by illustrating Kennedy’s presentation as a whole. Never have I been so convinced by an author, but Clarke will defiantly go down as the first
Avery Lostica February 2, 2015 Comm 301 M/W 9:30 Severson State of the Union Address Response Obama starts off his speech introducing the issues our current generation is facing and statistics on what we have overcame. I believe that the type of delivery he is using during is introduction is extemporaneous, defined as developing eye contact with the audience, adapting to feedback, and concentrating on the sequence of ideas rather than on word or sentence order (ch.3, pg. 29). He adapts eye contact and captures the attention of the audience with the facts he presents and the emotion he shows while he’s informing us of the challenges us Americans have faced and have overcome. Throughout the speech, Obama provides us with more detailed
A More Perfect Union Critique “We the people, in order to form a more perfect union.” These are the same words that were presented in the Constitution as well as used in Barack Obama’s speech, “A More Perfect Union” during his presidential primary campaign in 2008. His speech addresses the racism and inequality that still exist in America that is dividing American society instead of uniting it. Obama uses his own experiences to reach out to readers as well as using allusions from history and the patriotic meaning behind the history to incorporate pathos and ethos in his speech. Obama is successful in his writing because he is able to persuade the audience by appealing to their emotions, while using specific details to create more credibility
Bush’s speech heavily contributed to the use of his tones. Throughout the speech he uses relatively simple language; This was done so that he could unite the citizens of America and give them a sense of fearfulness. He did this by using Anaphora and constantly using words such as “our”, “us” and “we”. The use of these words made people realize that America is in this together as a nation, and in this case no one is an outsider or minority as they are all fighting against one common threat. Those words that were used by Bush are also essential because they represent solidarity.
President Obama started his speech with a catch by naming one of his heroes, the civil rights leader John Lewis. This created a satisfactory level of personalization that was strengthened when he linked the Selma Marches to his “way to the Oval Office.” Since Obama was addressing millions of Americans across the country, he tried to maintain a level of formality as president. He also achieved a good level of simplicity and directness that made his message easier to be understood by ordinary citizens from different backgrounds. In addition, he influenced a wide range of audience by using a narrative approach telling the story of America in general and Selma in particular. The speech’s significance is apparent in the good choice of place (Edmund Pettus Bridge) and time (50th anniversary).
President Barack Obama and ex President George Bush has many differences and also has a few similarities. I would like to start off by comparing both of their lives growing up. Who had it better? Who accomplished more? In this essay I’m also going to talk about their belief in the war, their plans for the economy, their belief in politics, and belief for our nation’s future.
President elects Barack Obama uses a variety of techniques to address and unify his audience. Obamas use of second person, directly making reference of his audience, tonight is your answer...it belongs to you...it cannot happen without you, is cleverly employed to demonstrate the importance of the individual and how his victory and future effort to change America will rely on the efforts of the collective. In the mind of his audience, it is used to make people feel a sense of belonging, having their presence acknowledged. In his speech, Obama makes several intersexual references to inspirational orators of the past. One such example is Martin Luther King, the road ahead will be long...we will get there where Obama creates the sense that it will be a tough, arduous journey ahead of America in undoing the damage done by past leadership.