SPEECHES The power to persuade at your fingertips….and vocally “Speeches that are measured by the hour will die with the hour.” Thomas Jefferson

What makes a speech a speech? A speech is not an essay…Why is this so? Greater emotional impact Language is given as much attention as the ideas expressed It is nonfiction Delivered orally to an audience Formal: written first Informal: composed as speaker talks usually with notes

Three types of Speeches Political Speech Address Sermon Oftentimes these three can overlap…Presidents’ Inaugural Speeches usually combine politics and an address into one complete work.

Political Speech Focuses on governmental issues The speaker is going to persuade you to think as they do and hopefully act in a manner that goes with what they are wanting. Example: Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech (this speech is unique because it really includes more than just a political element…) FDR’s “The Four Freedoms” speech. Roosevelt was in his third term and was asking we continue aid to Great Britain and more building of war material in the U.S. This was prior to Pearl Harbor and we were not involved in direct fighting

Address Formal in nature Prepared usually for a special occasion. Example: Abraham Lincoln’s “The Gettysburg Address” given during The Civil War at a dedication for a military cemetery. “Four score and seven years ago, our forefathers….” FDR’s “Pearl Harbor Address to the Nation” speech; made the day after Japan attacked the United States in Hawaii…brought the U.S. into WWII

FDR’s “Pearl Harbor”

Sermons A speech that usually has scriptural text and intended to provide religious instruction. Example: Hyman Appleman’s “I Know There is a Heaven!” he states throughout this sermon that if we live by God’s word, listen to His invitation, and don’t wait but buy a passport for the “train” we too will go to Heaven. Presidents too oftentimes give “sermon” style speeches when talking to the nation or bring up God in blessing our nation

Persuasion and Rhetoric To sway the audience in some way the speaker is going to appeal to our emotions in one of three ways: Logos– logical appeal; evidence/facts; statistics (many times though the “facts” can be changed to fit the need) Pathos – emotional appeal; arouse our feelings through “loaded” words, images, and phrases Ethos – ethical appeal; our perception of the trustworthiness/credibility of the speaker Think Election Day coming next week!! Lots of this out there in the media!

Persuasion and Rhetoric (continued) Rhetoric involves the patterns or words/ideas and create emphasis to stir our emotions Repetition– saying things over and over again (don’t confuse this with persuasive essay) Restatement– using different words to say the same idea Parallelism– repeating a grammatical structure “like father like son” Antithesis– strong contrasting words, images, or ideas “ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country” Rhetorical questions– asking something not to get an answer but to get an effect

Sources Literature and the American Experience textbook: pages Various web sites about speeches; poweroflanguageproject; preaching.com; fdrlibrary.marist.edu; and americanrhetoric.com