200 likes | 324 Views
Why do speeches use so much repetition?. Answer: Audiences need time to process information. Do authors really take time to think of all these things when they write?.
E N D
Why do speeches use so much repetition? Answer: Audiences need time to process information.
Do authors really take time to think of all these things when they write? Answer: In speechwriting, yes. In novels, maybe not. Professional speechwriters spend hours interpreting how each line of their speeches will control the audience reaction.
Why do we need to learn these? Answer: Some of you use some of these techniques naturally, but learning to control them and use them at your command, strengthens the overall organization of your writing. You will also have to use these in your speech.
Rhetorical Devices • inverted syntax • polysyndeton • asyndeton • ellipsis • juxtaposition • antithesis • oxymoron • paradox • farce • understatement • pun
Inverted Syntax Phrases No, not I. Yet alone I must be if I am to succeed. By whom, I know not.
Polysyndeton/Asyndeton Conjunctions For And Nor But Or Yet So
Polysyndeton Phrases “a problem that will make you catch hell whether you’re a Baptist or a Methodist, or a Muslim, or a nationalist.” (1) “let him stop oppressing and exploiting and degrading us.” (1)
Asyndeton Phrases “we have the same problem, [and it’s] a common problem, [and it’s] a problem that will…” (1) “That’s camouflage, [and] that’s trickery, [and] that’s treachery, [and] window-dressing.” (3)
Ellipsis Phrases Be quiet right now or I’m gonna… “Prosperity is a great teacher; adversity a greater [teacher].” – Hazlitt The streets were deserted, the doors [were] bolted
Juxtaposition Phrases “You put the Democrats first and the Democrats put you last” (3) “I don’t see any American dream; I see an American nightmare.” (2) “Whether you’re educated or illiterate, whether you live on the boulevard or alley…” (1)
Antithesis Phrases sink or swim to be or not to be (Hamlet) “the ballot or the bullet” (1) “It’ll be liberty, or it will be death.” (4) "We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.“ (MLK, speech at St. Louis, 1964)
Antithesis Paragraphs "I would rather be ashes than dust! I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dryrot. I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet. The proper function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time." (Jack London)
Oxymoron Examples act naturally random order original copy found missing alone together criminal justice peace force even odds awful good Examples student teacher definite possibility definite maybe terribly pleased civil war real phony ill health small crowd clearly misunderstood
Paradox If you love until it hurts, there can be no more hurt, only love. - Mother Theresa War is peace “If you wish to preserve your secret, wrap it up in [truth].” – Smith “…exile in his own land.” - MLK
Farce Taking one of the opponent’s ideas and making it seem ridiculous.
Farce Ex. Democrat Alan Grayson said during the healthcare debate that the Republican’s healthcare plan is: Don’t get sick, and if you do get sick, die quickly. Ex. Many republicans claimed that Democratic healthcare plan was to form death panels to decide who lives and dies.
Understatement Definition: Deliberately representing something as being much less than it really is. This generally works when poking fun at opponents arguments.
Understatement An example would be if a politician was talking about how the rich need to pay a higher percentage of taxes and was trying to counter the opponent’s argument that all Americans needed to do their part to pay taxes instead of expecting the rich to pay a higher percentage. The politician may say, “You have to think about these people having to figure out how to survive on a salaries of two million dollars a year.”
Pun Play on words that are identical or similar in sound but have sharply different meanings. Puns can be serious or funny. The ones below are funny, but in the MLK speech, is a serious one.
Pun Examples Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet is dying and he says to his friends “Ask for me tomorrow, and you shall find a grave man.” (Shakespeare) A streaker was found dead this morning. Police say the details are quite revealing. Did you hear about the guy whose whole left side was cut off? He's all right now. I couldn't quite remember how to throw a boomerang, but eventually it came back to me. Show me a piano falling down a mineshaft and I'll show you A-flat minor. The butcher backed up into the meat grinder and got a little behind in his work. You have been the veterans of creative suffering.