Churchill Speech Rhetorical Devices

1. Churchill SpeechRhetorical Devices Rhetorical device-devices the speaker/writer uses to achieve his/her purpose in addressing the audience Parallelism: the use of similar grammatical constructions to express ideas that are related or equal in importance.

2. ParallelismWhen the clauses of a compound or complex sentence are parallel, the sentence is balanced. Example: It seemed your business to learn how to live in the world, as it is hers to know how to be easy out of it. Lady Mary Montagu, From “Letter to Her Daughter”

3. Parallelism continued Example 2: If the French retain that genius for recovery and counterattack for which they have so long been famous; and if the British Army shows the dogged endurance and solid fighting power of which there have been so many examples in the past--then a sudden transformation of the scene might spring into being. --Churchill “The Speeches”

4. Repetition=a technique or rhetorical device in which a sound, word, phrase or line is repeated for emphasis or unity. Example: “Behind them, behind us--behind the armies and fleets of Britain and France--gather a group of shattered states and bludgeoned races…” --Churchill, “The Speeches”

5. In this speech, Churchill combines parallelism with repetition. Example: “…the Czechs, the Poles, the Norwegians, the Danes, the Dutch, the Belgians--upon all of whom the long night of barbarism will descend, unbroken even by a star of hope, unless we conquer, as conquer we must; as conquer we shall.”

6. This line uses bothcumulative parallelism (listing things) and balance . “…the Czechs, the Poles, the Norwegians, the Danes, the Dutch, the Belgians--upon all of whom the long night of barbarism will descend, unbroken even by a star of hope, unless we conquer, as conquer we must; as conquer we shall.”

7. Persuasion: the technique of convincing an audience to adopt an opinion, perform an action, or both Persuasion appeals both the intellect and the emotions

8. Appeals to the intellect involve putting forward reasons and evidence to support opinions Appeals to the emotions involve stirring feelings within the audience. Emotional vs. Intellectual Appeals

9. Find Examples of both

10. Write a paragraph discussing: How well do you think churchill balances intellectual and emotional appeals?

11. Loaded Language • Loaded language is words and phrases with strong emotional content. • Example: On Judge Judy, a litigant accused a man of threatening and terrorizing her because he called a few times to get her to pay a bill. • Loaded language may be used legitimately to reinforce arguments, or it may be used inappropriately to mislead by manipulating the feelings of the audience. • Find (5) examples of loaded language and discuss whether you think Churchill is justified in his use of it.