Description
Now that you have completed a rhetorical analysis of a video, it is time to move to more classical analysis of rhetoric by reading, listening and analyzing a speech. Political speeches, eulogies, State of the Union addresses and Commencement Addresses utilize the most common forms of rhetorical devices.
Chapter 6 in the textbook (pages 97-131) provides a nice overview of rhetorical analysis including the occasions, understanding and analyzing rhetoric. Also, the PowerPoint and chart of Aristotelian Appeals will also still be useful to you. You are going to choose a speech and write an analysis essay of the speech. Please keep this in mind…you are identifying the audience, purpose, and occasion for your speech; then you are analyzing HOW the speaker uses the rhetorical strategies of ethos, pathos and logos to effectively communicate the main message of the speech. You are NOT summarizing the content of the speech.
I have provided you will a link to a great speech: Steve Jobs Commencement Address at Stanford University. I suggest you view the speech first, then read the transcript of the speech. As you do this, look for those rhetorical strategies…ethos, pathos, and logos. Remember that theme, main idea, imagery, figurative language (metaphors and similes) are also part of rhetoric. Finally, read the wonderful example of a rhetorical analysis essay on this speech. This was written by a previous student of mine, but I have left off their names. This should help you a great deal in approaching your own essay. After this:
Go to www.americanrhetoric.com. Link in D2L also.
Browse through the speeches on this site. You may NOT choose a movie speech. And you may NOT choose JFK Inaugural Address or MLK “I Have a Dream”.
Choose any other speech you find interesting but keep in mind that your rhetorical analysis essay will have a minimum word requirement of 1000 words. This means that if the speech is too short you may struggle to find enough rhetoric to analyze.
Once you have chosen your speech I suggest you print it (transcript of speech should be available on the website) and annotate for rhetoric using the handouts you have received and the information in the textbook. Remember it is not just ethos, pathos and logos, but also more specifically the language devices you are looking for. For example the figurative language of any kind (simile, metaphor, and imagery). Please refrain from simply identifying these devices, but more importantly what do they add to the speech? It may be helpful to look up the historical context of the speech so that you understand better the speaker’s purpose. Additionally, you should begin the essay by addressing the rhetorical situation: The audience, purpose, and context of the speech. You may also choose a Commencement Address speech if you wish.
Write an analysis essay that illustrates the use of rhetorical devices in your speech. It is very important that you quote the text (the speech) when identifying devices. It is not enough to write the “speaker uses ethos or the speaker uses alliteration” you MUST identify it. You will want to cite each quote you use from the speech. Since you are getting the text online, it is enough to write the last name of the speaker in parenthesis after each quote. You do not need to put the page number.