Hey guys! Recently I started reading Rob Lehrman's The Political Speechwriter's Companion (I highly recommend it for anyone who wants to improve their speechwriting), and it raised a lot of interesting points about the history of rhetoric in political speeches throughout American History. I thought I'd provide a brief summary of a few of the things I learned. They could be helpful in analyzing speeches in DBQs and that sort of thing.
Lehrman provides a few examples early in the book of past politicians and speeches, namely Gore, Charles Sumner, Jimmy Carter, and Jesse Jackson, to illustrate a few of the things a good speech should be. A well written political speech should be persuasive, that is, about problems and solutions, likable, upbeat, simple enough to be understandable, quotable, and reusable. It should employ strong language, anecdote, wit, and support (LAWS). If you notice these types of things when analyzing speeches, I'm sure being able to accurately identify them to help prove why the speech is effective would be really great.
The book covers a lot of the elements of good speechwriting - structure, clarity, delivery, persuasion, humor, and memorable closings. While not all of these apply to the small sections of speeches we look at in DBQs, recognizing good rhetoric is an invaluable tool.
Hey Julia! Of course you would post about speechwriting! I thought that this was a particularly relevant post especially after learning so much about Lincoln, who has had many famous speeches.
ReplyDeleteHere is a link that I found about an analysis of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address.
http://sixminutes.dlugan.com/speech-analysis-gettysburg-address-abraham-lincoln/
I really like how it really picks apart Lincoln's speech and says how you can apply it to your own speeches. It's a deceivingly short speech (especially in relation to his partner's that went on exponentially longer!), and I definitely agree with Julia that this is something that we should get comfortable with now!
Thanks so much for the recommendation of the book! This is definitely a good reference to have around!