Patriotic

Rhetoric
• What is Rhetoric
• Rhetorical Questions - Patrick
Henry’s "Speech to the
Virginia Convention“ 1788
• Rhetorical Questions – Greta
Thunberg’s “How Dare You”
speech 2019
• Nuance – The Declaration of
Independence 1776
• Nuance – George W. Bush’s
“9/11 Address to the Nation”
2001
• Allusion - Patrick Henry’s
"Speech to the Virginia
Convention“ 1788
• Allusion - Inaugural Address by
President Barack Obama 2013
• Bibliography
Image from https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/380487
What is Rhetoric? 1/8

Rhetoric is the art of persuasive speaking or writing, employing language that appeals to the reader or listener’s
emotions and values, rather than rely solely on logic.

Here are some of the most frequently used rhetorical devices:

• Rhetorical questions: the reader or listener is invited to consider

a question;
• Allusions: an allusion conveys meaning by referring to people or
events from religion, literature, history, or another branch of culture;
• Figures of speech: similes, metaphors, hyperboles;
• Analogies: are used to support ideas by showing comparisons
between dissimilar things;
• The nuances of words: a subtle shade of meaning when
choosing a certain word
• Parallelism: a rhetoric device that compounds words or phrases
that have equivalent meanings so as to create a definite pattern.
Image from Freepik.com

In this presentation I will focus on three of these devices:

• Rhetorical questions
• Nuances of words
• Allusions
Rhetorical Questions - Patrick Henry’s "Speech to the Virginia Convention“ 1788 2/8

A rhetorical question is a device through which the reader or listener is invited to consider a
question and the author or the speaker then answers the question in such a manner that they get
their point across.
Here is an example from Patrick Henry’s famous "Speech to the Virginia Convention“, which
persuaded the Virginia House of Burgesses, the most powerful governing assembly in America,
to take up arms against England.
Image from Notice the questions he asks his audience, in order to focus their attention. He then answers the
https://www.biography.com/
political-figure/patrick-henry questions and reveals his opinion and his thoughts about the subject.

“Are fleets and armies necessary to a work of love and reconciliation? Have we shown ourselves so unwilling to be
reconciled, that force must be called in to win back our love? Let us not deceive ourselves, sir. These are the
implements of war and subjugation; the last arguments to which kings resort. I ask, gentlemen, sir, what means this
martial array, if its purpose be not to force us to submission? Can gentlemen assign any other possible motive for
it? Has Great Britain any enemy, in this quarter of the world, to call for all this accumulation of navies and
armies? No, sir, she has none. They are meant for us; they can be meant for no other.”

Patrick Henry - "Speech to the Virginia Convention“, 1788

Rhetorical Questions – Greta Thunberg’s “How Dare You” speech 2019 3/8

Below is an excerpt from one of the most famous speeches of the 21st
century, delivered by a 16 year old Swedish environmental activist –
Greta Thunberg. Also known as “The How Dare You Speech”, the young
girl used rhetoric to make the listeners aware of the dangers our planet
faces if measures are not taken to stop the climate change. The speech
was delivered at the UN Climate Action Summit in 2019 and became
known throughout the world.
Notice the rhetorical questions, which were followed or preceded by the
now famous words “how dare you”.
Youtube video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMrtLsQbaok

“People are suffering. People are dying. Entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are in the beginning of a mass
extinction, and all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth? How dare you!
…
How dare you pretend that this can be solved with just 'business as usual' and some technical solutions?
With today's emissions levels, that remaining CO2 budget will be entirely gone within less than 8 1/2 years.”

Greta Thunberg – Speech at the UN Climate Action Summit, 2019

Nuance – The Declaration of Independence 1776 4/8

Here is an excerpt from “The Declaration of Independence”, as drafted by Thomas

Jefferson. It contains a few of the reasons why the American Colonies had to break
away from England and mainly lists King George’s acts of aggression against the
colonists of the New World.
Notice the words in bold – they were carefully chosen in order to convey the idea
that the King of England’s acts against the American colonies were not only unfair,
but also evil.
Image from https://www.history.com/topics/american-
revolution/writing-of-declaration-of-independence

The words were chosen for their nuance, in order to impress the reader and have a more powerful emotional impact.

“He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and
tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages,
and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to
become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.”

The Declaration of Independence, 1776

Nuance – George W. Bush’s “9/11 Address to the Nation” 2001 5/8

Below is an excerpt from George Walker Bush’s “9/11 Address to the

Nation”.
The words were chosen for their nuance, in order to convey the
absolute evil of such acts of terrorism against ordinary people.

Youtube video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UQ5bFWZvH4

“The victims were in airplanes or in their offices: secretaries, business men and women, military and federal
workers, moms and dads, friends and neighbors. Thousands of lives were suddenly ended by evil, despicable
acts of terror.
The pictures of airplanes flying into buildings, fires burning, huge -- huge structures collapsing have filled us
with disbelief, terrible sadness, and a quiet, unyielding anger. These acts of mass murder were intended to frighten
our nation into chaos and retreat. But they have failed.”

George W. Buch – “9/11 Address to the Nation”, 2001

Allusion - Patrick Henry’s "Speech to the Virginia Convention“ 1788 6/8

Allusions are references to people or events from religion, literature,

history, or another branch of culture. Unlike other rhetorical devices, to
understand an allusion, you must be familiar with the person or thing it
alludes to.
An example of allusion can be found in Patrick Henry’s "Speech to the
Virginia Convention“, where first he compares false hope with the deceitful
and deadly song of the sirens from the Odyssey. On his way home from
the ten year Trojan war, Odysseus and his crew encounter sirens who sing
beautifully, with the goal of killing the sailors who pass near.
Image from https://wordforsense.com/essays/interpretations-of-the-sirens-song/

The second allusion is also from the Odyssey and makes a reference to the sorceress Circe, who transformed the
hungry sailors into pigs.
In this example, in order to understand the allusions, one must be familiar with Homer’s Odyssey and the stories in
it.

“Mr. President, it is natural to man to indulge in the illusions of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes against a
painful truth, and listen to the song of that siren till she transforms us into beasts.”

Patrick Henry - "Speech to the Virginia Convention“, 1788

Allusion - Inaugural Address by President Barack Obama 2013 7/8

The text below is extracted from President Barack Obama Inaugural

Address in 2013.
The text marked in bold are allusions to famous speeches made by
Abraham Lincoln.
In 1858, when he was a senatorial candidate, Lincoln delivered what is
known as “The House Divided Speech”, which includes the words
President Obama chose to incorporate in his own speech – “half-slave
and half-free“.
Image from https://www.politico.com/story/2013/01/president-barack-obamas-2013-
inaugural-address-full-text-086497

The first allusion in President Obama’s speech – “blood drawn by lash and blood drawn by sword” are inspired
by President Lincoln inaugural address from 1865, when he said: “until every drop of blood drawn with the lash
shall be paid by another drawn with the sword”.

“Through blood drawn by lash and blood drawn by sword, we learned that no union founded on the
principles of liberty and equality could survive half-slave and half-free.”

President Barack Obama - Inaugural Address, 2013

Bibliography 8/8

https://www.awesomestories.com/asset/view/Patrick-Henry-s-Speech-to-the-Second-Virginia-Convention
https://www.npr.org/2019/09/23/763452863/transcript-greta-thunbergs-speech-at-the-u-n-climate-action-summit
https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/gwbush911addresstothenation.htm
https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2013/01/21/inaugural-address-president-barack-obama
https://www.nps.gov/linc/learn/historyculture/lincoln-second-
inaugural.htm#:~:text=%22With%20malice%20toward%20none%20with,and%20cherish%20a%20just%20and