摘要:Rhetoric use aims at increasing vividness of language. Vivid language can arouse audience’s interest, hold their attention, enhance their comprehension with imagery, and leave them with a fresh impression. Obama knew this when he was a university teacher many years ago.
n many aspects. It always makes language vivid, humorous, and also ironic. For example:
Washington is the capital of our country, and also the problem of our country. Let us remember that, if this financial crisis taught us anything, it's that we cannot have a thriving Wall Street while Main Street suffers.
Allusion derives from the Latin word “allusio”, which means “playing with”. It is usually a casual, belief and implicit reference to a famous historical or literary figure or a well-known historical event, which the writer assumes to be familiar to his readers. And more come from the Bible, myths, legends, fables and classic literatures.
For example, Obama said in his Inaugural speech:
They claim that our insistence on something larger, something firmer and more honest in our public life is just a Trojan horse for higher taxes and abandonment of traditional values.
4.4 Alliteration and Antithesis
The word alliteration derives from Latin, meaning “repeating and playing upon the same letter”. It is the repetition of initial consonant in two or more words. As a figure of speech, it is good for sound rhyme, musical effect and significant emphasis. The use of alliteration can catch the attention of the audience and make ideas easier to remember. Obama was very good at this. For example:
The world believes in the wonder, not in the words of wisdom.
Cut costs without cutting corners.
Safe and sound, fair and square, right and rain, from top to toe, there is hope. (Obama’s selected speech)
The word “antithesis” comes from the Greek word “antithenai” (“anti-”, against ;), meaning “opposition”. Antithesis, favored by many speakers when persuading, places contrasting ideas provide a sharp and forceful way of measuring difference. The elements (usually two) are contrary in meaning but similar in form. For example:
(1) The end of passion is the beginning of repentance.
(2) What began twenty-one months ago in the depths of winter must not end on this autumn night. (Obama’s Victory Speech)
These examples proves that antithesis makes the sentence more powerful, and the idea clearer and more emphatic.
In short, antithesis always gives strength, adds vividness and appeals to the audience’s emotion. It results in linguistic brevity and rhythmic harmony.
4.5 Repetition and Parallelism
Repetition, a powerful rhetorical device which creates good rhythm, can be of phrases or sentences. Repetition includes two kinds: immediate repetition and intermittent repetition. For example:
It's the answer told by lines that stretched around schools and churches in numbers this nation has never seen; ………It's the answer spoken by young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Latino, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled ……..It's the answer that led those who have been told for so long by so many to be cynical, and fearful, and doubtful of what we can achieve to put their hands on the arc of history and bend it once more toward the hope of a better day.
For us, they packed up their few worldly possessions and traveled across oceans in search of a new life.
For us, they toiled in sweatshops and settled the West; endured the lash of the whip and plowed the hard earth.
本论文由英语论文网提供整理,提供论文代写,英语论文代写,代写论文,代写英语论文,代写留学生论文,代写英文论文,留学生论文代写相关核心关键词搜索。