Techniques of 21st century political speech writing - Essay Example

Techniques of 21st century political speech writing Introduction In order to define techniques employed by 21st century political speech-writers and speech-makers, it is necessary to make an emphasis on importance of its impact on the audience: an apt political speech is a guarantee of political success. Further on will be made an attempt to define, critically evaluate and explain the techniques of apt speech writing in 21st century. A masterful representation of speech writing should be looked for in stylistics and rhetoric (Edwards; Einhorn). These sciences allow with the help of linguistic means to establish credible relations with the speaker, reach emotional bond between the speaker and audience. An unsurpassed skill of political speech writing is in impressing the audience without their conscience of it. Political writing techniques The following tools of successful political speech writing reveal a curtain of mystery from this rhetoric master skill. Imagery means, such as metaphor and simile: “Like being savaged by a dead sheep” (expression from speech in the House of Commons in June 1978) (Denton, 1986). This simile appeals to the audience and makes an emphasis on required issues clearly. It goes without saying and it’s no wonder that usage of imagery in political speeches bears fruits: in one way or another, subconsciously or not, the recipient audience looks in their memories for a certain image thus information encoded is engraved in their minds (Savage). Another technique, such as repetition, is considered to be relevant in political speech writing too. More often it is claimed that anaphora, which is repetition of the first words of each line, is generally used. It is also possible to use repetition inside the sentence, for example: “There are some of us... who will fight, fight, and fight again to save the party we love.”(Hugh Gaitskell) or “Ask me my three priorities: education, education, education” (Tony Blair). In such a way repetition engraves the most crucial aspects of political speech. Nevertheless it is necessary to underline that usage of repetition throughout the speech can be boring and ineffective (Perkinson, 1995; Russell, 1991). Such kind of ‘cunning’ technique as puzzle-solution is also worth being considered. On the examples of political speeches by Blair and Disraeli it is possible to witness efficiency of this technique. This technique has three stages: set out a puzzle (Three kinds of lies… what are they? All right then, what are your three priorities?), dramatically make a pause, and provide solution. This technique is a very apt one, because even if the whole political speech was boring and long, making appeal to the audience will cheer them up. In one way or another, information carried in puzzle-technique will result in a positive outcome (Snyder, 2004; Semino, 2004). Another technique used by political speech-writers is compare-contrast approach. For example, such phrases as: “I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him…”; “All this we can do, and all this we will do” appeal to the audience straightforwardly and are directed on underlining of information importance (Stepp, 2005). This technique, unlike the previous one, isn’t too sophisticated, but the scope of its efficiency is as large as the efficiency of the former one. Alliteration can be considered as the fifth and conclusive techniques of political speech writing. For example: “We remain the most prosperous, powerful nation on Earth” (Barack Obama). As far as we can see, the speaker took the right way; he appealed to the ears of the audience and this phrase will be memorized by them (Tighe, 2005). An effective political speech: an apt writing? With the purpose of defining techniques used by 21st century political speech-writers and speech-maker, it is essential to make stress on importance of its impact on the audience: an apt political speech is a guarantee of political success. Further on will be made an attempt to define, critically evaluate and explain the techniques of apt speech writing in 21st century. Moreover, in spite of used techniques of political speech writing, the attention should be paid to the role and influence of speech on target audience. The speech should be direct, not vague; the central idea is of high importance. It is necessary to define the crucial issue of political speech and make a strong emphasis on it, preferably in one sentence. Speech should look easy and appropriate with regard to target audience. A masterful representation of speech writing should be looked for in stylistics and rhetoric. These sciences allow through linguistic means to establish credible relations with the speaker, reach emotional bond between the speaker and audience thus making clear ideas of the speech with their full embodiment in the future. An unsurpassed skill of political speech writing is in impressing the audience without their conscience of it. Moreover, it will be better, if the audience think that it’s led in a conversational manner. Therefore it’s appropriate to use jokes in the beginning of the speech in order to gain target audience. The middle of the speech should be well-structured and before talking core issues, the audience should be told beforehand about it, a so-called problem-solution approach should be involved. Consequently, political speech writing requires well-developed writing skills and awareness of the used techniques of 21st century. In order to reach the overall positive effect of the political speech, its techniques appeal to consciousness of the audience and their understanding and memorizing of the core aspects of the political speech. Works cited 1. Blair, Tony, 2003. Total Politics, 2008. Speech to the Fabian Society on Public Services. [Online] Available at: http://www.totalpolitics.com/speeches/ [Accessed 5 April 2010]. 2. Churchill, Winston. Total Politics, 2008. Speech to the House of Commons, 4 June 1940. [Online] Available at: http://www.totalpolitics.com/speeches/ [Accessed 5 April 2010]. 3. Cornbleet, S., 2001.The Language of Speech and Writing. New York: Routledge. 4. Denton, R.E. Jr., Hahn, Dan F., 1986. Presidential Communication: Description and Analysis. New York: Praeger. 5. Edwards, R., et al. Rhetoric and Educational Discourse: Persuasive Texts. New York: Routledge. 6. Einhorn, L. Presidential Speech-Writing: From the New Deal to the Reagan Revolution and Beyond. Argumentation and Advocacy, 40, pp. 1+. 7. King, Martin Luther. I Have a Dream. Delivered 23 August, 1963. [Online] Available at: http://www.usconstitution.net/dream.html [Accessed 5 April 2010]. 8. Perkinson, Henry J., 1995. Things Got Better: Speech, Writing, Printing, and Cultural Change. Bergin & Garvey. 9. Russell, D. et al., 1991. Writing in the Academic Disciplines, 1870 -1990: A Curricular History. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press. 10. Savage, David G. Political Speech Rules: The U.S. Supreme Court Has Ruled on Campaign Finance Laws and Will Soon Decide the Role of Political Parties in Choosing Candidates. State Legislatures, 33 (9), pp. 33+. 11. Semino, E., 2004. Corpus Stylistics: Speech, Writing and Thought Presentation in a Corpus of English Writing. New York: Routledge. 12. Snyder, James T., 2000. The Heartland Institute. Writing a great campaign speech. [Online] Heartland Institute. Available at: http://www.heartland.org/policybot/results/203/Writing_a_Great_Campaign_Speech.html [Accessed 5 April 2010]. 13. Stepp, C., 2005. The Withering of Political Speech. The Washington Times, 4 October. p. 1+. 14. Thomas, J., 2002. Dianas Mourning: A Peoples History. Wales, Cardiff: University of Wales Press. 15. Tighe, C., 2005. Writing and Responsibility. New York: Routledge. Read More