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    </ItemID><ItemTitle>Speeches and speech-making</ItemTitle><FrontMatter><Imprint><Standard><GeneralInfo><Paragraph>
                        <b>About this free course</b>
                    </Paragraph><Paragraph>This free course provides a sample of Level 1 study in Arts and Humanities: <a href="http://www.open.ac.uk/courses/find/arts-and-humanities?utm_source=openlearn&amp;utm_campaign=ol&amp;utm_medium=ebook">http://www.open.ac.uk/courses/find/arts-and-humanities</a>.</Paragraph><!--<Paragraph>This free course is an adapted extract from the Open University course A150 <i>Voices and texts</i>, which is currently out of presentation.</Paragraph>--><Paragraph>This version of the content may include video, images and interactive content that may not be optimised for your device. </Paragraph><Paragraph>You can experience this free course as it was originally designed on OpenLearn, the home of free learning from The Open University – <a href="http://www.open.edu/openlearn/money-management/management/leadership-and-management/speeches-and-speech-making/content-section-0?utm_source=openlearn&amp;utm_campaign=ol&amp;utm_medium=ebook">www.open.edu/openlearn/money-management/management/leadership-and-management/speeches-and-speech-making/content-section-0</a></Paragraph><!--[course name] hyperlink to page URL make sure href includes http:// with trackingcode added <Paragraph><a href="http://www.open.edu/openlearn/money-management/introduction-bookkeeping-and-accounting/content-section-0?utm_source=openlearn&amp;utm_campaign=ol&amp;utm_medium=ebook">www.open.edu/openlearn/money-management/introduction-bookkeeping-and-accounting/content-section-0</a>. </Paragraph>--><Paragraph>There you’ll also be able to track your progress via your activity record, which you can use to demonstrate your learning.</Paragraph></GeneralInfo><Address><AddressLine/></Address><FirstPublished><Paragraph/></FirstPublished><Copyright><Paragraph>Copyright © 2016 The Open University</Paragraph></Copyright><Rights><Paragraph/><Paragraph>
                        <b>Intellectual property</b>
                    </Paragraph><Paragraph>Unless otherwise stated, this resource is released under the terms of the Creative Commons Licence v4.0 <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/deed.en_GB">http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/deed.en_GB</a>. Within that The Open University interprets this licence in the following way: <a href="http://www.open.edu/openlearn/about-openlearn/frequently-asked-questions-on-openlearn">www.open.edu/openlearn/about-openlearn/frequently-asked-questions-on-openlearn</a>. Copyright and rights falling outside the terms of the Creative Commons Licence are retained or controlled by The Open University. Please read the full text before using any of the content. </Paragraph><Paragraph>We believe the primary barrier to accessing high-quality educational experiences is cost, which is why we aim to publish as much free content as possible under an open licence. If it proves difficult to release content under our preferred Creative Commons licence (e.g. because we can’t afford or gain the clearances or find suitable alternatives), we will still release the materials for free under a personal end-user licence. </Paragraph><Paragraph>This is because the learning experience will always be the same high quality offering and that should always be seen as positive – even if at times the licensing is different to Creative Commons. </Paragraph><Paragraph>When using the content you must attribute us (The Open University) (the OU) and any identified author in accordance with the terms of the Creative Commons Licence.</Paragraph><Paragraph>The Acknowledgements section is used to list, amongst other things, third party (Proprietary), licensed content which is not subject to Creative Commons licensing. Proprietary content must be used (retained) intact and in context to the content at all times.</Paragraph><Paragraph>The Acknowledgements section is also used to bring to your attention any other Special Restrictions which may apply to the content. For example there may be times when the Creative Commons Non-Commercial Sharealike licence does not apply to any of the content even if owned by us (The Open University). In these instances, unless stated otherwise, the content may be used for personal and non-commercial use.</Paragraph><Paragraph>We have also identified as Proprietary other material included in the content which is not subject to Creative Commons Licence. These are OU logos, trading names and may extend to certain photographic and video images and sound recordings and any other material as may be brought to your attention.</Paragraph><Paragraph>Unauthorised use of any of the content may constitute a breach of the terms and conditions and/or intellectual property laws.</Paragraph><Paragraph>We reserve the right to alter, amend or bring to an end any terms and conditions provided here without notice.</Paragraph><Paragraph>All rights falling outside the terms of the Creative Commons licence are retained or controlled by The Open University.</Paragraph><Paragraph>Head of Intellectual Property, The Open University</Paragraph></Rights><Edited><Paragraph/></Edited><Printed><Paragraph/><Paragraph/></Printed><ISBN>978-1-4730-1841-9 (.kdl)<br/>978-1-4730-1073-4 (.epub)</ISBN><Edition/></Standard></Imprint><Introduction><Title>Introduction</Title><Paragraph>The terms ‘voice’ and ‘text’ are multifaceted. Both have a wide range of possible meanings in everyday speech and academic usage. You may encounter the two words used in a variety of ways, in connection with different subjects, and they won’t always mean exactly the same thing. In the following sections we will explore the shifting meanings and associations of ‘voice’ and ‘text’, and then examine the way the two terms come together in a particular kind of language use: speeches and speech-making.</Paragraph><Paragraph>One of the best ways to uncover the various meanings of concepts like ‘voice’ and ‘text’ is through engaging in activities where you can see the terms being used, and this is what we are about to do.</Paragraph><Paragraph>This OpenLearn course provides a sample of Level 1 study in <a href="http://www.open.ac.uk/courses/find/arts-and-humanities?utm_source=openlearn&amp;utm_campaign=ol&amp;utm_medium=ebook">Arts and Humanities</a>.</Paragraph></Introduction><LearningOutcomes><Paragraph>After studying this course, you should be able to:</Paragraph><LearningOutcome>demonstrate an understanding of some fundamental aspects of rhetoric</LearningOutcome><LearningOutcome>demonstrate skills of textual analysis</LearningOutcome><LearningOutcome>appreciate the importance of audience in relation to speech-making.</LearningOutcome></LearningOutcomes><Covers><Cover template="false" type="ebook" src="https://www.open.edu/openlearn/ocw/pluginfile.php/58990/mod_oucontent/oucontent/305/Speeches_and_speech_making_ebook_cover.jpg"/><Cover template="false" type="A4" src="https://www.open.edu/openlearn/ocw/pluginfile.php/58990/mod_oucontent/oucontent/305/Speeches_and_speech_making_ebook_cover_pdf.jpg"/></Covers></FrontMatter><Unit><UnitID/><UnitTitle/><Session><Title> 1 Voice</Title><Paragraph>Having said that the word ‘voice’ is multifaceted, it might be helpful now to differentiate between some of these usages. As a first step, we can distinguish between literal and metaphorical usages. A metaphor is a type of figurative language that describes one thing by comparing it to another thing. We find explicit forms of comparison in similes, which include words such as ‘like’ or ‘as’. But metaphors omit the ‘like’ or ‘as’ stage, and foreground the common qualities of the things compared in a way that is sometimes striking, but sometimes so ‘natural’ as to be unremarkable.</Paragraph><Paragraph>When we are reading poetry, we may be more self-consciously on the alert for figurative language in general, and thus metaphors specifically. For example, D.H. Lawrence, evoking an Italian evening in his poem ‘Bat’, refers to ‘the tired flower of Florence’ (Muldoon, 1997, p. 95); in comparing the city to a flower he implies a shared quality of beauty, and perhaps also – more unexpectedly – fragility. </Paragraph><Paragraph>But everyday language is full of metaphor, too. When we talk about ‘the leg of a table’ or a ‘branch of an organisation’, we are using metaphors probably without noticing them, because they have become such familiar elements in our language. ‘Voice’ is often used in this everyday, metaphorical sense. We’ll pause on this point so that you can consider it for yourself.</Paragraph><Activity><Heading>Activity 1</Heading><Question><Paragraph>In each of the sentences below, decide whether the word ‘voice’ is used literally or metaphorically: </Paragraph><UnNumberedList><ListItem>(a) He spoke in a soft, soothing voice.</ListItem><ListItem>(b) The members spoke with one voice in rejecting the new proposal. </ListItem><ListItem>(c) Tenor voices are in short supply in our local choir. </ListItem><ListItem>(d) We were startled by the sudden voice of thunder.</ListItem><ListItem>(e) I had a bad bout of laryngitis and lost my voice. </ListItem><ListItem>(f) I took a creative writing course and found my voice.</ListItem></UnNumberedList></Question><Discussion><Paragraph>When we’re trying to pin down literal uses of the word ‘voice’, we’re on the lookout for meanings where a connection with sounds and vocal organs is not too far away. Sentence (a) fits this requirement clearly, and so does (e). I’ve also included sentence (c) in my list of literal usages, although ‘voice’ here is acquiring a more specialised musical sense. </Paragraph><Paragraph>What about sentences (b), (d) and (f)? Noticing the reference to speech in sentence (b), we might be inclined to think that ‘voice’ is used literally here, too. But since people (plural) can’t actually speak with one voice (singular), I think we’re in the realms of comparison: several or many people are speaking as if they just have one voice between them – that is, unanimously. In sentence (d) we have a clear connection with sound – but this particular sound isn’t produced through vocal organs, so I’d choose metaphorical rather than literal for the ‘voice of thunder’. That leaves us with sentence (f), and here ‘voice’ seems to be related to expressing oneself in writing rather than through speech, so again the usage seems more metaphorical than literal.</Paragraph></Discussion></Activity><Paragraph>There is much more that could be said about voices in the literal sense, including the way that they convey individuality, but for now we will continue to explore different usages of ‘voice’ by turning our attention to metaphorical usage. </Paragraph><Activity><Heading>Activity 2</Heading><Question><Paragraph>Think for a moment about the list of phrases below. Some of them may be familiar, some unfamiliar. Starting from what you know, or might guess, about the phrases, can you spot any links or common features? (If you are a keen internet user, and have time to dot his, you might try typing any of the unfamiliar ones into a search engine to see what comes up.) </Paragraph><UnNumberedList><ListItem>(a) The voice of the people </ListItem><ListItem>(b) Vox populi </ListItem><ListItem>(c) The voice of the oppressed</ListItem><ListItem>(d) The Voice of America</ListItem><ListItem>(e) American Voice. </ListItem></UnNumberedList></Question><Discussion><Paragraph>‘The voice of the people’ is a widely used phrase in which ‘voice’ generally means the expressed opinion – often a political opinion – of a group of people viewed as a united whole. </Paragraph><Paragraph>‘Vox populi’ is the Latin version of ‘voice of the people’. We often hear it in its abbreviated form, ‘vox pop’ – a broadcasting term used to refer to interviews with the general public, or the ‘man/woman in the street’. Both these phrases, like sentence (b) in the previous activity, attribute a single voice to a group of people; although ‘vox pop’ interviews present us with individuals, they are usually anonymous, seen as representatives of ‘the people’ in general. </Paragraph><Paragraph>The same idea of ‘representation’ crops up in phrase (c), ‘the voice of the oppressed’. This is a more specialised phrase that we might find in certain kinds of political writings, sometimes in variant versions such as ‘a voice for the oppressed’ or ‘giving voice to the oppressed’. The difference here is that ‘the oppressed’ are usually conceived of as not having voices, so someone else must speak for them, or create the conditions in which they can be heard. </Paragraph><Paragraph>Some of you may have recognised ‘The Voice of America’ as the name of the official radio and television broadcasting service of the United States government. ‘American Voice’ is also the name of a radio network, a self-styled alternative to the government’s service. </Paragraph><Paragraph>In phrases (d) and (e) the concept of ‘voice’ is very firmly linked to broadcast media, as well as to a political context. Political and/or media associations have cropped up in all our examples here, suggesting that the idea of ‘voice’ has considerable potency in relation to representation, rights of expression and means of expression. </Paragraph></Discussion></Activity></Session><Session><Title>2 Text</Title><Paragraph>I have focused on some common and widely understood meanings of the term ‘voice’. We’ll approach the multifaceted term ‘text’ in a slightly different way. </Paragraph><Activity><Heading>Activity 3</Heading><Question><Paragraph> Invent a few sentences that include the word ‘text’ or ‘texts’, varying the meaning with each example. Aim to produce four or five sentences before you go on to read the discussion below. </Paragraph></Question><Discussion><Paragraph>When I tried this activity, I found myself preoccupied with questions about length. Perhaps this was because the first two examples that came into my mind were radically different: one was the text message from a friend that popped up in my mobile phone’s inbox today, about a dozen words in length, and the other was the Charles Dickens novel <i>Hard Times</i>, about 300 pages long, that is sitting on my desk. Did your examples also span an enormous range in terms of size? What other variations emerged? And did any of your examples take you outside the realm of writing/written words?</Paragraph></Discussion></Activity><Paragraph>‘Text’ is certainly a term that we encounter frequently in an academic context. My example of Dickens’s novel illustrates the fact that in literary studies, people are forever talking about texts. Historians, though, are more likely to refer to original writings as ‘documents’ or ‘sources’. In both areas, ‘text’ refers to something written, and this is often, though by no means always, the case. </Paragraph><Paragraph>So let us try coming at the issue from a different angle and ask what counts as a text in relation to different academic subjects. The most inclusive approach I can think of is that of the anthropologist Clifford Geertz, who viewed cultural practices – any cultural practices – as texts: in his essay ‘Deep play: notes on the Balinese cockfight’ he laid claim to a very generous interpretation of ‘text’ in asserting that ‘the culture of a people is an ensemble of texts’ (Geertz, 1975, p. 452). Even if we narrow the range of possibilities to rule out cock-fighting and other activities, we often find things that have been made, though not made from words, being studied as texts on academic courses. </Paragraph><Paragraph> It is perfectly appropriate, in certain contexts, to refer to buildings, paintings and many other kinds of objects, as ‘texts’. But very often the texts we study in academic courses are made of words, and for the most part those words are written. </Paragraph></Session><Session><Title>3 Speeches and speech-making</Title><Paragraph>To round off this initial exploration of our key terms, we will look at an aspect of language use where voices and texts converge. The ancient art of rhetoric, in which a speaker employs eloquent devices to achieve persuasive effects, was an important element of a university education in the Middle Ages, and it is still very much alive today in the public sphere. Speeches by figures such as politicians are usually carefully crafted affairs, designed to be spoken, but relying on a written script. Analysing the construction of a speech, and its manner of delivery, can give interesting insights into the techniques of rhetoric, but what matters most of all in any situation where a speech is being made is the audience. The audience, and therefore the context for and the purpose in speaking, will shape not only what is said, but how it is said. </Paragraph><Paragraph>The idea of ‘audience’ is, of course, crucial in any form of communication, and as you work through this course you will frequently be thinking about the audiences (or readers) for written texts. But for the purposes of the next activity we will move away from the printed page so that we can listen to some examples of famous speeches, and begin to analyse their effects. </Paragraph><Paragraph>Listen to the following audio, ‘Speeches and speech-making’, and then answer the questions below.</Paragraph><MediaContent src="https://www.open.edu/openlearn/ocw/pluginfile.php/58990/mod_oucontent/oucontent/305/track_1_edited.mp3" type="audio" x_manifest="track_1_edited_1_server_manifest.xml" x_filefolderhash="690703b0" x_folderhash="690703b0" x_contenthash="4af3c8ee"><Caption>Speeches and speech-making</Caption><Transcript><Speaker>Presenter </Speaker><Remark>Great speeches like this one from the American Civil Rights leader Martin Luther King Junior have moved, persuaded and rallied people for generations. But there are some fundamental elements that go into making a speech great. Simon Lancaster, one of the country’s leading speech writers reveals some of these basic rules which date back to ancient Greece. </Remark><Speaker>Simon Lancaster </Speaker><Remark>The master of rhetoric was Aristotle back in around 350 BC and he wrote this wonderful text called ‘Rhetoric’ which to me is still the bible. Aristotle said that rhetoric was based upon three things. You have ethos, which is the character of the speaker, his credibility, whether or not the audience trust him. And then you have pathos, which is the emotions of the audience. And then you have logos, which is the reasoning of the argument. </Remark><Speaker>Presenter </Speaker><Remark>Rhetoric, the art of persuading and pleasing people, was a valued part of a traditional education, and many of the key elements of rhetoric still hold good to this day. Tom Clarke is the editor of ‘Historic Twentieth-century Speeches’. </Remark><Speaker>Tom Clarke </Speaker><Remark>Traditionally, rhetoric was an elite activity. What changed it was the advent of democracy, where suddenly the elite had to reach out beyond their own in order to try and change people’s minds. The modern age in rhetoric really begins with an address that lasted only two minutes in 1863 at Gettysburg. </Remark><Speaker>Presenter </Speaker><Remark>Abraham Lincoln delivered the famous Gettysburg Address during the American Civil War in 1863. It stands out for its simplicity and contains all the aspirations that a modern democracy strives for. </Remark><Speaker>Tom Clarke </Speaker><Remark>It marked a turning point in the way that the elite, if you like, or the powerful, the politicians, communicated with the public at large, and it was just a wonderful simple speech. It was something like 261 words in total and 205 of those were one syllable, and I love it because of that. But of course it had that terrific sound bite to die for, about government of the people by the people for the people, which is technically a work of genius. </Remark><Speaker>Presenter </Speaker><Remark>However clever the rhetoric or skilful the speaker, Tom Clarke believes that a speech is remembered only if it captures the zeitgeist, the spirit of the time. </Remark><Speaker>Tom Clarke </Speaker><Remark>I think that the speeches that we really remember are those that for us define a personality, or those that in some cases demolish a personality, or rally a cause in a way that it’s not been rallied before, and so we can look back then and identify the speech as something that changed history. </Remark><Speaker>Barack Obama</Speaker><Remark>But on this January night, at this defining moment in history, you have done what the cynics said we couldn’t do.</Remark><Speaker>Presenter </Speaker><Remark>Barack Obama speaking in January 2008, after he won Iowa’s democratic nomination in the race for the American Presidential Election. </Remark><Speaker>Tom Clarke </Speaker><Remark>That had a ring of authenticity about it both because he wasn’t white and also because it was of course true. Every black activist, every white racist, had said that this day would never come, and him contradicting what everyone had agreed on before that, simply by saying it came from him, and it moved the audience and it defined the moment. </Remark><Speaker>Presenter </Speaker><Remark>In the UK the early 1980s was a time of mass unemployment and the government’s popularity was at its lowest. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher rallied her Conservative Party and gave her most famous speech. It’s remembered mainly because it encapsulated a historical moment that defines her to this day. </Remark><Speaker>Margaret Thatcher</Speaker><Remark>We shall not be diverted from our course. To those waiting with baited breath for that favourite media catchphrase ‘the U turn’, I have only one thing to say. You turn if you want to. The lady’s not for turning.</Remark><Speaker>Tom Clarke </Speaker><Remark>Borrowing this very obscure reference from the theatre about ‘the lady’s not for burning’, she used this ‘the lady’s not for turning’ line, which got captured in all the media and was run away at the time. And also calling herself the Iron Lady of the Western world – something that the Russians had been referring to her as, which she then turned to her own advantage. All these images of strength she pulled together in response to the events she was saying and created a caricature, which wasn’t entirely flattering, but was very much to her advantage, and it was one that lives on to this day really. </Remark><Speaker>Presenter </Speaker><Remark>Women are under-represented in the pantheon of great recorded speeches. Tom Clarke: </Remark><Speaker>Tom Clarke </Speaker><Remark>Speeches that we remember tend to be made by leaders, and leaders tend to reflect who’s got the power at any one time. I should just add, however, one of the really great rhetoricians of our time, Tony Benn, always says that the best speeches ever heard given in his life was by someone who had never given a speech before which was a wife of one of the miners during the 1984 Miners’ Strike. </Remark><Speaker>Miner’s Wife </Speaker><Remark>I believe that if you shout long enough and loud enough people will listen. I’m going to shout long and I’m going to shout loud. </Remark><Speaker>Tom Clarke </Speaker><Remark>It does make the point that you can have a great speech that might not have great surroundings, and will make an impression on individuals. </Remark><Speaker>Miner’s Wife </Speaker><Remark>I’ve only one message now and that is for Mrs Thatcher and her government. Men, women and families are together now, and you’ve got one hell of a bloody fight on your hands. </Remark><Speaker>Presenter </Speaker><Remark>There are several rhetorical devices from which great speeches are constructed. Simon Lancaster: </Remark><Speaker>Simon Lancaster </Speaker><Remark>So you have the rule of three. A famous example of this is ‘Friends, Romans, Countrymen’. And this creates an illusion of completeness and finality, so if you want an argument to appear cut and dried then you use the rule of three. It makes arguments sound completely final, beyond a doubt. </Remark><Speaker>Presenter </Speaker><Remark>The American President, John F. Kennedy, delivering his powerful inaugural address in 1961: </Remark><Speaker>John F. Kennedy </Speaker><Remark>Not a new balance of power, but a new world of law where the strong are just, and the weak secure, and the peace preserved. </Remark><Speaker>Simon Lancaster </Speaker><Remark>Another great technique is imagery, and the power of metaphor in particular. Metaphor works on two levels. On a basic level it illuminates and abstracts issue. But crucially the second level it works at is its persuasive ability: that it can put an audience into a particular frame of mind without them even realising what’s going on. If you think about the history of the world since the Second World War, you can tell it through metaphor. So, the Iron Curtain, to the Cold War, to the Wind of Change, to the Swinging Sixties, to the Winter of Discontent, to the Iron Lady, to the Axis of Evil and the Smoking Gun. </Remark><Speaker>Presenter </Speaker><Remark>The ‘Wind of Change’ was a phrase coined by the British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan in a speech given to the South African Parliament in 1960, which signalled the end of Britain’s imperial ambitions in Africa. </Remark><Speaker>Harold Macmillan </Speaker><Remark>The most striking of all the impressions that I have formed since I left London a month ago is of the strength of this African national consciousness. The wind of change is blowing through this continent and whether we like it or not its growth of national consciousness is a political fact. </Remark><Speaker>Simon Lancaster </Speaker><Remark>By using the metaphor of African nationalism as wind, and using a metaphor of nature, he was reinforcing the view, or trying to create the view that we couldn’t stop it because we all understand that forces of nature are unstoppable. And so by saying the ‘wind of change’, he was saying it’s just going to happen. That was the argument he was making to the British people. There is nothing we can do about this. We must just let African nationalism happen. We must dismantle the empire. </Remark><Speaker>Harold Macmillan </Speaker><Remark>And this tide of national consciousness, which is now rising in Africa, is a fact of which you and we are ultimately responsible. </Remark><Speaker>Simon Lancaster </Speaker><Remark>It’s very interesting that de Gaulle in France, who was also faced with the challenge of African nationalism, used a very different metaphor, and that’s because he believed that African nationalism could be stopped. And he used the metaphor of the insurgents as vermin. And so what do we do with vermin? We exterminate vermin. Another really powerful rhetorical device is the technique of contrast and ‘To be or not to be’ is probably the greatest example of contrast from Shakespeare, who was himself a master rhetorician. </Remark><Speaker>John F. Kennedy </Speaker><Remark>Let us never negotiate out of fear, but let us never fear to negotiate. </Remark><Speaker>Presenter </Speaker><Remark>Contrast was a technique which President John F. Kennedy used to great effect. </Remark><Speaker>John F. Kennedy </Speaker><Remark>And so my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country. </Remark><Speaker>Simon Lancaster </Speaker><Remark>Contrast works because it heightens our senses. It makes us feel more alert, and we are more used to thinking of things in twos. So when things are presented in twos, it makes our ears prick up and we are more likely to listen. </Remark><Speaker>Presenter </Speaker><Remark>Connecting with an audience is one of the most critical aspects of great speech making. </Remark><Speaker>Simon Lancaster </Speaker><Remark>There are a number of ways that an orator can establish a rapport with an audience or win their approval if you like, and one of the first and easiest ways is flattery – that no one ever objects to being told that they are brilliant. </Remark><Speaker>Barack Obama </Speaker><Remark>I know that you didn’t do this for me. You did this because you believed in the most American of ideas that in the face of impossible odds people who love this country can change it. </Remark><Speaker>Simon Lancaster </Speaker><Remark>Also empathy is just very important: showing that you feel what the audience feels or you understand what the audience understands. And also it’s very important just having some common ground with the audience. I think Barack Obama is the king, and his trick was not necessarily that he was agreeing with everyone. It was creating the impression that he was agreeing with everyone. And he did that by creating such deliberately blank phrases that anyone could interpret into them whatever they wanted to. </Remark><Speaker>Barack Obama </Speaker><Remark>And those who tell us that we can’t, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of the people – ‘Yes, we can’. </Remark><Speaker>Simon Lancaster </Speaker><Remark>‘Yes, we can’. What does that mean? Everyone’s going to hear that phrase and think something very, very different. Of course it’s just …, it’s a feeling. It’s a positive statement. But to some people that will mean ‘Yes, we can get the house we want’. To others ‘Yes, we can get the job we want’. To others it might just feel good. The point is, everyone will read it a different way. Another great Obama line: ‘They said this day would never come’. What day? Who said? </Remark><Speaker>Barack Obama </Speaker><Remark>They said this day would never come. They said our sights were set too high. </Remark><Speaker>Simon Lancaster </Speaker><Remark>And so ambiguity is often a very powerful device as well, because people will listen to things and reach their own interpretations. They’ll kind of take a sentence and then fit it in with all of their values, beliefs and opinions and twist it and hear what they want to hear. One example of this is Tony Blair’s ‘tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime’. What a great sentence. If you’re a ‘hang ’em, castrate ’em’ kind of guy, then you will just hear the first three words of that and think ‘Fantastic. He agrees with me’. If you’re a more liberal, ‘sympathy for the downtrodden’, then you’re going to hear the ‘tough on the causes of crime’. The kind of ‘Oh, it’s not really their fault’. And so people will read different things into a sentence like that, and yet that shows empathy. </Remark><Speaker>Presenter </Speaker><Remark>Another powerful element in establishing a rapport with an audience is call and response. This featured in many of the speeches of Martin Luther King Junior. </Remark><Speaker>Martin Luther King </Speaker><Remark>Some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. And some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution. </Remark><Speaker>Simon Lancaster </Speaker><Remark>It created a really powerful impression of a dialogue. It had a kind of call and response strategy going on in there. </Remark><Speaker>Martin Luther King </Speaker><Remark>Every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rock faces will be made plain and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together. </Remark><Speaker>Simon Lancaster </Speaker><Remark>It’s a genuine dialogue with the audience. It’s not just a one-sided monologue. </Remark><Speaker>Presenter </Speaker><Remark>Making an emotional connection with an audience is one of the most important elements of a successful speech. </Remark><Speaker>Earl Spencer </Speaker><Remark>For all the status, the glamour, the applause, Diana remained throughout a very insecure person at heart. </Remark><Speaker>Presenter </Speaker><Remark>Earl Spencer, though not known for his skills as an orator, is remembered for his eulogy in 1997 at the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales, when he expressed concern for her children. </Remark><Speaker>Earl Spencer </Speaker><Remark>On behalf of your mother and sisters, I pledge that we, your blood family, will do all we can to continue the imaginative and loving way in which you were steering these two exceptional young men. </Remark><Speaker>Simon Lancaster </Speaker><Remark>He decided to play up rather than playing down the emotion in a way that caused tremendous waves right round the world. And it felt so out of time and so fairy tale, and just at the point where Diana was becoming the fairy tale. I think it really kind of hammed up the emotion at a time when the royal family had been a bit stand offish and people wanted to have their emotions ‘bigged up’ rather than played down. And so I think he played to the audience very well, and a lot of people remember it. </Remark><Speaker>Earl Spencer </Speaker><Remark>It is a point to remember that, of all the ironies about Diana, perhaps the greatest was this: a girl given the name of the ancient goddess of hunting was in the end the most hunted person of the modern age. </Remark><Speaker>Simon Lancaster </Speaker><Remark>And he talked about the origins of her name. Diana is the ancient god of hunting, thereby suggesting that she had been hunted by the paparazzi and perhaps hadn’t enjoyed the protection that she might have been entitled to. So his task in that speech, as far as he was concerned, was both to raise his own standing by getting on the right side of the public emotion – that he did. But also to kind of instil in memory the version of Diana that he wanted remembered, as this vulnerable person who didn’t have the support that she could have expected. And on both counts he succeeded. </Remark><Speaker>Presenter </Speaker><Remark>Winston Churchill is perhaps the most famous orator of the modern era. He proved the power of rhetoric to rally a nation at a time of war, delivering this rousing speech to the House of Commons in June 1940, at a critical point in the Second World War. </Remark><Speaker>Winston Churchill </Speaker><Remark>We shall fight on the beaches. We shall fight on the landing grounds. We shall fight in the fields and in the streets. We shall fight in the hills. We shall never surrender. </Remark><Speaker>Simon Lancaster </Speaker><Remark>He repeats a phrase or word or clause within a particular sentence, and does so in order to show that you are fixated about an issue. That you feel very emotional about it. Of course he could have said ‘We will fight on the streets – comma – sands – comma – beaches – comma’. But that would have lost the effect and by emphasising ‘We will fight. We will fight. We will fight’, that is actually all the audience will then hear. </Remark></Transcript></MediaContent><Activity><Heading>Question 1</Heading><Question><Paragraph>Rhetoric is usually defined as:</Paragraph></Question><Interaction><SingleChoice><Wrong><Paragraph>a) the art of the possible.</Paragraph></Wrong><Right><Paragraph>b) the art of persuading and pleasing people.</Paragraph></Right><Wrong><Paragraph>c) the art of prediction.</Paragraph></Wrong></SingleChoice></Interaction><Answer><Paragraph>a) It is usually politics, not rhetoric, that is described as ‘the art of the possible’, a saying attributed to a nineteenth-century German statesman, Bismarck.</Paragraph><Paragraph>b) The art of persuading and pleasing people is the definition used in the audio piece.</Paragraph><Paragraph>c) Since rhetoric is designed to persuade people, it is sometimes concerned with future actions, but prediction is not necessarily associated with rhetoric.</Paragraph></Answer></Activity><Activity><Heading>Question 2</Heading><Question><Paragraph>Which of the following claims about the relationship between a good orator and his/her audience are made in the audio piece?</Paragraph></Question><Interaction><MultipleChoice><Right><Paragraph>a) Making an emotional connection between speaker and audience is a good strategy.</Paragraph></Right><Wrong><Paragraph>b) Rhetoric only works if the speaker and audience are already in agreement.</Paragraph></Wrong><Right><Paragraph>c) A degree of ambiguity in a speaker’s words can be effective because it allows the audience to make their own interpretations.</Paragraph></Right></MultipleChoice></Interaction><Answer><Paragraph>a) This claim is made in the audio piece with reference to Earl Spencer’s eulogy (12:49 – 14:40, from ‘Making an emotional connection ...’ to ‘on both counts he succeeded’).</Paragraph><Paragraph>b) This is not a claim being made here. While it can be helpful for a speaker to have ‘supporters’ in the audience, one of the purposes of rhetoric is to persuade people or make them change their minds, so it is not necessary for speaker and audience to be in agreement from the outset.</Paragraph><Paragraph>c) This claim is made in the audio piece with reference to the extract from Tony Blair’s speech (11:32 – 12:00, from ‘One example of this ...’ to ‘and yet that shows empathy’).</Paragraph></Answer></Activity><Activity><Heading>Question 3</Heading><Question><Paragraph>Read the following extract from the speech made by Barack Obama in Grant Park, Illinois, on 4 November 2008, after winning the American presidential election. Then identify examples of the following rhetorical techniques:</Paragraph><UnNumberedList><ListItem>a) the rule of three</ListItem><ListItem>b) imagery</ListItem><ListItem>c) contrast.</ListItem></UnNumberedList><Paragraph>Use the box beneath the extract to record your thoughts.</Paragraph><Quote><Heading>Extract from Barack Obama’s speech at Grant Park on 4 November 2008</Heading><Paragraph>If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible; who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time; who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.</Paragraph><Paragraph>…</Paragraph><Paragraph>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 – Americans who sent a message to the world that we have never been a collection of Red States and Blue States: we are, and always will be, the United States of America.</Paragraph><Paragraph>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.</Paragraph><Paragraph>It’s been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this day, in this election, at this defining moment, change has come to America.</Paragraph></Quote></Question><Interaction><FreeResponse id="a150_001" lang="EN" size="paragraph"/></Interaction><Answer><Paragraph>a) The first paragraph of this extract uses three balanced clauses beginning with ‘who still’ (doubts/wonders/questions).</Paragraph><Paragraph>b) There is a good example of imagery in the third paragraph of the extract, where Obama uses the metaphor of history as an arc that can be bent.</Paragraph><Paragraph>c) The second paragraph of the extract contains plentiful examples of contrast: ‘young and old’; ‘rich and poor’; ‘Democrat and Republican’; etc.</Paragraph></Answer></Activity></Session><Session><Title>Conclusion</Title><Paragraph>We said earlier that looking at speeches and speech-making would allow us to see the ideas of ‘voice’ and ‘text’ converging. Let’s review the ‘voice’ element first.</Paragraph><Paragraph>Since a speech is, by definition, a form of oral communication, the speaker’s voice is a key component in the process, both literally and metaphorically. At a metaphorical level, anyone who makes a speech is articulating a particular, individual point of view, so their ideas and opinions are in a sense embodied in their voice. At a literal level, the actual sounds, pace, rhythm, dynamics and expression in a speaker’s voice all have an effect on the listeners and contribute to the effects of a speech. </Paragraph><Paragraph>But a speech is also a text that has usually (though not always) been written down. Even in apparently impromptu examples, such as the powerful speech of the miner’s wife selected by Tony Benn in the audio piece, we notice that the words have been crafted to achieve particular effects. Like written texts, speeches are <i>composed</i>, often using the tried and tested devices of classical rhetoric. Sometimes the real speech-writer may be an anonymous figure standing in the shadow of a famous orator who actually delivers the speech – but if the speech is to sound authentic, listeners need to be persuaded that there is no gap between composition and delivery.</Paragraph></Session><Session><Title>Keep on learning</Title><Figure><Image src="https://www.open.edu/openlearn/ocw/pluginfile.php/58990/mod_oucontent/oucontent/305/ol_skeleton_keeponlearning_image.jpg" x_folderhash="8ff4c822" x_contenthash="d3c986e6" x_imagesrc="ol_skeleton_keeponlearning_image.jpg" x_imagewidth="300" x_imageheight="200"/></Figure><Paragraph> </Paragraph><InternalSection><Heading>Study another free course</Heading><Paragraph>There are more than <b>800 courses on OpenLearn</b> for you to choose from on a range of subjects. </Paragraph><Paragraph>Find out more about all our <a href="http://www.open.edu/openlearn/free-courses?utm_source=openlearn&amp;utm_campaign=ol&amp;utm_medium=ebook">free courses</a>.</Paragraph><Paragraph> </Paragraph></InternalSection><InternalSection><Heading>Take your studies further</Heading><Paragraph>Find out more about studying with The Open University by <a href="http://www.open.ac.uk/courses?utm_source=openlearn&amp;utm_campaign=ol&amp;utm_medium=ebook">visiting our online prospectus</a>. </Paragraph><Paragraph>If you are new to university study, you may be interested in our <a href=" http://www.open.ac.uk/courses/do-it/access?utm_source=openlearn&amp;utm_campaign=ol&amp;utm_medium=ebook">Access Courses</a> or <a href=" http://www.open.ac.uk/courses/certificates-he?utm_source=openlearn&amp;utm_campaign=ol&amp;utm_medium=ebook">Certificates</a>.</Paragraph><Paragraph> </Paragraph></InternalSection><InternalSection><Heading>What’s new from OpenLearn?</Heading><Paragraph>
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                </Paragraph></Box></Session></Unit><BackMatter><References><Reference>Geertz, C. (1975) ‘Deep play: notes on the Balinese cockfight’ in <i>The Interpretation of Cultures</i>, New York, Basic Books.</Reference><Reference>Moon, J.A. (2006) <i>Learning Journals</i> (2nd edn), London, Routledge.</Reference><Reference>Obama, B. (2008) ‘Election Night Victory/Presidential Acceptance Speech’, Grant Park, Illinois, 4 November, from <i>The Complete Text Transcripts of Over 100 Barack Obama Speeches</i> [online], <a href="http://www.obamaspeeches.com/E11-Barack-Obama-Election-Night-Victory-Speech-Grant-Park-Illinois-November-4-2008.htm">http://www.obamaspeeches.com/E11-Barack-Obama-Election-Night-Victory-Speech-Grant-Park-Illinois-November-4-2008.htm</a> (accessed 22 September 2010).</Reference></References><Acknowledgements><Paragraph>This course was written by Lynda Prescott.</Paragraph><Paragraph>Except for third party materials and otherwise stated (see <a href="http://www.open.ac.uk/conditions">terms and conditions</a>), this content is made available under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/deed.en_GB">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 Licence</a>.</Paragraph><Paragraph>The material acknowledged below is Proprietary and used under licence (not subject to Creative Commons Licence). Grateful acknowledgement is made to the following sources for permission to reproduce material in this free course: </Paragraph><Paragraph>Course image: <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/usarmyafrica/">US Army Africa</a> in Flickr made available under <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/">Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Licence</a>.</Paragraph><Paragraph>Every effort has been made to contact copyright owners. If any have been inadvertently overlooked, the publishers will be pleased to make the necessary arrangements at the first opportunity.</Paragraph><Paragraph/><Paragraph><b>Don't miss out:</b></Paragraph><Paragraph>If reading this text has inspired you to learn more, you may be interested in joining the millions of people who discover our free learning resources and qualifications by visiting The Open University - <a href="http://www.open.edu/openlearn/free-courses?utm_source=openlearn&amp;utm_campaign=ol&amp;utm_medium=ebook">www.open.edu/openlearn/free-courses</a></Paragraph></Acknowledgements></BackMatter><settings>
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