Speech in the VA Convention
Rhetorical Devices!!!!!
“The Speech in the Virginia
Convention” Common Core Tracker
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RI 6: Determine an author’s point of view or purpose in a text in
which the rhetoric is particularly effective, analyzing how style
and content contribute to the power, persuasiveness, or beauty of
the text.
Objective: The student will be able to identify and analyze the use
of the following rhetorical devices: rhetorical question, antithesis,
repetition, parallelism, and biblical allusions.
Literature
Common
Core
“The Speech RI 6
in the
Virginia
Convention”
Date
Taught
Date
Tested
9/2224/13
10/2/14 Even
10/3/14 Odd
Rhetorical Devices
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Rhetorical devices are structures
within language that appeal to
readers and communicate ideas.
In other words, rhetorical devices
make you want to listen.
Rhetorical Devices
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Rhetorical Questions are questions to
which no answers are expected. ex. “But
when shall we grow stronger?”
Antithesis expresses contrasting ideas in
parallel grammatical structures. ex. “Give
me liberty, or give me death.”
Repetition is the recurrence of words,
phrases, or lines. ex. “Let it come! I
repeat sir, let it come!”
Rhetorical Devices
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Parallelism is a kind of repetition in
which words or phrases in the same
grammatical form connect ideas. Ex.
“Is life so dear, or peace so sweet?”
Biblical Allusions are references to
events, figures, or phrases from the
Bible. In this text, they have the
rhetorical appeal of shared beliefs.
Varying Sentence Types
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Declarative: expresses a statement of fact,
desire, intent, or feeling and ends with a period.
“This is no time for ceremony” (Henry ln. 6).
Interrogative: asks a question and ends with a
question mark. “Shall we try argument?” (Henry
ln. 27-28).
Imperative: gives advice or instructions or that
expresses a request or command. “Trust not,
sir” (Henry ln. 27-28).
Exclamatory: Expresses strong emotions and
always ends with an exclamation point. “I repeat
it, sir, we must fight!” (Henry ln. 60).
Homework:
Answer the following questions as you read
the speech on page 230-234
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If you were a delegate at the VA
convention, how would the beginning of
Henry’s Speech affect you?
What is Henry’s purpose for discussing “The
freedom of the debate”?
Is this an effective opening for a speech, or
as a modern reader, do you think the
speech begins too slowly?
A-G in-book questions (skip E)