Document Analysis: SOAPSTone Reading Strategy Guide
Name _________________________
Date ____________________
The Funeral Oration of Pericles
Document Title
Speaker
 What voice tells the story? Is the
speaker identified?
 What do you know or what can you
assume about the speaker? Age,
gender, class, education, position in
society?
 How does the speaker’s background
affect his or her point of view?
Occasion
 What encouraged the author to write
this piece? Is it a persuasive speech,
a journal, a declaration, a memory?
 What is the larger occasion? What is
the bigger issue at play?
 What is the immediate occasion?
What was the specific event that
inspired the author to write?
Audience
 For what person or group was the
source created?
 Does the speaker identify the
audience?
 What assumptions can you make
about the intended audience? What
are their values?
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Pericles
“Head citizen” of Athens – ruler during the “Golden Age” of
Athens
Statesman/politician, well educated
Trying to send a message about the city’s glory (role as
politician)
Immediate occasion: speech about those who have fallen during
the Peloponnesian War against Sparta – funeral oration/eulogy
Larger occasion: Glory of Athens, and to explain why families
have sacrificed their sons in this war.
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Intended audience = crowd at the funeral, plus those who would
hear his words later
Audience has come to grieve, and to look to its leader in a time
of trouble and sacrifice
Speaks directly to citizens and families of the fallen
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Glory of Athens
Those who died in the Peloponnesian War
Benefits of Athenian democracy
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Purpose
 What goal does the author want to
accomplish?
 What does the author want the
audience to think, do, or feel after
reading this text?
 How does the author try to
accomplish these goals? Think about
word choice, structure of argument…
Subject
 What is the topic of the text?
 What main ideas are presented in the
text?
 What is the author’s point?
 Is there more than one subject?
 What prior knowledge do you have
about the topic?
TONE
 What is the author’s attitude?
 How does the author feel about the
topic, occasion, or audience?
 How does the author’s use of
language (word choice, imagery,
sentence structure) display the
author’s tone?
Block _______