Winston Churchill begins his speech by addressing all and then
proceeds with using “I.” He uses “I’ to compliment and show respect. He then
switches to “we” as a show of solidarity. His voice is powerful, yet not
overpowering. He speaks slowly, giving the audience time to take in every word.
He pauses when he should, and he gives time for the audience to clap.
Image credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/45909111
There are several examples of Churchill using alliteration. When
he says, “preach what we practice––let us practice what we preach,” he uses
both repetition and alliteration. This rhetorical style gets the attention it
desires. In that same paragraph, there is “poverty and privation” used. In the
last paragraph of the speech, the alliteration is strong: “walk forward in
sedate and sober strength seeking….”
Churchill uses a fair amount of metaphors, beginning with those
used in his paragraph on the UNO. He says that the UNO is “already at work…that
its work is fruitful…that it is a temple of peace…not merely a cockpit in a
Tower of Babel.” And that “…we must be certain that our temple is built, not
upon the shifting sands or quagmires, but upon a rock.” He continues with “…our
path will be difficult and also long….” By quoting from the Bible, he is
appealing to religious beliefs. He alludes to religion two other times when he
says, “God has willed…” and “In my father’s house are many mansions.”
One of the most powerful paragraphs is a good example of appeal
to pathos, with repetition and metaphors added in. In speaking of “the myriad
of cottage or apartment homes where the wage-earner strives amid the accidents
and difficulties of life…” he describes well their plight: “They must be
shielded from two gaunt marauders, war and tyranny. We all know the frightful
disturbance in which the ordinary family is plunged when the curse of war
swoops down upon the breadwinner….” He shows empathy to the common man by
bringing to attention “… the designs of wicked men…aggressive urge of mighty
States…humble folk are confronted with difficulties with which they cannot
cope.”
He ends with the powerful sentence: “For them is all distorted,
all is broken, all is even ground to a pulp.” A visual description of the
plight of the common man.
