A Rhetorical Analysis Of Inspirational Speech

Inspiration is a complicated and complex emotions to break down for analysis. Inspiration makes you go beyond the definition of the words. It goes deeper than the eloquent tying of sentences, and the bad attempt at humor. Inspiration is a transcendent adventure which logically shouldn’t happen. I start off listening to a story and word by word it is less about the story but more about the relationship between my life and the speaker’s story. You start asking yourself; can I do it? What if that was me? What if I changed? And then you have this uplifting and urgent urge to work harder, be nicer, be better. The most inspiring stories and speakers are the ones that talk about failure. Growing up we learn that to make it in life you need to be nothing but successful.
This is why when we ace an exam we feel the need to ask for another person’s grade to show off our own but we are never the one to ask when our grades aren’t good. We celebrate and share our successes but always hide our failures. JK Rowling’s Harvard commencement speech is one of the most inspirational speeches I’ve ever heard. That is because she has strong content which is easily understood by her audience due to her delivery and style. Rowling does not glorify failure which many speakers have the tendency to do. She focuses on the opportunities failure created for her, the opportunity to find herself and readjust herself to be known as one of the most famous modern writers. This creates a sense of vulnerability with which the audience identifies. That vulnerability and fear you can hear in her speech is a fear I have felt myself from choosing my university, my degree, applying to different