John F Kennedy Address Rhetorical Devices

Once he was inaugurated on January 20th, 1961, John F. Kennedy prepared to deliver his famous speech. By using a multitude of devices, Kennedy created a speech that would be remembered as a great ‘call to action’ in history. In a time of trouble and confusion for the American people where threats could attack at any time Kennedy had to portray himself as the blanket of warmth in the Cold War. With his use of Scesis Onomaton, Consonance, and more, Kennedy was able to provide an empowering speech to a people that needed it the most, whilst still maintaining a tone that one could find in a casual conversation between friends. One of the most used devices in the address was ‘Scesis Onomaton’. Kennedy employed the use of this device to drive home any point he would be making by use of repetition and rephrasing, “...bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe,” (Kennedy 149 Paragraph 4). By demonstrating Scesis Onomaton he is able to rephrase statements that either mean the same thing or are almost identical to the original phrasing. The use of Scesis
Onomaton also clarifies his meaning to make the speech easier to understand, “If a free society can not help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few that are rich,” (Kennedy 149 Paragraph 8). Kennedy appeals to the culture of the time by providing a relevant example, as he lived in a time where the popular opinion existed that communism was the answer to poverty, he promotes America’s free society and says that it must work harder to ensure the prosperity of all people. Consonance in the speech was easily found.
With the use of sounds that are similar, the speech becomes more poetic and it flows better. With sounds like,”...for the first time, formulate…” (Kennedy 150 Paragraph 16), the speech reads much more smoothly and appeals to people more. When the speech reads smoothly, more people might feel like they agree with what is being said. The use of consonance applies more to the clear and compelling structure, rather than to the conversational tone, as many people do not consciously use consonance in day-to-day conversation. But by making the speech sound better, the speech is that much more compelling and clear and allows for people to be ready to defeat the, “dark powers of destruction,” (Kennedy 150 Paragraph 11), and therefore inspires people to be willing to, “pay any price,” (Kennedy 149 Paragraph 4) for the freedom and safety of their
country. Many other rhetorical devices were used throughout the incredulous speech. To make a long lasting impression and to rile up the audience, Anaphora appears in many different sentences, “Let both sides...” (Kennedy 150 Paragraphs 15-18), maintaining a continuous theme across sentences, feeling like it could be read out loud.