Anaphora In John F Kennedy's Inaugural Address

With each newly elected president, an inaugural address is made. The address’s purpose is to inform the people of the president’s visions and goals for the country. Each president approaches the address in different ways and uses an assortment of literary elements to persuade the country to believe in him and his future plan. John F. Kennedy’s inaugural address uses elements such as anaphora, antithesis, connotation and denotation, and hortative in order to inspire and motivate the country to be better for individual and collective purposes. An anaphora is the repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive paragraphs. This literary element can be used when putting emphasis on important paragraphs or ideas. In John F. Kennedy’s …show more content…
This is the idea of an antithesis. Kennedy states a now famous antithesis in his inaugural address by saying, “[A]sk not what this country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country”. This antithesis begins to make the people think about their part in the country. Some people go about their everyday lives with no urge to attempt to better the land that they live in, but without this urge where does this leave the country? If no one had this drive the nation would surely fail because no effort would be put forth. Kennedy is attempting to light the fire within people so that the country can push forward and become a better nation for …show more content…
Connotation is the implied definition of a word, therefore, many words that Kennedy uses can be taken different ways to different individuals. With this wide variety of meanings, Kennedy can compose sentences that will inspire others in the way necessary for themselves. Words like freedom, poverty, and loyalty are used in his speech, which in turn mean something different to everyone. This abstract use of words causes a pathos based argument due to many people’s strong feelings associated with these words. People generally act upon impulse, hence for the use of emotionally driven words. If Kennedy had chosen to take a logical approach to his speech, the same emotional and motivated response would not occur. Individuals many not see his point if he used words that were a bit more concrete, and this might also cause a lack of support because of the differing opinions of individuals. Emotions are elements that most people do not ignore, therefore, an argument based off of words that cause emotion will typically fall in favor of the composer. In Kennedy’s case he uses his connotation to produce patriotic emotions that will ensure his control of the audience's feelings, which later causes inspiration and motivation in