Great_Speeches_-_Keating

Great speeches transcend time; A great speech can be defined as one which has some inherent rhetorical, social, political and/or historical value. In order for the content of the speech to be appreciated and the listener’s attention to be sustained, the speech needs to move the audience. Speakers use a wide range of language and rhetoric techniques for dramatic and humorous impact, which keeps the audience listening to the speech. Many historical speeches have made a profound impact on contemporary society and the past, present and future of mankind. Great speeches have a clear and focused purpose with an understanding of the audience, they use varied techniques to engage, inform and evoke emotions from the audience. William Deanes “it is still winter at home” and Paul Keating’s “funeral service of the unknown Australian solider” although structured differently, are both crafted as such that their purpose is clear and focused and they engage the audience effectively with powerful imagery and enduring ideas. Both these speeches turn individual tragedies into messages about national unity. Keating uses this soldier as a patriotic symbol, embodying the Australian Anzac Legend, and unity within a nation. Keating is attempting to remind Australia of the sacrifices made by Australian soldiers in the past, and to unite Australian citizens through this. The speech was a eulogy to commemorate all those who had died in wars. It celebrated the courage and bravery of the Aussie battler and called on us to follow the soldier’s ideals and values. Keating relies strongly on emotive language that provokes feelings of unity and patriotism throughout his speech, to express these ideals to his Audience. For instance, in his powerful opening statement “We do not know this Australians name, and we never will.” And “He is all of them. And he is one of us.” Keating also attempts to unite the people, through repetition phrases such as “we”, which are used strongly throughout this speech. Creating a link between the speaker, audience and Unknown Soldier. Another use of Repetition “We do not know” repeated to emphasise the anonymity of unknown soldier to illustrate the many possibilities of who he left behind and where he was from. The second paragraph shows evidence of statistical technique like ‘45,000 Australian who died’ which serve the purpose of supporting his arguments and raising his credibility. However, to prevent implying that the soldier is just a ‘statistic’, paragraph 4 and 5 eloquently states that the Unknown Soldier is a symbolic universal representative of all the Australians who have fought in wars. Keating though out his speech uses emotive language such as “vast and all consuming”, “mad, brutal, awful struggle”, and “Transcended the horror and tragedy and inexcusable folly” this associated the soldiers with heroism and invokes the audience’s patriotism Parallelism is also used extensively throughout the speech as a means of creating syntactical similarity between ideas. Keating also uses juxtaposition of negative and positive patriotic terms; the “horror, terrible, tragedy” of war is set against “nobility and grandeur”. This also helps to maintain the sombre lyrical tone and mood that is appropriate for a funeral speech. Throughout the speech antithetical opposites are commonly used by Keating such as “war/peace”, “lost/gained” to help establish the “unknown soldier”. Keating also achieves his purpose by alluding to the religious / spiritual beliefs of Australians by referring to the faith of people and the ‘enshrinement’ of the Unknown Soldier. “It is not too much to hope therefore, that this unknown Australian solider might continue to serve his country”. By ending on a soft note such as this, the responder is able to reflect on the message Keating has expressed to them after the speech is concluded.