Great Society Speech: Symbols, Motifs, and Rhetorical Devices
Great Society Speech: Symbols, Motifs, and Rhetorical Devices
Imagine
Maybe LBJ was a Lennon fanboy. There's a dreamy "Imagine" quality to the early lines of the speech. Line 17 begins "The Great Society is a place where (…)," and the next five lines repeat "It is...
Juxtaposition
Johnson uses juxtaposition to highlight the differences between the nation as it is and the nation as it could be. He starts at the beginning of the speech: "I have come today from the turmoil of y...
Repetition
America the strong, America the free, America the beautiful (…) (44)Nothing drives home your point like repetition. Five lines starting with "It is a place" and four beginning with "Will you join...
Alliteration
LBJ speechwriter Richard Goodwin, in his memoir, Remembering America, noted the "president's passing passion" for alliteration. Get it? Alliteration—repeating the same letter or sound in close pr...