Style Elements
Additional Important Terms
John F. Kennedy’s inaugural address is almost a textbook of style elements.
The following brief glossary of terms uses examples from Kennedy’s speech.
STYLE ELEMENTS
alliteration
Repetition of the same sound beginning several words or syllables in sequence.
Let us go forth to lead the land we love . . .
-JFK's Inaugural Address
allusion
Brief reference to a person, event, or place (real or fictitious) or to a work of art.
Let both sides unite to heed in all corners of the earth the command of Isaiah . . .
-JFK's Inaugural Address
A form of parallelism in which the repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive phrases, clauses, or lines.
. . . not as a call to bear arms, though arms we need — not as a call to battle, though embattled we are . . -JFK's Inaugural Address
A form of parallelism that utilizes repetition of words in reverse order.
[A]sk not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country.
-JFK's Inaugural Address
More examples:
I know what I like and I like what I know.
Opposition, or contrast, of ideas or words in a parallel construction. A form of parallelism.
[W]e shall . . . support any friend, oppose any foe . . .
-JFK's Inaugural Address
archaic diction
Old-fashioned or outdated choice of words.
"...beliefs for which our forebears fought."
-JFK's Inaugural Address
Omission of conjunctions between coordinate phrases, clauses, or words. A form of parallelism.
[W]e shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty.
-JFK's Inaugural Address
cumulative sentence
Sentence that completes the main idea at the beginning of the sentence and then builds
and adds on.
But neither can two great and powerful groups of nations take comfort from our present course — both sides overburdened by the cost of modern weapons, both rightly alarmed by the steady spread of the deadly atom, yet both racing to alter that uncertain balance of terror that stays the hand of mankind’s final war.
-JFK's Inaugural Address
epistrophe
the repetition of a word at the end of successive clauses or sentences.
It was a creed written into the founding documents that declared the destiny of a nation: Yes, we can.
It was whispered by slaves and abolitionists as they blazed a trail towards freedom through the darkest of nights: Yes, we can.
It was sung by immigrants as they struck out from distant shores and pioneers who pushed westward against an unforgiving wilderness: Yes, we can.
It was the call of workers who organized, women who reached for the ballot, a president who chose the moon as our new frontier, and a king who took us to the mountaintop and pointed the way to the promised land: Yes, we can, to justice and equality.
Sentence that exhorts, urges, entreats, implores, or calls to action.
Let both sides explore what problems unite us instead of belaboring those problems which divide us.
-JFK's Inaugural Address
NOTE: While both hortative and imperative sentences convey commands or directives, hortative sentences tend to include elements of encouragement or suggestion, whereas imperative sentences are more direct commands or requests.
imperative sentence
Sentence used to command or enjoin.
-My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.
-JFK's Inaugural Address
More Examples:
Get up, stand up, Don’t give up the fight.
inversion
Inverted order of words in a sentence (variation of the subject-verb-object order).
United there is little we cannot do in a host of cooperative ventures. Divided there is little we can do . . .
-JFK's Inaugural Address
juxtaposition
Placement of two things closely together to emphasize similarities or differences.
[W]e are the heirs of that first revolution. Let the word go forth . . . that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans — born in this century . . .
-JFK's Inaugural Address
metaphor
Figure of speech that compares two things without using like or as.
And if a beachhead of cooperation may push back the jungle of suspicion . . .
-JFK's Inaugural Address
oxymoron
Paradoxical juxtaposition of words that seem to contradict one another.
"But this peaceful revolution . . ."
-JFK's Inaugural Address
parallelism
Similarity of structure in a pair or series of related words, phrases, or clauses.
Let both sides explore. . . . Let both sides, for the first time, formulate serious and precise proposals. . . . Let both sides seek to invoke. . . . Let both sides unite to heed . . .
-JFK's Inaugural Address
periodic sentence
Sentence whose main clause is withheld until the end.
To that world assembly of sovereign states, the United Nations, our last best hope in an age where the instruments of war have far outpaced the instruments of peace, we renew our pledge of support . . .
-JFK's Inaugural Address
personification
Attribution of a lifelike quality to an inanimate object or an idea.
"...with history the final judge of our deeds"
-JFK's Inaugural Address
rhetorical question
Figure of speech in the form of a question posed for rhetorical effect rather than for the purpose of getting an answer.
"Will you join in that historic effort?"
-JFK's Inaugural Address
Figure of speech that uses a part to represent the whole.
In your hands, my fellow citizens, more than mine, will rest the final success or failure of our course.
-JFK's Inaugural Address
A form of parallelism in which two different words in a grammatically similar way that produces different, often incongruous meanings.
"Now the trumpet summons us again — not as a call to bear arms, though arms we need — not as a call to battle, though embattled we are — but a call to bear the burden . . ."
-JFK's Inaugural Address