By Olga Smith
With this blog post, I would like to start the series of Elocution Lessons with Boris Johnson. I have been analyzing his speeches and found a wealth of techniques he is using to make his speeches really stand out. You too can use these techniques and make your speech engaging, interesting and persuasive. In each blog post, I will outline a few speech techniques. I will briefly explain them and will demonstrate them by quoting Boris Johnson.
I particularly like Boris's energizing, optimistic, positive lingo: "indomitable, irrepressible, super, upgraded massively, colossal, greatest ever, sensational legacy, a sense of tingling amazement, boundless excitement.."
Boris was educated in Eton and later studied classics at Oxford. He became an expert in the arts of rhetoric as developed in ancient Greece and Rome. In his speeches, Boris uses techniques that were practised by Greek and Roman statesmen, orators, lawyers and philosophers, such as Cicero and many others. Boris developed his brand of speaking which is optimistic, humorous and clever.
In a nutshell, rhetorical devices are special ways to arrange words to make an idea or thought sound interesting and pleasing. Some of the more effective devices are simile, alliterations, metaphor, and repetition.
In this blog post, I will focus on three rhetorical devices.
1. Alliterations
In alliterations, the initial sounds in words or in stressed syllables within the words are repeated in a pleasing or memorable manner.
"proudly and loudly"
"doubters, doomsters and gloomsters"
"no ifs or buts"
"rebuilt and regenerated"
”irrefutable and irresistible”
”cultural and creative”
”deeply and dangerously" wrong”
”an era of dithering and dubitation”
2. Repetition: triads, ideas, adjectives, and points are grouped in threes.
Expressed in threes, thoughts have a pleasant rhythm, are dramatic and become more memorable.
"We won, because we had superb candidates.
We won because we had a superb campaign director.
We won because of David Cameron persistence, calm and patience."
“Let’s get on with sensible moderate one ...
Let’s get Brexit done...
Let’s bring our country together...”
"We put up wages...
We back our superb armed forces ...
We want an Australian-style points-based system ..."
3. Metaphor
Widely known as a figure of speech in which a word or phrase is applied to an object or action to which it is not literally applicable. A metaphor helps to create a vivid image. There are several types of metaphor: Allegory: Antithesis, Catachresis, Hyperbole, Metonymy, Parable, Pun.
"To keep insisting that the EU is about economics is like saying that the Italian mafia is interested in olive oil and real estate".
“Hilary Clinton looks like a sadistic nurse from a mental hospital”.
"We want the government that works for all people, Corbin wants all people to work for the government".
”That is the difference between Labour and us (Tory), they talk, and we do”.
"piratically captured in social media Twit storm" -widely discussed on Twitter
"economic independence was sacrificed on the altar of the Euro"
"essential tool of economic participation" - about knowledge of English in the UK
"deepest pools of liquidity" - about enormous wealth in London
"merchants of gloom" - about pessimists
"toxic moonshine that makes you blind" - about communism
”..a display of economic masochism” - about Labour economic policies
”economic drag anchor” - about Labour economic policies
”loonies of the left”
”saddled with debt”
"..people with vested interests and indeed interests in vests"
”Let’s get carbon-free by 2050, and Corbin-free by Christmas”
Let me know what rhetoric devices you like to use in your speeches.
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