The Lost Art of the Great Speech: How to Write It * How to Deliver It

Chapter Ten. Wisdom of the Ages

Chapter Nine began a discussion of rhetorical devices and techniques that professional speech writers use to make their speeches more rhythmic, more dramatic, and more memorable. Remember triads and anaphora? You've just read a triad that is also an example of anaphora—more rhythmic, more dramatic, more memorable.

Now I want you to do a little practice exercise. Read the list of techniques below. For each one, think about what the technique is and try to recall, either from the text or from your own experience, at least one example. Then choose a subject that you might like to write a speech about and write a few sentences or paragraphs in which you apply some or all of the techniques to your subject:

• Alliteration ...