Practice Paper 1

The text given is William Lyon Phelps's speech that was given during a radio broadcast on April 6^th 1933 entitled “The Pleasure of Books”. The text is identified as a political speech as it has many conventions of such; the use of persuasive techniques, literary devices, repetition as well strong diction, to appeal to the American audience and encourage them to read. That being said, it’s standpoint and approach to the political context deviates as it is with the shown facade of books that masks a more political purpose and message being conveyed. This analysis will look at Phelp’s use of persuasive techniques, literary devices, specific diction and the importance of the context that justifies the creation of the speech.

It is notable that this speech was delivered in a radio station, which was said in the footnote on the text provided, showing that the speech targets any individual in America that listens to the radio which is a quite varied population, ranging from students to educators that have the financial capabilities to buy books, meaning it will target middle to higher class. The purpose of giving this speech is to be able to express how books are essential for personal growth as the author says it is“fundamental in human beings” and that the audience is essential for the books to be read and enjoyed because“you are to them as an audience to an actor”. Phelps, quite ironically, educates listeners and future readers of the text on the importance of education through books and expresses his views on reading with an aim to convince and persuade the general population to read more and even “begin collection a private library in youth”. It is also important to accentuate the context in which the speech was given as 1933 was the year of the rise of the Nazi political party in Germany in which a month after the speech was given, books that had “un-German” ideas were incinerated. This shows a somewhat critical context in which books are needed to be kept in private domicile to be able to be “safe” and a context in which links with books must be stronger to not find oneself in the same situation as Germany and in order to do so, an emotional and logical connection to books must be created and encouraged by general citizens of the country, a political aspect that can be overlooked when looking at the content and theme of the text.

The text touches on the importance of books, Phelps instantly hooks in the listener with the first sentence “The habit of reading is one of the greatest resources of mankind”. He later on speaks about how borrowed are to be “treated with punctiliousness”, they must be used carefully and by that he gives later on the justification that people should “begin collection a private library in youth” as with a borrowed book there is not the same sense of liberty and ease. Phelps gratifies books by saying they are enriching and represent a place and thing to do when the people around us and society are not able to provide us, or enlighten us or enrich our minds which is highlighted by passages “ you can at any moment converse” , and this appreciation of books is further taken by it’s tone and mood.

The tone reveals to be preachy and persuasive, a key characteristic of a political speech, as well as passionate and philosophical , making this specific speech stand out from other more traditional speeches; ultimately creates a powerful and motivational mood in the speech with the use of specific diction and repetition. There are a few repetitions such as an anaphora in the first paragraph repeating the word “cannot” four times and the word “must” twice times in adjacent sentence, further accentuating the importance of books and giving the audience the impression that they need to treat the book with “considerate formality” . Throughout the text, the author abundantly uses the word “should”, which shows the persuasive tone of the text that compliments the preachy tone as the word singularly implies suggestion but it’s repetition denounces the persuasive aspect of the purpose of the text, the use of these words will make the listener think and consider of the idea of following these prospects. The tone is also passionate and this is shown through passages such as “treat then with that affectionate intimacy” as well as pleasurable diction to talk about the books such as “stimulating”, “pleasure” and “freshing”; the usage of a very meliorative language to describe books makes the listener develops a similar outlook to reading as Phelps is installing the idea in their mind. Words such as “aristocratic society” and mention of Socrates creates a philosophical tone to the speech allowing the listeners to expand their thought.  This ultimately creates an unconventional political speech with a powerful and motivational tone as there is encouraging diction such as the words “enjoy”  and “advantages” and the mood is further accentuated by the epistrophe of the word “people” in the fourth paragraph, giving the audience the desire to keep on listening and reading and ultimately  to read more books in their daily lives. The tone and mood are further developed with the use of rhetorics and touch on the appeals of the listeners.

Throughout the text, it is notable that the author uses literary devices and persuasive techniques to be able to further appeal to the general population. Predominantly, it is known to us that Phelps is a notable personality as he has served as a professor of English at Yale University, also being a literary critic and author. The listeners with knowledge of Phelp’s expertise, touches on the appeal of ethos, as they are able to establish a relation of trust which will develops and make them more likely to consider what he has to say.

Throughout the text, books being the primordial topic being discussed, there are smilies, metaphors and personalization of books to make them more desirable and relatable to all listeners. In the first paragraph, borrowed books are being compared to “guests in the house”, and just like a guest it “must not suffer while under your roof”, by doing so, the author directly hits the idea that reading one’s books is more enjoyable than others. This is done to be able to build up further ideas is in the speech as well as begin to make the audience reason and think about their stance with books in their life, hitting them with the reality that borrowed books are “ought to return”. Phelps builds on his idea by saying they should not be “afraid to mark up” books as years back they will be able to revisit the book like “revisiting a forest you once blazed a trail”, giving the opportunity to the reader to recall “intellectual scenery and your own earlier self”. By comparing people to forests, this allows the listener to visualise a peaceful forest and almost establish a spiritual and self growth journey that has a close relation with books; which is a truly desirable aspect of reading that once again makes the listeners consider the perspective of Phelps, and be engulfed by his words. In the second paragraph, the author instantly personalises the book by saying to the listener that they should  “treat them with affectionate intimacy”, and personalises the book in other instances by saying they have “separate personalities” and sitting in a room with books is like being “surrounded by old friends”. The author does so that the listener is affected emotionally and is able to form a close relation with books as if it was a friend. It is also made sure that the listeners do not fully isolate themselves from the people around them by justifying himself with the juxtaposition of the statement “reading has never made me reclusive” even if when asked if he had read his own personal library entirely he replies “Some of them twice”. He further develops the idea by describing literature as “immortal” followed by “most enduring part of personality”, he makes his own jargon “book-friend” and indoctrinates the “advantages” books may have over “personal friends”. His argument is that books allow you the enjoyment of whatever you please “whenever you want it” especially since those who are needed are either “out of our physical reach”, “inaccessible” or “we cannot always see them”. With a private library, the author illustrates the fact that at any moment you can “converse” with various authors that he alludes to such as Shakespeare or Dickens, reaching the listeners by famous writers and this also gives them a ideas on where to start their literary “journey”. All these methods, while having their individual purposes, contribute to the appeal of pathos, as the listeners , throughout the text, are able to truly gasp on the desire of having a stronger relation with books or develop an appreciation through rhetoric language. This is further taken by the author mentioning that the notable authors “laid themselves out” and “did their ultimate best” which highlights the vulnerability in writing and the listeners with that will have the feeling of being shared deep insights from the writers. Phelps closes the texts with the metaphor that the readers “are necessary to them as an audience to an actor” and says that readers look into their “innermost heart of heart”; this statement makes the speech more impactful on the listener ultimately encouraging people to read.

It is with the broadcast of this political speech on the radio that Phelps is able to deliver his perspective on reading and it’s importance . He uses specific diction and stylistic conventions of this text type such as metaphors, similes and personalization as well as appeals to provide the persuasive and preachy tone but this is differentiated by other political speeches as it had passionate tone. Ultimately, while doing so he maintains the primary goal of convincing the general population to read in a critical political context.