The text
given is William Lyon Phelps's speech that was given during a radio broadcast on
April 6th 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.
