September 15: Opposing Argument Day

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June 4: Repetition for Effect Day

On this date in 1940, Winston Churchill addressed the House of Commons and the British people.  France had fallen to Nazi Germany, but all was not lost:  over 300,000 allied soldiers had been successfully evacuated from Dunkirk.  Churchill’s purpose in this speech was to buoy the spirits of the British people.  Europe had fallen, but the British Empire would not give up and would not go down without a fight.

In the final paragraph, or preoration, of his speech, Churchill unleashed one of history's most dramatic finishes:

 

We shall fight on the seas and oceans,

  we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air,

  we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be.

We shall fight on the beaches,

  we shall fight on the landing grounds,

  we shall fight in the fields and in the streets,

  we shall fight in the hills;

  we shall never surrender . . . .

There's a fine line between repetition and redundancy, but as demonstrated by Churchill, when employed at the right time and at the right place, repetition can create the kind of dramatic emphasis that rolls and resonates like ocean waves repeatedly crashing on the rocky shore.  Churchill, a master of rhetoric, knew what he was doing.  He knew the just when and just where to employ this echo effect for maximum impact.

Another element of Churchill's mastery is his use of succinct, simple language.  As he explains in his "Scaffolding of Rhetoric," published when he was 23 years old:

The shorter words of a language are usually the more ancient. Their meaning is more ingrained in the national character and they appeal with greater force to simple understandings than words recently introduced from the Latin and the Greek. All the speeches of great English rhetoricians--except when addressing highly cultured audiences--display an uniform preference for short, homely words of common usage--so long as such words can fully express their thoughts and feelings....

Today's Challenge:  Repetition for a Reason
Some of the best known sayings, expression, titles, and aphorisms in the English language use repetition for effect:
 

No pain, no gain

 

First come, first served

 

United we stand, divided we fall

 

Put up or shut up

 

Never Say Never Again

Celebrate Repetition for Effect Day by adding to this list.  How many more can you find?


Today's Quote:  Of all the talents bestowed upon men, none is so precious as the gift of oratory. He who enjoys it wields a power more durable than that of a great king. He is an independent force in the world.  --Winston Churchill

 

 

September 3: Treaty of Paris Day

Today is the anniversary of the signing of the 1783 Treaty of Paris which ended the Revolutionary War. The treaty document was signed at the Hotel de York by David Hartley -- the British Representative -- and John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and John Jay, representing the colonies. In what was entitled "The Definitive Treaty of Peace between his Britannic Majesty and the United States of America," Britain recognized the thirteen colonies as free and independent states for the first time (1).

From the beginning of the Revolutionary War until the end, from the Declaration of Independence to the Treaty of Paris, two synonymous words were paramount in the colonists’ struggle against the British: freedom and liberty. Since the French served as midwife for American independence, it's appropriate that one of these words is of French origin: liberty, from Old French via Latin. Freedom is of Anglo-Saxon origin.

The dictionary definitions from the American Heritage Dictionary are so similar as to be practically indistinguishable:

Freedom: The condition of being free of restraints.

Liberty: The condition of being free from restriction or control.

Today's Challenge: Freedom's Just Another Name for . . . Liberty
Memorable quotes don't resonate with the reader by accident. They are crafted using stylistic devices (also known as rhetorical techniques) that make them stand out like italicized passages. The eight quotes below all refer to either freedom or liberty. Each quote also features one of the seven rhetorical techniques defined below. From the three options given for each quote, see if you can identify the most prominent rhetorical technique.

Allusion: A passing reference to a proper noun from history, the Bible, mythology, or literature.

Antithesis: Contrasting ideas used in a parallel structure in the same line or same sentence.

Irony: Saying the opposite of what is meant or expected.

Metaphor: A figurative comparison of two unrelated nouns.

Parallelism: Repetition of grammatical structures in writing.

Personification: Using human attributes to describe things.

Simile: A figurative comparison of two unrelated nouns using "like" or "as."

1. Liberty, when it begins to take root, is a plant of rapid growth. --George Washington
Metaphor, Allusion, Parallelism

2. Freedom has its life in the hearts, the actions, the spirit of men and so it must be daily earned and refreshed -- else like a flower cut from its life-giving roots, it will wither and die. --Dwight D. Eisenhower
Irony, Allusion, Simile

3. Another thing: What has liberty done for us? Nothing in particular that I know of. What have we done for her? Everything. We've given her a home, and a good home, too. And if she knows anything, she knows it's the first time she every struck that novelty. --Mark Twain
Parallelism, Allusion, Personification

4. Liberty, n. One of Imagination's most precious possessions. --Ambrose Bierce
Irony, Allusion, Parallelism

5. We Americans are the peculiar, chosen people--the Israel of our time; we bear the ark of the liberties of the world. --Herman Melville
Irony, Allusion, Parallelism

6. We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. --Thomas Jefferson Irony, Personification, Parallelism

7. Nothing brings more Pain than too much Pleasure; nothing more bondage than too much Liberty. --Benjamin Franklin Metaphor, Antithesis, Allusion

8. As long as men are free to ask what they must, free to say what they think, free to think what they will, freedom can never be lost, and science can never regress. --John F. Kennedy Metaphor, Parallelism, Antithesis (3).

Word of the Day: Revolution
This word, originally from French, emerged in the 14th century as an astronomy term referring to the movement of celestial bodies. It did not acquire a political meaning until the 1600s, where it was used to describe turnarounds in power as well as in planets. The word took on new connotations in 1987 when the song Revolution became the first Beatles song ever to be featured in a television commercial. The ad prompted Paul McCartney to say, “Songs like Revolution don’t mean a pair of sneakers, they mean Revolution” (4).

Quote of the Day: What other liberty is there worth having, if we have not freedom and peace in our minds -- if our inmost and most private man is but a sour and turbid pool? --Henry David Thoreau

Answers: 1. Metaphor 2. Metaphor 3. personification 4. irony 5. allusion 6. parallelism 7. antithesis 8. Parallelism

1- http://www.freedomshrine.com/documents/paris.html
2 - Klos, Stanley L. Treaty of Paris. http://www.treatyofparis.com/
3 - The Book of American Values and Virtues (Edited by Erik A. Bruun and Robin Getzen). New York: Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers, 1996.
4 – Online Etymology Dictionary
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?l=r&p=14

June 6: Parallelism Day

Today is the anniversary of D-Day on June 6, 1944. In the largest invasion in history, known as Operation Overlord, the allied armies assaulted the beaches of Normandy, France with 133,000 soldiers from England, Canada, and the United States. The war in Europe would not end until nearly one year after the Normandy assault, but without a successful invasion on June 6th, the progress of the war and the final outcome certainly would have been different. As a result, if you were to talk about the single most influential day or moment in the 20th century, you would be hard pressed to find any more faithful day than June 6, 1944.

On the morning of June 6, the Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Forces General Dwight D. Eisenhower delivered the following "Order of the Day" to the Allied forces as they awaited their appointment with history:

Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Forces: You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you. In company with our brave Allies and brothers-in-arms on other Fronts you will bring about the destruction of the German war machine, the elimination of Nazi tyranny over oppressed peoples of Europe, and security for ourselves in a free world.

Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well trained, well equipped and battle-hardened. He will fight savagely.

But this is the year 1944! Much has happened since the Nazi triumphs of 1940-41. The United Nations have inflicted upon the Germans great defeats, in open battle, man-to-man. Our air offensive has seriously reduced their strength in the air and their capacity to wage war on the ground. Our Home Fronts have given us an overwhelming superiority in weapons and munitions of war, and placed at our disposal great reserves of trained fighting men. The tide has turned! The free men of the world are marching together to Victory!

I have full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty and skill in battle. We will accept nothing less than full victory!

Good Luck! And let us all beseech the blessing of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking.

As well as planning for victory on D-Day, Eisenhower also had the unpleasant task of preparing for defeat. One day before the D-Day, Eisenhower wrote out the following brief message on a piece of paper:

Our landings in the Cherbourg-Havre area have failed to gain a satisfactory foothold and I have withdrawn the troops. My decision to attack at this time and place was based upon the best information available. The troops, the air and the Navy did all that Bravery and devotion to duty could do. If any blame or fault attaches to the attempt it is mine alone (1).

In his instructions to the sailor, soldiers, and airmen of the Allied forces, Eisenhower employed a specific rhetorical device to give his message punch, and to make it memorable. This rhetorical strategy is called parallelism. Parallelism is a big word for a simple concept. Our brains work naturally to recognize patterns, and our ears appreciate rhythm. Parallelism is not just the repetition of words, it is the repetition of grammatical patterns.

For example when Eisenhower wrote: "Your enemy is well trained, well equipped and battle-hardened" he was using parallelism by repeating the adverb-adjective pattern in: "well trained, well equipped, and battle-hardened."

Another example of parallelism in Eisenhower’s message comes in the last sentence of his first paragraph: "In company with our brave Allies and brothers-in-arms on other Fronts you will bring about the destruction of the German war machine, the elimination of Nazi tyranny over oppressed peoples of Europe, and security for ourselves in a free world." Here Eisenhower uses the parallel nouns, destruction, elimination, and security, and he follows each noun with a prepositional phrase to elaborate on his ideas.

Good writers and good speakers know the power of parallelism to expand their ideas, to add rhythm to their writing, and to make their writing more coherent and memorable.

Today’s Challenge: I Came, I Saw, I Conquered Parallelism
Combine each of the following groups of sentences into a single sentence that features parallelism.

1. Last summer I built a log home. I ran a marathon. I organized my stamp collection.

2. I am the kind of person who likes listening to music. I am the kind of person who enjoys watching TV. I am the kind of person who loves eating out.

3. A good English teacher needs three things. He needs a dependable stapler. He needs an up-to-date dictionary. He needs an iron will.

4. Every child should have a pet. Pets provide companionship. Pets teach compassion. Pets encourage responsibility.

Quote of the Day: In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable. --Dwight D. Eisenhower

Answers:
1. Last summer I built a log home, ran a marathon, and organized my stamp collection.

2. I am the kind of person who likes listening to music, enjoys watching TV, and loves eating out.

3. A good English teacher needs three things: a dependable stapler, an up-to-date dictionary, and an iron will.

4. Every child should have a pet, because pets provide companionship, teach compassion, and teach responsibility.

1 - http://www.eisenhower.archives.gov/dl/dday/ddaypage.html

Military Metaphor in Ethan Frome

In the novel Ethan Frome, the winter weather is a major character. The following passage from the opening chapter is a great example of how a writer uses metaphor to create images and to set a tone. In this case the picture is the besieged town of Starkfield, and the tone is one of the inhabitants being captive to the oppressive cold and snow.

As students read the passage, have them highlight the words used by the author to extend the military metaphor:

When I had been there a little longer, and had seen this phase of crystal clearness followed by long stretches of sunless cold; when the storms of February had pitched their white tents about the devoted village and the wild cavalry of March winds had charged down to their support; I began to understand why Starkfield emerged from its six months' siege like a starved garrison capitulating without quarter. Twenty years earlier the means of resistance must have been far fewer, and the enemy in command of almost all the lines of access between the beleaguered villages; and, considering these things, I felt the sinister force of Harmon's phrase: "Most of the smart ones get away." But if that were the case, how could any combination of obstacles have hindered the flight of a man like Ethan Frome?

A good follow-up activity is to have students write a description of their own hometown using an extended metaphor.

Revision With Anaphora

Today in class I showed students the following two versions of the same passage. Previously they had written on the following prompt: In a crisis, is it best to act quickly and instinctively, or should you slow down and be more careful and deliberate? I asked students to read the passages and identify the anaphora (see Anaphora Day: August 28). I then asked:


Does the anaphora in Version 2 make it better or worse than Version 1?

Version 1
In a crisis, immediate, instinctive action is not always the best alternative because as humans we should capitalize on our evolutionary advantage: our ability to think and deliberate before acting. Certainly time is an issue. If you are Peyton Manning and a 300 pound opponent is about to squash you, there is no time to stop and deliberate; instead, you must act immediately. However, the best players, like Peyton Manning don’t use just instinct. They spend the time they have before a game planning, thinking, deliberating, studying film, and anticipating what they will do when the opponent is blitzing. It’s this kind of planning that gives them the advantage come game time. They have used the time allotted and their brain power to its full advantage. It is this careful planning and thinking that separates us from animals and that separates the great athletes, CEOs, generals, and presidents from the average ones. It was the great Dallas Cowboy quarterback Roger Staubach who said, “Spectacular achievements are always preceded by unspectacular preparation.” Deliberate planning and thinking is not always as flashy and impressive as decisive, immediate action, but it is, in the long-run, more important.

Version 2
In a crisis, immediate, instinctive action is not always the best alternative because as humans we should capitalize on our evolutionary advantage: our ability to think and to deliberate before acting. Certainly time is an issue. If you are Peyton Manning and a 300 pound opponent is about to squash you, there is no time to stop and deliberate; instead, you must act immediately. However, the best players, like Peyton Manning, don’t use just instinct. They spend the time they have before a game carefully planning and carefully thinking and carefully deliberating and carefully studying film and carefully anticipating what they will do when the opponent is blitzing. It’s this kind of planning that gives them the competitive advantage come game time. They have used the time allotted and their brain power to its full advantage. It is this careful planning and thinking that separates us from animals and that separates the great athletes, great CEOs, great generals, and great presidents from the average ones. Hall of Fame quarterback Dallas Cowboy quarterback Roger Staubach said, “Spectacular achievements are always preceded by unspectacular preparation.” Deliberate planning and thinking is not always as flashy and impressive as decisive, immediate action, but it is, in the long-run, more important.


Students' comments about the passages helped to illustrate the kinds of questions that writers ask as they revise. Some students felt that the anaphora in Version 2 was a bit over-done. They preferred the second use of it in "great athletes . . . " over the first use of it in "carefully planning . . . ." Some did notice, however, that the "carefully planning" sentence shows how form can follow function. Repeating the word "carefully" as well as the word "and" slows down the sentence, which echoes the writer's point: don't act swiftly -- slow down and take your time. My goal here was to show that rhetorical devices like anaphora aren't just decorations. Instead they are tools that writers use for a purpose -- the right tool helps the writer accomplish his goal, just as the right rhetorical device helps the writer make his point.

September 3: Treaty of Paris Day

Today is the anniversary of the signing of the 1783 Treaty of Paris which ended the Revolutionary War. The treaty document was signed at the Hotel de York by David Hartley -- the British Representative -- and John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and John Jay, representing the colonies. In what was entitled "The Definitive Treaty of Peace between his Britannic Majesty and the United States of America," Britain recognized the thirteen colonies as free and independent states for the first time (1).

From the beginning of the Revolutionary War until the end, from the Declaration of Independence to the Treaty of Paris, two synonymous words were paramount in the colonists’ struggle against the British: freedom and liberty. Since the French served as midwife for American independence, it's appropriate that one of these words is of French origin: liberty, from Old French via Latin. Freedom is of Anglo-Saxon origin.

The dictionary definitions from the American Heritage Dictionary are so similar as to be practically indistinguishable:

Freedom: The condition of being free of restraints.

Liberty: The condition of being free from restriction or control.

Today's Challenge: Freedom's Just Another Name for . . . Liberty
Memorable quotes don't resonate with the reader by accident. They are crafted using stylistic devices (also known as rhetorical techniques) that make them stand out like italicized passages. The eight quotes below all refer to either freedom or liberty. Each quote also features one of the seven rhetorical techniques defined below. From the three options given for each quote, see if you can identify the most prominent rhetorical technique.

Allusion: A passing reference to a proper noun from history, the Bible, mythology, or literature.

Antithesis: Contrasting ideas used in a parallel structure in the same line or same sentence.

Irony: Saying the opposite of what is meant or expected.

Metaphor: A figurative comparison of two unrelated nouns.

Parallelism: Repetition of grammatical structures in writing.

Personification: Using human attributes to describe things.

Simile: A figurative comparison of two unrelated nouns using "like" or "as."

1. Liberty, when it begins to take root, is a plant of rapid growth. --George Washington
Metaphor, Allusion, Parallelism

2. Freedom has its life in the hearts, the actions, the spirit of men and so it must be daily earned and refreshed -- else like a flower cut from its life-giving roots, it will wither and die. --Dwight D. Eisenhower
Irony, Allusion, Simile

3. Another thing: What has liberty done for us? Nothing in particular that I know of. What have we done for her? Everything. We've given her a home, and a good home, too. And if she knows anything, she knows it's the first time she every struck that novelty. --Mark Twain
Parallelism, Allusion, Personification

4. Liberty, n. One of Imagination's most precious possessions. --Ambrose Bierce
Irony, Allusion, Parallelism

5. We Americans are the peculiar, chosen people--the Israel of our time; we bear the ark of the liberties of the world. --Herman Melville
Irony, Allusion, Parallelism

6. We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. --Thomas Jefferson Irony, Personification, Parallelism

7. Nothing brings more Pain than too much Pleasure; nothing more bondage than too much Liberty. --Benjamin Franklin Metaphor, Antithesis, Allusion

8. As long as men are free to ask what they must, free to say what they think, free to think what they will, freedom can never be lost, and science can never regress. --John F. Kennedy Metaphor, Parallelism, Antithesis (3).

Word of the Day: Revolution
This word, originally from French, emerged in the 14th century as an astronomy term referring to the movement of celestial bodies. It did not acquire a political meaning until the 1600s, where it was used to describe turnarounds in power as well as in planets. The word took on new connotations in 1987 when the song Revolution became the first Beatles song ever to be featured in a television commercial. The ad prompted Paul McCartney to say, “Songs like Revolution don’t mean a pair of sneakers, they mean Revolution” (4).

Quote of the Day: What other liberty is there worth having, if we have not freedom and peace in our minds -- if our inmost and most private man is but a sour and turbid pool? --Henry David Thoreau

Answers: 1. Metaphor 2. Metaphor 3. personification 4. irony 5. allusion 6. parallelism 7. antithesis 8. Parallelism

1- http://www.freedomshrine.com/documents/paris.html
2 - Klos, Stanley L. Treaty of Paris. http://www.treatyofparis.com/
3 - The Book of American Values and Virtues (Edited by Erik A. Bruun and Robin Getzen). New York: Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers, 1996.
4 – Online Etymology Dictionary
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?l=r&p=14

September 3: Treaty of Paris Day

Today is the anniversary of the signing of the 1783 Treaty of Paris which ended the Revolutionary War. The treaty document was signed at the Hotel de York by David Hartley, the British Representative, and John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and John Jay, representing the colonies. In what was entitled "The Definitive Treaty of Peace between his Britannic Majesty and the United States of America," Britain recognized the thirteen colonies as free and independent states for the first time (1).

The document began as follows:

In the name of the most holy and undivided Trinity.

It having pleased the Divine Providence to dispose the hearts of the most serene and most potent Prince George the Third, by the grace of God, king of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, defender of the faith, duke of Brunswick and Lunebourg, arch- treasurer and prince elector of the Holy Roman Empire etc., and of the United States of America, to forget all past misunderstandings and differences that have unhappily interrupted the good correspondence and friendship which they mutually wish to restore, and to establish such a beneficial and satisfactory intercourse , between the two countries upon the ground of reciprocal advantages and mutual convenience as may promote and secure to both perpetual peace and harmony . . . . (2).

From the beginning of the Revolutionary War until the end, from the Declaration of Independence to the Treaty of Paris, two synonymous words were paramount in the Americans' struggle against the British: freedom and liberty. Since the French served as midwife for American independence, it's appropriate that one of these words is of French origin: liberty is from Old French via Latin. Freedom is of Anglo-Saxon origin.

The dictionary definitions from the American Heritage Dictionary are so similar as to be practically indistinguishable:

Freedom: The condition of being free of restraints.

Liberty: The condition of being free from restriction or control.

Today's Challenge: Freedom's Just Another Name for . . . Liberty

Memorable quotes don't resonate with the reader by accident. They are crafted using stylistic devices (also known as rhetorical techniques) that make them stand out like italicized passages. The eight quotes below all refer to either freedom or liberty. Each quote also features one of the seven rhetorical techniques defined below. From the three options given for each quote, see if you can identify the most prominent rhetorical technique.

Allusion: A passing reference to a proper noun from history, the Bible, mythology, or literature.

Antithesis: Contrasting ideas used in a parallel structure in the same line or same sentence.

Irony: Saying the opposite of what is meant or expected.

Metaphor: A comparison of two unrelated nouns.

Parallelism: Repetition of grammatical structures in writing.

Personification: Using human attributes to describe things.

Simile: A comparison of two unrelated nouns using "like" or "as."

1. Liberty, when it begins to take root, is a plant of rapid growth. --George Washington

Metaphor, Allusion, Parallelism

2. Freedom has its life in the hearts, the actions, the spirit of men and so it must be daily earned and refreshed -- else like a flower cut from its life-giving roots, it will wither and die. --Dwight D. Eisenhower

Irony, Allusion, Simile

3. Another thing: What has liberty done for us? Nothing in particular that I know of. What have we done for her? Everything. We've given her a home, and a good home, too. And if she knows anything, she knows it's the first time she every struck that novelty. --Mark Twain

Parallelism, Allusion, Personification

4. Liberty, n. One of Imagination's most precious possessions. --Ambrose Bierce

Irony, Allusion, Parallelism

5. We Americans are the peculiar, chosen people--the Israel of our time; we bear the ark of the liberties of the world. --Herman Melville

Irony, Allusion, Parallelism

6. We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. --Thomas Jefferson
Irony, Personification, Parallelism

7. Nothing brings more Pain than too much Pleasure; nothing more bondage than too much Liberty --Benjamin Franklin

Metaphor, Antithesis, Allusion

8. As long as men are free to ask what they must, free to say what they think, free to think what they will, freedom can never be lost, and science can never regress. --John F. Kennedy

Metaphor, Parallelism, Antithesis (3).

Quote of the Day: What other liberty is there worth having, if we have not freedom and peace in our minds -- if our inmost and most private man is but a sour and turbid pool? --Henry David Thoreau

Answers:
1. Metaphor 2. Metaphor 3. personification 4. irony 5. allusion 6. parallelism 7. antithesis 8. Parallelism

1- http://www.freedomshrine.com/documents/paris.html

2 - Klos, Stanley L. Treaty of Paris.
http://www.treatyofparis.com/

3 - The Book of American Values and Virtues (Edited by Erik A. Bruun and Robin Getzen). New York: Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers, 1996.