Speech Prep - Notes from class today

 

Image taken from Google images on 07/08/12

Here are the notes that we took on the board today regarding the techniques that you may need to consider when discussing your poem, alongside the persuasive techniques that you should be considering. 

Poetic Techniques (remember, some of these techniques are not necessarily poetry techniques but they are literary tools that your poets may be using within the poems you have chosen):

* Inclusive language

* Metaphors

* Similes

* Hyperbole

* Imagery

* Personification

* Alliteration

* Assonance

* Rhyme

* Rhythm

* Binary Opposition

* Juxtaposition

* Repetition 

* Characters

* Narrative within the poem

* Dialogue

* Perspective

* Voice

* First, second or third person

As you identify these techniques within your chosen poem, you should be aiming to discuss how/why a specific technique contributes to your understanding of the poem. Ultimately, you are using the discussion of this techniques to help synthesise your evidence when you are addressing the various elements of the task.

Persuasive techniques:

Second person

Collective first person

Inclusive language

Rhetorical questions

Hyperbole

Emotional language

Personal anecdotes

Vocal features

Non-verbal features (this includes your PowerPoint)

Repetition

Humour

Statistics

You should be utilising a variety of these (as suited to your purpose) throughout the speech. Don't just leave them for the intro and conclusion.

Structure (this is only a suggestion - feel free to adapt your own style):

* Introduction needs to launch your speech. You should have a central idea (like a thesis statement) to work from. Think about what the key element of the task is to help you decide upon an overall focal point. Keep in mind, your intro is also your first opportunity to persuade and engage your audience, i.e. us.

* Your intro must introduce us to your poet and poem, you should also be able to give an indication of which era it comes from. This is a good way to lead into the fact that even though we are reading it many years later, the poem still connects with us because we still share many of the same values, attitudes, ideas, etc. that affected the Romantic and/or Victorian eras.

* Main body can follow any form you like (so long as it makes sense) but you must ensure that you address each of the questions that are included on the task sheet. The easiest way to do this will be to construct paragraphs based on these questions - the order they are in on the task sheet will also provide you with a logical progression in your argument.

* Make sure you continue to persuade and engage us throughout the main body paragraphs and that you consistently link back to the focal point of the argument that you established in the intro.

* The conclusion needs to wrap up your argument. Leave us with something to think about.

* Ensure that we are completely convinced by what you have had to say and make sure that you don't bring in any new information.