[0:00]Hi everyone, welcome to Miss Adams Teaches English Language and Literature A Level. In this video, we're going to be taking a look at the extract from JFK's inaugural speech from 1961. It comes from the Edexcel Voices in Speech and Writing Anthology. I'm going to take you through contextual factors, we'll have a little bit of a chat about the genre, audience and purpose before we take a look at some of the kind of key moments of the speech and we'll focus in on how to describe his voice and the literary and linguistic features that underpin his message. Let's get started.
[0:38]Okay, so let's just go through some of the kind of major factors of content and context for the inaugural speech. So obviously this took place on January the 20th, 1961. Um John F Kennedy was the youngest president, he was only in his early 40s. Um and he was replacing, um Eisenhower who was a Republican, so he was, Jeff was a Democrat coming into power. Um he only served one term, so this is his one and only, uh inaugural, um, speech and it's a speech that is so full of kind of hope and optimism, whilst kind of balancing out the kind of threats of the day. Um there is as you can imagine, quite a big focus um on the Cold War, um and uh there's references to kind of development. You've got to remember that Cold War, the Space Race, you know, so he was needing to assert himself as the President of the Free World, but also someone who was going to be successful and pushed through and recover. Excuse me, and recover, whilst also really kind of trying to demonstrate um that he was going to be a president that created uh peace. Um and so you really, really see um that coming through the speech, this sort of optimism and this kind of youthfulness, whilst countering the sort of uh the tension between the US and the USSR. Um so looking at genre audience and purpose, um it is a speech. Of course it's a speech, it's a very specific speech, it's the inaugural address. Um so that it means that this is highly planned, highly crafted, full of rhetoric, written by him, but also by his aids, you know, people in the White House, it would have been uh crafted and rehearsed within an inch of its life. The audience is absolutely mahoosive, not a word for your essays, very big, global. Um obviously you've got your first level audience, and those are the people that are in Washington listening to it. Uh you've got the wider audience of America, the huge audience that is America, and then that's going out globally. Um but obviously this has a lasting global audience because it's such a significant moment in history. Um and one of the early kind of televised ones as well, so that's kind of monumental and um in itself. Um and the purpose is multi-layered, because yes, there is a um a legal reason for the speech, uh because it is signing in um him as the present the US executive government. Um and of course, it's like his opening gambit of what his presidency is going to look like. So yes, he's obviously stating his aims and objectives, it's establishing him as the leader. But there's all of this kind of um, like undercurrents going in, which is all about reassurance, uniting, instilling hope, creating a sense of inclusion between America, with in America, and then between America and other uh you know, uh like sister countries as he describes it, um, in the speech.
[4:09]Um and yeah, it's it's very much about positioning America as a kind of place of power. So the voice is going to be so rhetorical, powerful and emotive, it's going to be inspirational. Um you're going to see um a lot of that kind of motivational kind of speaking, uh all about instilling this kind of sense of hope, but also at the same time with a bit of balance. So you'll see what I mean in each slide. Now, as you know, in these videos, I don't do the whole shebang. So, and this is a really, uh quite a big extract actually. Um so forgive me that I don't go through everything. If you want a line by line analysis, do check out my friend and colleague Elise Fella, because she's, she's done a kind of fully annotated one. So if you, if, if you need every little bit, go and have a little look at her channel and um and you'll find more detail than I'm going to give you here. But for now, let's just start with the opening. So there's a real, um sort of powerful start to the extract. This isn't the start of the speech, sorry, just to clarify. Um and one of the things that we've got here is this series of anaphoric um references, anaphoric structures. Uh all of the next few paragraphs, sort of four or five paragraphs, will all start addressing, like with this address to different, uh countries, or states or whatever it might be. So just, uh you know, keep an eye out for that as we go through, so we've got these to the, to those new states whom we welcome to the ranks of the free, we pledge our word that one form of colonial control shall not have passed away merely to be replaced by a far more iron tyranny.
[6:17]We shall not always expect to find them supporting our view. But we shall always hope to find them strongly supporting their own freedom and to remember that in the past, those who foolishly sought power by riding the back of the tiger ended up inside. So, he's actually making reference to uh states that have uh just become free from uh European colonial control. Uh so, uh places for example, like in Africa, Vietnam is also quite significant here as well. Um and this is all about kind of, sort of demonstrating the options, you know, so the, the suggestion is that actually these states should be aligned with the ranks of the free. This abstract noun um here, the free, uh reminding um his audience of like American ideals. Um and that's in massive juxtaposition to this sort of sense of threat, the far more iron tyranny, which is a metaphor alluding to the USSR. Um so there's a kind of sense here that um that these, these states have got like two options, they either go with freedom and democracy, or they find themselves aligned with somewhere like USSR, where the the indication is is that it would be just as dictatorial, uh in terms of its control, as they had under European uh colonial, uh colonial control. Um and we, you know, he says, we shall not always expect to find them supporting our view. So again, there's a little sense of balance there, again a reminder that the, the, the ideals or the ideologies may not match up. Uh but we shall always hope to find them strongly supporting their own freedom. Um and so, again, it's this idea that saying you are free, it's very, very clear to make sure that he's, he's reiterating this idea about choice and about freedom. Um you know, to, to, to have your own kind of position, it may not always be the same with us, but we it's like a kind of sense of respect. Um note how we've got frontal coordinate conjunctions that suggests a kind of opposing views, but it's softened by the we shall always hope to find them. So again, that sort of sense of optimism. So all of this positivity, all of this optimism, all of this kind of sense of balance, it's a really kind of non-threatening approach, and then suddenly, we get this shift in tone. Remember that in the past, those who foolishly sought power by riding the back of the tiger ended up inside. So this is really, really key, because here is the threat, you got this massive predatory metaphor. Um and what he's really saying is that power is corrupting. And so this, again, is about the USSR. It's saying don't piggy back off the power of the USSR because you're going to find yourself eaten up. So, in this metaphor, the tiger is the USSR, he's saying watch out, don't be aligning yourself with them because you may think that you're gaining power, but actually, you're going to end up gobbled up. So very, very literary, um in its, uh, in his approach there. Okay. Um so we have um a very sort of inspirational tone in this, uh next section. Again, we've got that anaphoric structure, starting each paragraph with this address in this case, we're addressing those people in the huts and villages of half of the globe who are struggling. So we've got very emotive verb choices, and what are they struggling to do? Break the bonds of mass misery, so highly emotive uh language choices here. Uh note the fact that we've got plosive alliteration here in this metaphor, break the bonds, and then we've got nasal alliteration in mass misery, which is quite elongating as well, so kind of almost like emphasizes the sheer quantity of misery. Now, he sets up, so if you look in the first half of this complex sentence, in the subordinate clause of the complex sentence, he sets up the suffering and the struggling, which means that the main clause that comes here, begins again with this repeated verb. We pledge our best efforts to help them help themselves. So not only is it positioning him and America as this kind of um inspirational force who can offer help and solutions. It's also promising freedom, because it's not help them, it's help them help themselves. So it's actually about saying, you are strong and and you can do this yourself, we'll just help you do it. Uh so it's quite a kind of liberating kind of concept. Um and note the kind of vagueness here of this uh interrogative determiner, for whatever period is required. So he's saying it won't run out. They'll always be there, okay? Not because the Communists may be doing it, not because we seek their votes, but because it is right. Now that triad is a lovely one, okay, also anaphoric in the first two clauses of the triad. Um and by kind of demonstrating the negatives, these aren't the reasons we're doing it, he then puts focus on the actual reason for doing it, which is the third part, but because it is right. And that is loaded with this kind of sense of morality. Again, it's positioning him and uh America under his leadership as this kind of morally just force. And then we've got this lovely jux the position, or antithesis, if a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich. It's almost epigrammatic that in phrase, uh the balance of it, the rhythm of it. Um and again, note the repetition of this, now we've using this as an adjective, a free society, so again, America, free. If you can't help who are the ones who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich. So again, note, there's a teeny, tiny little kind of sense of threat in there as well, there are things to to be concerned about. Okay. Um so highly rhetorical here, very optimistic, idealistic in uh tone. So, I've popped in the openings of a succession of paragraphs, I've not done everything because I just wanted you to continue to see that anaphoric structure. Um and just the ways that things are shifted slightly. So now the address here is to our sister Republic South of our border. Um so we've got this personification of uh South America, um but the familial personification, sister, it creates a sense of unity, and again, we've got that in the possessive pronoun to our sister, the inclusive nature of that. And here, even though we have the same repetition of the notion of pledging, here it's a noun rather than a verb, it's offering a pledge. But look at the way that it's modified with this attributive adjective special. So it's really highlighting a kind of bond uh between America and places like South America. Um and we get this repetition to convert our good words into good deeds. So there's a real sense of a promise of action here. Um that it won't just be empty words. Uh in a new alliance for progress, to assist free men and free governments in casting off the chains of poverty. So again, note this metaphor is all about the idea of freedom again, and overcoming oppression. Um again, that metaphor of the chains is so, so emotive um there, and we've got the uh repetition once more of this adjective free. So again, it's really emphasizing what America has and how they can help. Um so we've got the next bit, to that world assembly of sovereign states, the United Nations, our last best hope in an age where the instruments of war have far outpaced the instruments of peace, we renew our pledge of support. Okay, so there's loads of things that we need to talk about there. Um so this little adjectival phrase, our last best, yeah, our last hope, our best hope, our last best hope. So he's basically creating a sense of urgency, but at the same time, pointing out that just because it's urgent doesn't mean that it wouldn't be the choice he would have made. So it might be the last hope, but it's still the best one. So you're getting urgency and reassurance all in one go through those attributive adjectives. Attributive meaning the adjective comes before the noun, I suppose, pre-modifying is another phrase that you could use. Um, we also have this juxtaposition between the instruments of war and the instruments of peace. Again, very kind of powerfully emotive metaphors there. And again, urgency has been created because of the of this, um they have outpaced. So this verb which suggests speed. So again, we've got this sort of sense of threat, we are alluding to nuclear power here. Um and that is why, in this case, this pledge is renewed. So it's a reminder that this is something that they've been doing all along, but it will just continue. And then this is the last paragraph in these anaphoric addresses of to this person, to that place, to this. Um and you can see that because we've got this discourse marker, finally. Um and that finally, that discourse marker creates a shift in tone, because suddenly, we're talking to our enemies. You know, we've gone from our sisters, you know, and our nations and our friends and our allies, and now we're like, now we're talking to adversaries. Finally, finally, to those nations who would make themselves our adversary, we offer not a pledge but a request. Now, this is interesting, okay? Because even though he's addressing the enemy, again, we assume that he is referring to USSR. He's quite, um balanced, he's quite careful, he's not sort of hyperbolic. He says, we're making a request, this isn't a promise, this is a request. So he's setting himself up here as diplomatic, as as having diplomacy. We're not coming in all guns blazing, we're going to talk to you like adults, we're going to make a request. And that request uh has this brilliant metaphor in it about uh beginning the quest for peace. So it's almost kind of making it feel almost mythological, you know, it's it's a quest, it's like the Holy Grail, it's going to be, there's going to be hardship, there's going to be struggle, but again, it's the most important thing, the quest for peace. And then we get the emotive language, crikey, Mikey, before the dark powers of destruction unleashed by science engulf all humanity in planned or accidental self-destruction. So this is when everyone actually starts to feel a horrifying panic and fear. Um because again, the reminder, it's it's reiterating this sort of sense of threat, that if the instruments of war are outpacing the instruments of peace, we could accidentally create the end of the world. So he's saying, let's not let this kind of power, um create uh apocalyptic horrors in the future. Um so we've got really emotive language, we've all emphasized through the plosive alliteration in, uh, we've got the dark, destruction, powers, planned, destruction again. I think the verb unleashed, um almost, I mean, it it it sounds edging almost into the sort of supernatural. Um the idea of evil unleashed, it's creating a sense of threat. So this is very careful and clever, because he is both reassuring America, whilst also reminding them that there are things to be frightened of, which creates like, uh more importance for his role, like what he's doing.
[20:49]Okay. Um now, this has a little bit of kind of context that needs explaining. So we dare not tempt them with weakness. So suddenly we've got this very kind of short, simple declarative, um, sentence. Um and the weakness, this abstract noun, um he's saying that our, us showing weakness would be too tempting to them. To act, so he's saying in order to keep them at bay, we need to constantly show ourselves as strong. And then he qualifies that statement, okay, so this next statement is an explanation of what he means. For only when our arms are sufficient beyond doubt can we be certain beyond doubt that they will never be employed. This is all about the development of uh weaponry, it's part of this kind of idea about the arms race, proliferation of arms. He's saying that in order to ensure that nothing is used against us, we need to show them that we have as much as they do in terms of arms. And this is something that pre his presidency, he had been saying, there is a really big gap. They have more than we do, and that is a threat. So he's justifying this development by saying it's not because we want to use them, it's because we don't, and that has got to be the kind of position of power that we're in. Um okay. Uh continuing here, uh we've got a nice uh frontal coordinate conjunction, sort of kind of showing the um opposite side. Neither can two great and powerful groups of nations take comfort from our present course. So he's saying, yeah, this, we might have all of this, but that doesn't make us feel good, you know, there, there is, there should be rightfully a kind of sense of fear. Um look at the way that anaphora is used here, because the emphasis is being placed on this determiner here, both, both. Uh because he's reminding the world now, you know, that it's not just his job to create peace, it's the other nations as well that have got to work with him. Both sides overburdened by the cost of modern weapons. So that's coming back to this. Both rightly alarmed, note that adverb there, rightly alarmed by the steady spread of the deadly atom. Yet both racing to alter that uncertain balance of terror that stays the hand of mankind's final war. So again, similar language uh to the previous section that we looked at, we're almost getting this sort of semantic field of uh well, destruction. Uh we've had destruction, self-destruction, final war, um deadly atom. Um but again, he's reminding us of the stakes. So, position of power, we're all good, but don't forget the stakes.
[24:19]Okay. Um so this section has another kind of um, anaphoric structure. So quite like the early part, but this time, rather than addressing um these different parts. This is now a kind of a call to action. So he repeatedly uses imperatives and then inclusive pronouns. So let us begin anew, yeah, and then let both see, let both sides seek, let both sides unite. So it's gone from anaphoric, I am addressing you and telling you what the deal is, and now it's call to action, work with me, do this with me. So let us begin anew, remembering on both sides, again, that determiner being repeated. Civility is not a sign of weakness, and sincerity is always subject to proof. Let us never negotiate out of fear, but let us never fear to negotiate. So we've got chiasmus here, which is that inversion of the word, so very, very rhetorical, very inspirational. It's almost wildian uh in his, in his syntax here. And again, it's creating this position of power. We're never going to be impulsive because we're frightened, but we're also not going to be frightened of negotiating. So it's suggesting balance and diplomacy once more. Uh we've got, oh, I have cut a few bits out, I've not done all of the let, let both sides, okay? So do go and have a a little look, but I thought this one was brilliant. Um let both sides seek to invoke the wonders of science instead of its terrors. So it's a reminder of how science can be used so positively, because he was, he was talking about science as a threat before, and now he's reminding that it's got its place, and that is the wonders of science instead of its terrors. So brilliant jux to position there between those abstract nouns, wonders and terrors. And then we get this asyndetic listing, together let us explore the stars, conquer the deserts, eradicate disease, tap the ocean depths, and encourage the arts and commerce. So it really creates that incredibly inspirational tone, uh here, about all of the things that a united world, um could do together. He then shifts and we get a biblical allusion, let both sides unite to heed, in all corners of the earth, so very inclusive, the command of Isaiah to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free. Uh so this is, can I remember the chapter of Isaiah that it's from? Uh book of Isaiah 58:6. I've got it written in a note, I didn't remember it. Um but this is in this moment in the Bible, Isaiah is talking about, um how in order to worship God properly, um you've got to, um you you've you've got to kind of lead with charity and goodness. And again, it's about, yeah, undoing the heavy burdens, is the, the darkness that's all, like, if you're going to undo the darkness that's already occurred, you've got to look after those who are oppressed. Set them free. So very, very powerful. And then in this next little bit, which I believe is the penultimate of the extract. Um and if a beachhead of cooperation may push back the jungle of suspicion, let both sides join in creating a new endeavor. So this is quite tricky here, it's a military metaphor, um and the image is of someone um staging an assault uh from water onto land, I believe. And so really the reason for using this military metaphor is about, well, you can see it in that word there, it's about cooperation and about working together. So he's saying, if we can work tactically together and push back the jungle of suspicion, I love that metaphor, the kind of, the complexity and the denseness of suspicion. Then, you know, we could join in a new and create a new endeavor, and in this parenthesis, he's quite careful, it's nicely syntactically, it's nice and syntactically parallel, he says, not a new balance of power, but a new world of law. So he's not saying this is about creating super powers, this is about creating a sense of order, you know, of of things being easier and and more controlled. And then he clarifies and qualifies further what he means in this triad, where the strong are just, the weak secure, and the peace preserved. So what he's saying there is that the people in charge, the strong have a moral compass. It comes back to that idea of morality once more. And in a world where the strong are morally sound, the weak, people who aren't in positions of power, are safe, and therefore peace is preserved. So the triad is like the end of the equation, it's that plus that equals peace.
[31:34]And this is our last bit. Well done, this is quite a long one, especially considering I'm cut half of it out. Um so we start with um declarative sentence. All this will not be finished in the first one hundred days, so declarative simple sentence. So there's a kind of sense of realism here. He managed to be both optimistic and realistic at the same time, which is very clever. Um note the kind of vagueness, all of this will not be finished in the first one hundred days, nor will it be finished in the first one thousand days, nor in the life of this administration, nor even perhaps in our lifetime on this planet. This is so beautifully structured. Anaphoric again, because we've got this repetition of this negating adverb, nor, nor, nor. But in each of these clauses, we get adverbials of time, and then those adverbials of time amplify. So it starts with it's not a hundred days, it's not a thousand days, it's not the life of administration, and then note the way that it goes um days, day, life, lifetime, and then lifetime on this planet. So through amplifying and escalating the adverbs of time, making them greater and greater and greater, he's demonstrating how big a job this is. It's a complex one, and then he chucks in a little frontal coordinate conjunction. Okay, so after basically saying this is a really difficult task, he negates it. Positivity, you know, there's hope. And once more, we have another call to action, uh with its imperative, so the repeated let. Okay, let us begin. It's declarative, it's incredibly short, let us begin. And it tells us that they are starting it, and that's the best thing. So there's a real sense of kind of hope being created in this moment.
[34:35]Crikey, that was a long one. I hope that was helpful. It's such a complex speech, there's so much to talk about and obviously in an exam situation, you're never going to be able to talk about everything, which is why I've just kind of dipped in. But if you've got any questions about any parts I've not covered, just drop me a line and I will get back to you. Like I said before, if you want something more detailed, pop over to Elise Fella, um and have a little look at her annotations. Right, that's it from me. Thank you so much for watching. Uh thank you also if you have subscribed to my channel, if you haven't, please do. Uh, one, it helps me, and two, you'll get notifications of when the videos are ready. Okay, thanks again. Happy revising.
