Persuasive Device
Flattery (paragraph 1)
Why/how would his flattering words
appeal to his audience?
Rhetorical Question
How does the speaker want the
audience to answer this question?
Parallel Sentence
Structure/Repetition
Hi-light or underline in color the
parts that are repeated
Antithesis (deliberate
contradiction for effect)
What is the effect of the
contradiction?
Appeal to Logic or Reason
How does he make his audience
think? What does he want them to
think about?
Appeal to Emotion
What is he trying to make his
audience feel?
Metaphor
What two things are being
compared? What point is the
speaker trying to make?
Text Evidence – Cite Line Number – Shaver’s answers
There is only one flattery example in paragraph 1. Read the first 3-4 lines. You’ll find it.
What about these words would appeal to the listeners? How would his words make them feel and how
would that help him persuade his audience?
“And what have we to oppose them? Shall we try argument?” Ln. 41
Henry is asking how should the colonist’s best fight back against Britain? He is asking “shall we try
argument?” to show that their arguments have been ineffective. His answer is “no, we should now try war.”
“They are meant for us; they can be meant for no other.” Ln. 38
- The two halves of the sentence are word-for-word parallel. He’s showing that British violence is aimed
directly at the colonists, not anyone else.
“it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave.” Ln. 75
- Henry parallels three adjectives in a row, describing the colonists as strong to convince them to fight
“Gentlemen may cry, ‘Peace! Peace!’ – but there is no peace.” Ln. 80-81
Henry is setting up the contrast between what the colonists want (peace) vs. the reality of their situation
(NO peace). The effect is to persuade the colonists to fight back since Britain won’t allow them to live
peacefully in America without British intervention.
“What means this martial array, if its purpose be not to force us to submission?” Ln. 34-35
(This example is also a Rhetorical Question, just FYI. Sometimes an example can be more than one device)
Henry wants the colonists to question the presence of British military troops in the colonies. He’s asking,
“why are the troops here, unless it’s to force us to fight them or to be submissive to them?” He wants to the
colonists to realize that the war is inevitable, since the British is literally sending their armies to America.
“Suffer not yourselves to be betrayed with a kiss.” Ln. 28
This is a complex example. The “betrayed with a kiss” is an allusion (reference) to the Bible. In the Bible, the disciple
Judas betrayed Jesus with a kiss, which is how the Romans knew to arrest Jesus so that he could be crucified.
Most (probably all) of Henry’s audience is Christian. He wants them to feel scared of betrayal by the British,
the same way Jesus was betrayed by Judas in the Bible. He is playing on the words “suffer” and “betray” so
that his audience will feel suspicious of British intentions and wary of their actions.
“We have done everything that could be done to avert the storm which is now coming on.” Ln. 47-48
Henry compares the oncoming war (the one he’s trying to convince the colonists to start) to a storm. He’s
trying to make the point that this fight will be bad, but just like you can’t stop a rainstorm, they can’t stop
this conflict. It’s going to happen and he’s trying to prepare them for it.