9.2- Anthology Text- Collins speech

9.2- Anthology Text- Collins speech

1. Audience

   • Royal Irish Regiment
   • Military press personnel
   • The public

2. Purpose

   • To stir soldiers before battle
   • To command morality and respect

3. Mode

   • Transcript of spoken crafted speech

4. Tone

   • Inspiring
   • Motivational
   • Commanding
   • Serious
   • Respectful
   • Emphatic

5. Annotations

   • 'light of liberation in their lives was brought by you.'
     • Alliterated metaphor
     • Allusion to 'let there be light'
       • Biblical reference appeals to Irish origin
     • Passive voice
       • Importance of soldiers
   • 'There may be people among us who will not see the end of this campaign. We will put them in their sleeping bags and send them back.'
     • First person plural pronoun suggests unity
     • Sleeping bags= euphemism for death- boosts morale
       • Suggests familiarity and comfort
     • 'May'- modal verb, not certain
     • 'Campaign'- noun instead of 'war'- diverts attention from reality and brutality
   • 'rock their world'
     • Unexpected humour, modern phrase
     • Imperative
     • Ameliorates battle
     • Refer to post-war reaction

6. Context

   • Bush and Blair claimed Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction
     • Deception
   • 9/11 in 2001 (2 years earlier)
   • Ireland is very Christian
   • After war, soldiers said the speech just made them homesick