On the other hand, we can also see that there is omission of conjunction in the speech. Examples can be taken from paragraphs 3:
“…born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage.”
This line consists of a series of clauses in the form of parallelism, with the purpose of specification. More importantly, there is no conjunction in between the clauses. It is suggesting that Kennedy prefers a hurried rhythm when delivering this part of his speech. Without the use of conjunction between the clauses, a sense of hurry will be created.
There are a number of schemes of repetition in the speech. In paragraphs 4 and 12, we can see the use of repetition – repeating a word in the medial position of a clause:
“We shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe”.
“For only when our arms are sufficient beyond doubt can we be certain beyond doubt that they will never be employed.”
The more important scheme of repetition is perhaps the repetition of the same words in successive clauses. There are two key passages in the speech in which the President is using this kind of repetition. From paragraph 6 to paragraph 11, the President is addressing to different groups of people, making a series of pledges, thus using “to those…” in the beginning of the paragraph for 7 times. These sentences are also employing inversion with the group of people being addressed placed in the beginning of the sentence, thus emphasizing the importance of those groups of people. Also, from paragraph 14 to 17, the President is suggesting a course of action (“Let both sides…”), and he uses “let both side” in the beginning of the paragraph for 4 times. These two sections (paragraphs 6-11 and paragraphs 14 to 17) are again making use of parallelism. In addition, by repeating the same words in the beginning of clauses, a sense of coordinateness is emphasized. It also adds rhythm to the speech.
Regarding the word choice of the above two sections in the speech, the President repeatedly uses “pledge” in paragraph 6 to 11, suggesting that what he is saying is even stronger than a promise and thus making his speech more formal and serious. Besides, the effect of the repeated use of “let” is that they lay down a progress of actions instead of commands. They can induce action from the audience. Kennedy wants to persuade the audience to act rather than to force them.
Another scheme of repetition is repetition of words in a converse order. The two famous lines in this speech are using this pattern of repetition:
“Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country.”
“Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate.”
These 2 lines show that the President is using repetition as a word play to add liveliness to his speech, in order to make his lines more memorable.
Apart from repetition, alliteration is also used by Kennedy, though not as frequently as repetition. For example, “to friend and foe alike”, “faithful friends”, “mass misery” and “to lead the land we love” etc. The use of alliteration is adding interesting and effective sound effects to the speech.
Also, the speech consists of several metaphors. In paragraph 3, the “torch” is referring to light, which is meaning the new idea of the America. Also, in paragraph 21, “twilight struggle” is referring to a struggle which is not strong enough, just like the weak light of the twilight, which is about to turn dark. The use of metaphors is a way for the President to introduce concreteness into the speech.
Beside metaphor, the President also uses personification. For example:
“…with history the final judge of our deeds.”
This closing remark of the President employs the use of personification, which adds liveliness to the speech.
A glance at the speech on a printed form reveals that the speech is consisting of a succession of short paragraphs. The shortest one is paragraph 5 which only consists of one sentence with six words. Its simplicity is serving a sharp contrast with the rest of the speech. It is a transitional paragraph, which brings out the idea that the President is trying to pledge various groups of people in the following paragraphs. Also, most of the paragraphs in the speech have only 2 to 3 sentences. This shows that the President is trying to cover a lot of ground in this speech. In order to do this, he enunciates his principles, pledges and policies into short paragraphs.
In addition, although many of the sentences are short, some of them are unusually long, there are examples showing that a sentence is occupying the whole paragraph. For example, the whole paragraph 10 only consists of a single sentence. This shows that the President manages the expansion of his sentences through the use of subordinate clauses. Throughout the speech, the length of sentences in the speech varies a lot, which avoids monotony of structure.
An overwhelming majority of the sentences are declarative. This is appropriate in a speech that is designed to inform and reassure the Americans and the world about the objectives of Kennedy’s new administration. However, occasionally the President uses other types of sentences. In paragraph 23, he uses two rhetorical questions
“Can we forge against these enemies a grand and global alliance, North and South, East and West, that can assure a more fruitful life for all mankind? Will you join in that historic effort?”
These questions occur at a point where the President is about to deliver his peroration. Up to this point he has been declaring what he will do and what the Americans can do. Now he wants to suggest what the rest of the world can do to support his program of peace.
There is also use of imperatives. In the last 3 paragraphs of the speech, we see three sharp imperatives, using “ask”, which encourage the citizens to act. The audience is no loner mere listeners but they can engage actively. These imperatives suggest the action that should be taken by the citizens.
On the whole, the speech consists of simple vocabularies, with occasional use of archaic diction, such as “forebears”, “anew”, “dare”, and “foe” etc. Also, there is a religious and reverential tone, with the President’s invocation to God for a few times. All these are adding formality to the speech.
The devices used by Kennedy are all carriers of meaning and they all serve to make the speech a more effective and appealing one.
