Abstract Rhetoric devices are of prime importance in making a successful and persuasive speech. There is a wide range of rhetoric devices serving various purposes and imposing all kinds of effects. Speakers always take the advantages of those devices, persuading the public to accept his opinions and values through brief, clear, fluent, vivid and expressive forms based on the status quo in that specific period of time. Barack Obama has been elected as the president of the United States twice in 2008 and 2012, which is, to great extent, related with his speeches. This study analyzes the 2009 and 2013 Presidential Inaugural Addresses from two levels---communicative and aesthetic rhetoric, and four dimensions---word, phrase, sentence, and passage, through rhetoric analysis. Historic situations have been taken into consideration also.  69701

Keywords: rhetoric; Obama’s Inaugural Address; communicative rhetoric; aesthetic rhetoric; rhetoric analysis

摘要一个成功且有说服力的演讲离不开修辞的运用。修辞的种类繁多，其目的也各不相同。演讲者通常会应用各种修辞手段，结合当时时代环境，以更加简洁、清楚、流畅、生动、富有表现力的形式，说服听众接受自己的观点或价值观。奥巴马于2008年及2012年两次当选美国总统，与其出色的演讲有着巨大关系。本文以奥巴马2009年及2013年两次就职演说内容为文本，从交际修辞及美学修辞两个层面，从词汇、短语、句子、篇章四个维度，结合时代背景进行修辞分析，探究了其演讲力量来源于大量修辞的运用。

毕业论文关键词：修辞；奥巴马就职演说；交际修辞；美学修辞；修辞分析

Content

1. Introduction 1

2. Literature Review 2

3. Rhetoric Devices Used in the Inaugural Address 4

4. Rhetoric Analysis from Aesthetic Rhetoric Level 6

4.1 Antithesis and parallel structure 7

4.2 Phonological rhetorical devices 9

4.3 Metonymy 10

4.4 Simile and metaphor 11

4.5 Other devices 11

5. Rhetoric Analysis from Communicative Rhetoric Level 13

5.1 Word choosing 13

5.2 Sentence pattern & paragraph arrangement 14

6. Conclusion 15

Works Cited 17

1. Introduction

Barack Obama, the first African-American president in history, is not the greatest American president in governing the country, but he is one of the greatest in making a speech. Some people even compare him to Martin Luther King, Abraham Lincoln, and Franklin Roosevelt, who respectively makes very good speeches inspiring people at their periods of time. 2008 saw a worldwide economic crisis, and 2012 is also a unstable year with tough problems like the Affordable Care Act, post economic crisis effect and anti-terrorism wars. Never before in the history, if Roosevelt not counted, has one president been under so much pressure in cheering its people up and recovering the economy. His inaugural address will convey and mean a lot to the public. 

Inaugural Address is one kind of political speeches which represent relatively autonomous discourse produced orally by a politician for an audience. The primary purpose of the political speech is persuasion. To that end, the orator will use rhetorical devices and strong arguments. Obama’s Inaugural address will not only be remembered on that day, but also it will be reprinted in textbooks, and will be read on the Internet for a heap of times(J. Fields 2011:4). Through this we can conclude that Obama’s speech is of great value to analyze.