• The King's Speech of George VI
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  • 07.03.2023
  • Englisch
  • 11, 12, 13
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The King's Speech
De­cla­ra­ti­on of war against Ger­ma­ny
1
Sum­ma­ri­ze the speech of King Ge­or­ge VI to the coun­try and the Com­mon­wealth live radio broad­cas­ted on Sep­tem­ber 3, 1939. Start with an in­tro­duc­to­ry sen­tence.

In this grave hour, per­haps the most fa­te­ful in our his­to­ry, I send to every house­hold of my peo­ples, both at home and over­se­as, this messa­ge, spo­ken with the same depth of fee­ling for each one of you as if I were able to cross your th­res­hold and speak to you mys­elf.



For the se­cond time in the lives of most of us we are at war. Over and over again we have tried to find a peace­ful way out of the dif­fe­ren­ces bet­ween our­sel­ves and those who are now our en­e­mies. But it has been in vain. We have been forced into a con­flict. For we are cal­led, with our al­lies, to meet the chal­len­ge of a prin­ciple which, if it were to pre­vail, would be fatal to any ci­vi­li­sed order in the world.



It is the prin­ciple which per­mits a state, in the sel­fi­sh pur­suit of power, to dis­re­gard its tre­a­ties and its so­lemn pled­ges; which sanc­tions the use of force, or th­re­at of force, against the so­v­er­eig­n­ty and in­de­pen­dence of other sta­tes.



Such a prin­ciple, strip­ped of all dis­gu­i­se, is su­re­ly the mere pri­mi­ti­ve doc­tri­ne that might is right; and if this prin­ciple were es­tab­lished th­roug­hout the world, the free­dom of our own coun­try and of the whole Bri­tish Com­mon­wealth of Na­ti­ons would be in dan­ger. But far more than this – the peo­ples of the world would be kept in the bon­da­ge of fear, and all hopes of sett­led peace and of the se­cu­ri­ty of ju­sti­ce and li­ber­ty among na­ti­ons would be ended.



This is the ul­ti­ma­te issue which con­fronts us. For the sake of all that we our­sel­ves hold dear, and of the world’s order and peace, it is un­thin­ka­ble that we should re­fu­se to meet the chal­len­ge.



It is to this high pur­po­se that I now call my people at home and my peo­ples across the seas, who will make our cause their own. I ask them to stand calm, firm, and united in this time of trial. The task will be hard. There may be dark days ahead, and war can no lon­ger be con­fi­ned to the batt­le­field. But we can only do the right as we see the right, and re­ver­ent­ly com­mit our cause to God.



If one and all we keep re­so­lute­ly faith­ful to it, ready for wha­te­ver ser­vice or sa­cri­fice it may de­mand, then, with God’s help, we shall pre­vail. May He bless and keep us all.”

In this grave hour, per­haps the most fa­te­ful in our his­to­ry, I send to every house­hold of my peo­ples, both at home and over­se­as, this messa­ge, spo­ken with the same depth of fee­ling for each one of you as if I were able to cross your th­res­hold and speak to you mys­elf.



For the se­cond time in the lives of most of us we are at war. Over and over again we have tried to find a peace­ful way out of the dif­fe­ren­ces bet­ween our­sel­ves and those who are now our en­e­mies. But it has been in vain. We have been forced into a con­flict. For we are cal­led, with our al­lies, to meet the chal­len­ge of a prin­ciple which, if it were to pre­vail, would be fatal to any ci­vi­li­sed order in the world.



It is the prin­ciple which per­mits a state, in the sel­fi­sh pur­suit of power, to dis­re­gard its tre­a­ties and its so­lemn pled­ges; which sanc­tions the use of force, or th­re­at of force, against the so­v­er­eig­n­ty and in­de­pen­dence of other sta­tes.



Such a prin­ciple, strip­ped of all dis­gu­i­se, is su­re­ly the mere pri­mi­ti­ve doc­tri­ne that might is right; and if this prin­ciple were es­tab­lished th­roug­hout the world, the free­dom of our own coun­try and of the whole Bri­tish Com­mon­wealth of Na­ti­ons would be in dan­ger. But far more than this – the peo­ples of the world would be kept in the bon­da­ge of fear, and all hopes of sett­led peace and of the se­cu­ri­ty of ju­sti­ce and li­ber­ty among na­ti­ons would be ended.



This is the ul­ti­ma­te issue which con­fronts us. For the sake of all that we our­sel­ves hold dear, and of the world’s order and peace, it is un­thin­ka­ble that we should re­fu­se to meet the chal­len­ge.



It is to this high pur­po­se that I now call my people at home and my peo­ples across the seas, who will make our cause their own. I ask them to stand calm, firm, and united in this time of trial. The task will be hard. There may be dark days ahead, and war can no lon­ger be con­fi­ned to the batt­le­field. But we can only do the right as we see the right, and re­ver­ent­ly com­mit our cause to God.



If one and all we keep re­so­lute­ly faith­ful to it, ready for wha­te­ver ser­vice or sa­cri­fice it may de­mand, then, with God’s help, we shall pre­vail. May He bless and keep us all.”

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2
Match each stylistic device with its definition.

  • repetition

  • emotive language

  • antithesis

  • metaphor


  • tone

  • imagery

  • inclusive language

  • Usage of contrasting words, phrases, or ideas in a sentence or a paragraph to stress the difference between two opposing ideas or concepts and to create a sense of balance or tension in the text.
  • Vivid and descriptive language to create mental images experiences in the reader's mind.
  • Same word, phrase or sentence is repeated multiple times creating a sense of rhythm, build momentum, or create a sense of urgency or intensity.
  • Figure of speech that describes an object or idea by comparing it to something else sharing similar characteristics or qualities, used to create a deeper understanding of a subject or evoke emotions.
  • Usage of personal pronouns to convey a particular tone, perspective, or relationship between the speaker and the audience (e.g. I = personal, subjective tone, we = sense of unity or shared responsibility, you = direct, engaging tone).
  • Formal or informal, serious or humorous, sarcastic or sincere: conveyed through choice of words, sentence structure, and other stylistic elements, it creates a particular atmosphere affecting the audience's perception of the message.
  • Words and phrases heartbreaking, outrageous, devastating and tragic that evoke strong emotions in the reader or listener. It can be used to create a sense of urgency, to inspire action, or to evoke sympathy or emphasize.
3
All the styl­istic devices in num­ber 2 were used in King George VI's speech. High­light them in a dif­fer­ent col­our each.
4
This is an ana­lysis ex­ample of King George VI's speech. Fill in the gaps with the styl­istic devices (cf. p. 2) and lines from the speech on page 1.

King George VI's speech given on 3 Septem­ber, 1939, was de­livered at a time of great un­cer­tainty and fear, as Bri­tain was about to enter World War II. It is struc­tured in a way that builds up to the cent­ral mes­sage of the speech - that the Brit­ish people must unite and stand firm in the face of a grave threat to the world's order and peace.



The speech be­gins with a somber , as the King ac­know­ledges the grav­ity of the situ­ation and the sac­ri­fices that will be re­quired of the Brit­ish people. He speaks of a grave hour (l. 1), the time of trial (l. ) the people are in as well as the dark days (l. 20) that are yet to come. The used in this text is quite power­ful and stir­ring. The phrases grave hour (l.1), fate­ful (l.1) and forced into a con­flict (l. 6) all con­trib­ute to a sense of im­ped­ing doom and the idea that ac­tion must be taken im­me­di­ately to avoid dis­aster. This also ap­peals to a sense of moral right­eous­ness, as the prin­ciple being fought against is por­trayed as prim­it­ive and un­just. The phrase stripped of all dis­guise, is surely the mere prim­it­ive doc­trine that might is right (l. 11) is par­tic­u­larly emotive, as it sug­gests a world where the strong op­press the weak and justice and liberty are lost. At the same time, the King uses the I and we through­out his speech. By the use of , the King cre­ates a sense of unity and shared pur­pose, cru­cial for a na­tion at the brink of war.



One of the most sig­ni­fic­ant rhet­or­ical devices used in the speech is the of the word prin­ciple (cf. l.7, l.8, l.11, l.12) through­out the speech. This em­phas­izes the grave nature of the threat fa­cing the Brit­ish people and the world. This is even high­lighted by an to con­trast the ideals of civil­iz­a­tion and bar­bar­ism - between the val­ues of the Brit­ish people and those of their en­emies: Such a prin­ciple, stripped of all dis­guise, is surely the mere prim­it­ive doc­trine that might is right; and if this prin­ciple were es­tab­lished through­out the world, the free­dom of our own coun­try and of the whole Brit­ish Com­mon­wealth of Na­tions would be in danger. (ll.11ff.)



The speech also uses power­ful , such as the phrase the free­dom of our own coun­try and of the whole Brit­ish Com­mon­wealth of Na­tions would be in danger (ll. ff.). This ef­fect­ively con­veys the mes­sage that the war is not just about de­fend­ing Bri­tain and the Com­mon­wealth of Na­tions but de­fend­ing the en­tire abil­ity to live their lives free from the threat of vi­ol­ence, op­pres­sion, or dom­in­a­tion.



The speech ends with a call to faith and a re­cog­ni­tion that the task ahead will be dif­fi­cult. The use of re­li­gious such as this high pur­pose (l.18), rev­er­ently com­mit our cause to God (l.21) and with God's help, we shall pre­vail (l.23) sug­gest a di­vine pur­pose be­hind the call to ac­tion. The ref­er­ence to dark days ahead ( ) and the need for res­ol­ute faith­ful­ness in the face of hard­ship also evoke re­li­gious themes of per­sever­ance and trust in a higher power.



In con­clu­sion, King George VI's speech is a power­ful call to ac­tion from a leader dur­ing a time of war. The use of rhet­or­ical devices such as re­pe­ti­tion, an­ti­thesis, and meta­phor helps to re­in­force the mes­sage and em­phas­ize its im­port­ance.

Such a prin­ciple, stripped of all dis­guise, is surely the mere prim­it­ive doc­trine that might is right; and if this prin­ciple were es­tab­lished through­out the world, the free­dom of our own coun­try and of the whole Brit­ish Com­mon­wealth of Na­tions would be in danger. (ll.11ff.)



The speech also uses power­ful , such as the phrase the free­dom of our own coun­try and of the whole Brit­ish Com­mon­wealth of Na­tions would be in danger (ll. ff.). This ef­fect­ively con­veys the mes­sage that the war is not just about de­fend­ing Bri­tain and the Com­mon­wealth of Na­tions but de­fend­ing the en­tire abil­ity to live their lives free from the threat of vi­ol­ence, op­pres­sion, or dom­in­a­tion.



The speech ends with a call to faith and a re­cog­ni­tion that the task ahead will be dif­fi­cult. The use of re­li­gious such as this high pur­pose (l.18), rev­er­ently com­mit our cause to God (l.21) and with God's help, we shall pre­vail (l.23) sug­gest a di­vine pur­pose be­hind the call to ac­tion. The ref­er­ence to dark days ahead ( ) and the need for res­ol­ute faith­ful­ness in the face of hard­ship also evoke re­li­gious themes of per­sever­ance and trust in a higher power.



In con­clu­sion, King George VI's speech is a power­ful call to ac­tion from a leader dur­ing a time of war. The use of rhet­or­ical devices such as re­pe­ti­tion, an­ti­thesis, im­agery, meta­phor as well as his use of words helps to re­in­force the mes­sage and em­phas­ize its im­port­ance.

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