Politicians and Rhetoric : The Persuasive Power of Metaphor

Each chapter of this book analyzes the rhetoric of speeches by major American and British politicians to show how metaphor is used to create political myths of monsters, villains and heroic leaders. Metaphors are shown to interact with other figures of speech to communicate subliminal meanings by drawing on the unconscious emotional association of words. An innovative study for students and researchers in discourse analysis, political communication, journalism and media studies. The language of persuasion looks both outwards and inwards: politicians promise a better future based on an evaluation of the current external reality, but they communicate this vision by activating deep-seated ideas, values and feelings that are hidden within the audience. This fully updated second edition analyses the rhetoric of three additional politicians - Barack Obama, Ronald Reagan and Enoch Powell - as well as revised accounts of the original six politicians to produce a comprehensive study of some renowned exponents of persuasion. It also contains a new chapter on the role of metaphor in political communication. Successful politicians are those who have credible stories to tell, who can involve us with the drama of the present by explaining what is right and wrong and who convince us that they are better than their opponents. This book explains how their use of metaphors and myths create credible and consistent stories that help us to understand the rhetorical means through which persuasion occurs. -- Product Description Metaphor is vital to the language of political leadership because it mediates between conscious rational ideology and unconscious myth. Drawing on 'corpus linguistics' techniques, this fascinating study of political rhetoric shows how metaphor was used by: Winston Churchill to create a myth of Britain as a heroic warrior; Martin Luther King to create a myth of himself as a messiah; Margaret Thatcher to activate the myth of Boedicia; and George W. Bush to sustain a moral accounting myth that appeals to American ethics. Rhetorical analysis reveals how Bill Clinton used rhetoric to restore his credibility through creating a vulnerable image of moral regeneration, and how Tony Blair developed a conviction rhetoric in which he is a dynamic agent in a mythological struggle between good and evil. Comparisons between these politicians serve to identify the role of metaphor in establishing ethical integrity, and rhetoric heightening emotional impact, policy communication, and in political myth creation "Drawing on corpus linguistics techniques, this study of political rhetoric shows how metaphor was used by Winston Churchill to create a myth of Britain as a heroic warrior; Martin Luther King to create a myth or himself as a messiah; Margaret Thatcher to activate the myth of Boedicia; and George W. Bush to sustain a moral accounting myth that appeals to American ethics. Rhetorical analysis reveals how Bill Clinton used rhetoric to restore his credibility through creating a vulnerable image of moral regeneration, and how Tony Blair developed a conviction rhetoric in which he is a dynamic agent in a mythological struggle between good and evil. Comparisons between these politicians serve to identify the role of metaphor in establishing ethical integrity, and rhetoric heightening emotional impact, policy communication, and in political myth creation."--Jacket Each chapter of this book analyzes the rhetoric of speeches by major British or American politicians and shows how metaphor is used systematically to create political myths of monsters, villains and heroic leaders. Metaphors are shown to interact with other figures of speech to communicate subliminal meanings by drawing on the unconscious emotional association of words. An innovative study of interest to students and researchers in discourse analysis, political communication, journalism and media studies Front Matter....Pages i-xii Persuasion, Legitimacy and Leadership....Pages 1-31 Churchill: Metaphor and Heroic Myth....Pages 32-57 Martin Luther King: Messianic Myth....Pages 58-85 Margaret Thatcher and the Myth of Boedicia....Pages 86-114 Clinton and the Rhetoric of Image Restoration....Pages 115-141 Tony Blair and Conviction Rhetoric....Pages 142-168 George W. Bush and the Rhetoric of Moral Accounting....Pages 169-196 Myth, Metaphor and Leadership....Pages 197-212 Back Matter....Pages 213-239 This analysis of the rhetoric of nine successfully persuasive politicians explains how their use of language created credible and consistent stories about themselves and the social world they inhabit. It explores their use of metaphors, their myths and how language analysis helps us to understand how politicians are able to persuade.