TL;DR:
Rhetorical analysis explains how a writer's choices work on an audience, not just what the text says.
Name the rhetorical situation, then link each choice to its effect, using specific evidence from the text.
Check the current course and exam description for scoring details.
A rhetorical analysis does not ask whether you agree with a speech or what it is about. It asks how the speaker tries to move the audience, and why those methods fit the moment. The difference is subtle but it decides everything about your essay: a summary says what happened, an analysis says how it works.
Here the method is applied to one famous paragraph, short enough to analyze closely. The Gettysburg Address is in the public domain.
What the task asks
You read a text, identify its rhetorical situation, and write about how the writer's choices achieve a purpose. A good essay makes a claim about the writer's strategy, supports it with specific quotations, and explains how each piece of evidence supports the claim. For the current rules on scoring and format, see the College Board's course and exam description.
The rhetorical situation
Speaker: who is writing, and what authority do they have?
Occasion: when, where and why now?
Audience: who is addressed, and who else might be listening?
Purpose: what does the speaker want the audience to think, feel or do?
Message and tone: what is said, and in what voice?
The method
Describe the situation in two or three lines: Use facts you know and can verify.
Choose a few choices to discuss: Diction, structure, imagery, sentence rhythm, appeals. Pick the ones that matter most.
Quote briefly: Use the exact words, a phrase at a time.
Explain the effect: Say what the choice does to the audience and why it suits the purpose.
Tie it to a claim: Every paragraph should support the same big claim about the writer's strategy.
Worked example: analyzing one paragraph of the Gettysburg Address
Situation. Abraham Lincoln spoke on November 19, 1863, at the dedication of a cemetery for soldiers at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, during the Civil War. The immediate audience was the crowd at the ceremony, but the speech was meant for the whole nation.
The first paragraph is one sentence:
> Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Choice | Evidence | Effect |
|---|---|---|
Elevated, almost scriptural diction | "Four score and seven years ago" | Gives the occasion weight and dignity, like a solemn reading, and sets a tone of reverence for the dead |
Exact count of years | Four score and seven is | Points the audience back to the Declaration of Independence without naming it, tying the war to the nation's founding |
Birth imagery | "brought forth" and "conceived" | Pictures the nation as a living thing born from an idea, so its survival matters like a life |
Shared pronoun | "our fathers" | Includes every listener in one inheritance, North and South, in a time of division |
A statement of principle | "dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal" | Defines the nation as an idea, which suggests the war is about whether that idea can survive |
A paragraph from the essay might read: Lincoln opens by reaching back eighty-seven years, a phrase that sounds like scripture and also points to 1776. This choice lends the occasion solemnity and quietly reframes the war as a test of the founding principle that all men are created equal, which is why he can describe the nation as "conceived" and "dedicated" rather than merely governed.
Each sentence of that paragraph names a choice, quotes it, and explains why it works for this audience. Compare a weaker version: Lincoln uses old language and talks about the founding fathers. It points at the text but does not say what the choices do.
Moving from a table to paragraphs
A table like the one above is your planning tool. In the essay, turn each row into a sentence of the form: the writer does X, shown by this phrase, which makes the audience feel or think Y, which serves the purpose of Z. Then group two or three rows that share an idea into one paragraph, such as a paragraph on how Lincoln builds shared identity.
Open with a thesis that names the strategy, such as: Lincoln reframes a battlefield dedication as a renewal of the nation's founding principle by combining scriptural dignity, shared inheritance and the language of birth. It is specific, it makes a claim, and it previews the paragraphs.
Reading actively
Read the passage twice. The first time, find the situation and the overall point. The second time, mark places where the language does something unusual: a repeated word, a sudden change of tone, a list, a comparison. Those are the places where the writer is making choices. Number the best three or four, and you have the skeleton of your essay before you write a word.
Common weak spots
Summarising the paragraph instead of analysing it.
Naming a device ("he uses imagery") without quoting it or explaining the effect.
Quotations dropped in without being tied to the claim.
Treating every device as equally important. Choose the ones that matter.
Judging whether the argument is right. The task is how it is made.
Your plan for this week
Pick a short speech or editorial paragraph.
Write its rhetorical situation in three lines.
Fill in a table of choice, evidence and effect for three choices.
Write one body paragraph from your table and check that it makes a claim.
Frequently asked questions
How many devices should I discuss?
Fewer, in more depth. A few well-explained choices usually say more than a long list of terms.
Do I need the names of every rhetorical device?
Names help, but explaining the effect matters more. A clear description of what the writer does beats a correct label with no explanation.
Get started
