Rita Dove's Graduation Speech Essay

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When we think of a Baccalaureate speech, we often think of someone giving advice. While that sounds good on the outside, Rita Dove suggests that advice in that kind of setting is too broad to make a difference for everyone attending. In Dove’s commencement address to the University of Charlottesville class of 2016, she uses pathos to get a response of emotion, ethos to help the audience understand her background.

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Pathos is used by Dove to express emotion to the audience and to introduce her unique speech style; through wishes. On line 15, Dove concludes her introduction by saying, “... so instead of advice, I will give you wishes. Just think of me as a contrary fairy Godmother or a willy genie” (Dove 15). By telling the audience to think of her as a fairy godmother, Dove inflicts a feeling of happiness upon the audience, which encourages them to listen up. This also allows for a deeper understanding of the abstract topic of advice. This line is the perfect attention grabber. She then goes on to talk about facing hardships in life. She includes a quote from her dad, “But only you will know if you’ve done your best, so focus on that rather than what others think your best is - because if you allow others to tell you your worth, you will have given up on yourself” (Dove,63-66). This sentence gives the audience feelings of determination and hope, that no matter what happens, doing your best is the only thing that matters.

Ethos is used by Dove to help the audience understand why she is speaking to them that day. The very first thing she says is, “... at the very institution where I have been teaching for the last 27 years” (Dove 1-3). This establishes credibility among the audience because they know that the person speaking to them really does care about their future. After all, she probably taught a good handful of the people listening to her that day. She also explains her reasoning for not giving advice by saying, “The last thing you want to hear is advice - because in order to be effective, advice must be specific, and that, obviously, is impossible in this setting” (Dove 11-14). Here, Dove recognizes the flaw in many commencement speeches and reassures that this speech will be different, once again establishing credibility. This statement is also a fact, because I think everyone could agree that this setting is no match for personal advice. Dove does a wonderful job at establishing credibility among her audience.

In conclusion, Dove uses ethos to express emotion to the audience and to introduce her personal speech style. She goes on to use analogies, such as the fairy godmother one, to evoke emotion from the crowd. Ethos is used by Dove to help the audience understand why she is speaking that day. She establishes credibility with the audience by telling some credentials, and also by doing something that many other Baccalaureate speakers don’t do; which ensures that she is the best fit to be the speaker on that day. Rita Dove did a wonderful job at giving this speech.

DMU Timestamp: December 23, 2024 22:19