Caitlyn Buteaux
Mrs. Parham
English III AP 1st block
4 February 2013
Analysis of William Faulkner’s Noble Prize of Literature Acceptance Speech William Faulkner was an often misunderstood writer of many novels and short stories. ("William Faulkner’s Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech ") It was not until 1949 and after his death when he was given the Nobel Prize in Literature that people began to acknowledge him and his works. ("William Faulkner") In his Nobel Prize of Literature acceptance speech, at the city hall in Stockholm on December 10, 1950, Faulkner uses a powerful tone and effective rhetorical devices to convey his purpose. In his Nobel Prize of Literature acceptance speech, William Faulkner utilizes rhetorical devices such as
Throughout his speech the author creates an assertive tone by the uses of powerful language and word usage such as “anguish”, ”travail”, and “agony”. In his speech he uses a high ratio of polysyllabic language like “commensurate” along with some informal, for example “It will not be difficult to find a dedication for the money part of it commensurate with the purpose and significance of its origin. But I would like to do the same with the acclaim too, by using this moment as a pinnacle from which I might be listened to by the young men and women already dedicated to the same anguish and travail…” He uses much connotative to help connect with his audience on a more personal sympathetic level such as when he states words like “inexhaustible”, “doomed”, “agony”, and “anguish”. Also throughout his speech he uses concrete and abstract language interchangeably helping him make specific and general points. An example of concrete language is when he states, “So this award is only mine in trust.” and an example of abstract is “Our tragedy today is a general and universal physical fear so long sustained by now that we can even bear it.” Faulkner utilizes cacophonous language also to help convey the harsh circumstances he elaborates about in his speech, such as “that of his puny inexhaustible voice”. The mixture of tone and diction helps him be effective