Elyse’s Rhetorical Criticism Blog

“To persuade is not the function of rhetoric, but to investigate the persuasive factors inherent in the particular case” (Burgchardt and Jones, 160). The Neo Classical Theory I will be using is ethos, pathos, logos, which are the three modes of persuasion. Logos literally means the word. Logos deals with the appeal to reason. Pathos is the appeal to emotion. Ethos is the appeal to character, and has three parts including  good sense, good will, and good morals. 

Dermot Kennedy’s songs are all very emotional and introspective, many of them could be considered ballads. Since his songs are emotional, I will be seeing how he uses ethos in his song writing process. On October 25, 2019, Dermot was interviewed by the radio station, WERS. He was asked what he hoped his audience would get from the album? He answered,“comfort or solace or hope,” which would be obvious, that’s a given. “I wouldn’t write the songs if I didn’t feel that way” (WERS, 2019). The emotions he is hoping to speak to are discomfort, or the hurt that many people feel. He wants his lyrics to give a sense of comfort to those going through hard times.

He was interviewed by Iheartradio about his new album. He was asked what his single, Outnumbered, was about. He said he wrote the song to comfort someone in his life who felt overwhelmed by the circumstances they were facing. He said, “it’s a lovely thing when you can write a song that’s personal but a lot of people can relate to that feeling” (iHeartRadio, 2019). He writes about things that he has experienced,  This allows him to appeal to those emotions in others through his lyrics.

“But there’s beauty here that’s yet to depart

There’s still a song inside the halls in the dark

I’ll come for you, if you just stay where you are

And I’ll always hold your hand in the car” (Kennedy 2019)

The lyric that says, “there’s still a song inside the halls in the dark ”. He is using the metaphor of darkness to show a sense of hopelessness. He is saying that there is still hope even in difficult situations. He is using his lyrics to appeal to hope and comfort. His word choice and melodies are used to evoke emotions. A common theme in his songs is posing a problem or issue and then offering hope in that situation.

 References:

Burgchardt, C. R., & Jones, H. A. (2017). Readings in rhetorical criticism. State College, PA: Strata Publishing, Inc.

iHeartRadio. (2019, July 17). Dermot Kennedy Talks ‘Without Fear,’ Hip Hop Influences More! | Exclusive Interview. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaF8NTiNbQM

Interview: Dermot Kennedy Talks Debut Album Before Sold Out House of Blues Show. (2019, October 25). Retrieved from https://www.wers.org/interviewdermotkennedy/
Kennedy, Dermot. Without Fear. (2019)

The rhetorical situation takes into consideration exigence, audience, and constraints of a given rhetorical situation. In the text, Bitzer defined exigence as “An imperfection marked by urgency; it is a defect, an obstacle, something waiting to be done, a thing which is other than it should be” (Burgchardt and Jones, 37). The exigence is the problem that the author is addressing in their form of rhetoric.  The text defined the audience as, “ those persons who are capable of being influenced by discourse and being mediators of change” (Burgchardt and Jones, 38). The audience would be the people who the author or speaker is addressing. Finally the text defines the constraints as, “persons, events, objects, and relations which are parts of the situation because they have the power to constrain decision and action needed to modify the exigence” (Burgchardt and Jones 38). A constraint is a limit put on the author or speaker, that could be from the situation they are in, who they are speaking to, or their medium itself. The goal of the rhetorical situation is to see if the response the author  gave was appropriate for the given situation.

I will be using this theory to look at Dermot Kennedy’s song Rome. Rome is a breakup song.

“But last night
It hurt me to hear you say it felt broken
And even though I tried
All these memories run my mind in slow motion” (Kennedy, 2019)

The exigence of the song is the breakup itself. The audience of this song includes the girl he broke up with, and others who have been through break ups. Though a break up song can be relatable to a lot of people, his target audience would be young adults in their twenties and early thirties. The constraints for this rhetorical situation would include the length and structure that is required for a song. His medium is a constraint because it limits what he is able to say due to length and format. A song also can limit the writer’s word choice, they would need to choose words that rhyme and fit in a rhythm pattern. Ultimately, I think his message is appropriate for the rhetorical situation. In the lyrics, he is looking back and reflecting on the relationship, which is what everyone does during a breakup. The song captures the emotions and thought process a person goes through during a break up. I believe he took his audience and exigence into consideration when creating this song. 

References:

Burgchardt, C. R., & Jones, H. A. (2017). Readings in rhetorical criticism. State College, PA: Strata Publishing, Inc.

Kennedy, Dermot. Without Fear. (2019)

I am choosing Dermot Kennedy as my topic this semester. I will be critiquing his first album Without Fear. He is a Irish singer songwriter that I became obsessed with after seeing his NPR: Tiny Desk concert on YouTube!