Occasional Address

I denne study guide kan du få hjælp til at analysere Tim Minchins tale "Occasional Address", som har været brugt til en skriftlig eksamen i Engelsk A på HTX den 20. maj 2020.

Opgaveformulering

Write an analytical essay in which you analyse the text “Occasional Address”, a graduation speech given by Tim Minchin at UWA, The University of Western Australia, in 2013.
Part of your essay must focus on argumentative and rhetorical devices.

Tim Minchin (f. 1975) er en australsk skuespiller, forfatter, musiker og komiker. Han holdt sin “Occasional Address” på the University of Western Australia i forbindelse med dimissionen i 2013.

Uddrag

Her kan du se et uddrag af vores study guide:

Irony

Minchin’s speech contains many examples of irony, including self-irony. Self-irony can be seen at the beginning of the speech, when Minchin talks about his nonconformist career:

Point being, I’m not an inspirational speaker. I’ve never lost a limb on a mountainside, metaphorically or otherwise. And I’m certainly not here to give career advice, cos… well I’ve never really had what most would call a proper job. (ll. 14-16)

This amuses the audience and also shows that Minchin does not always take himself seriously.

It is also self-ironic when Minchin talks about his “inflated sense of self-importance” (l. 18), caused by large groups of people listening to him despite his nonconformist job. Then, Minchin is self-ironic when he talks about his academic career and suggests that he was not necessarily a responsible student (ll. 51-53). This might help the audience relate to Minchin, as they might have similar experiences.