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Ethos Pathos Logos In Red By Taylor Swift

Decent Essays

Rhetoric is all around us and whether we realize it or not, we are exposed to it all the time. We can find rhetoric in all forms of media from Movies to TV shows from newspaper articles to social media. One piece of media that contains rhetoric is music, more specifically Taylor Swift’s 2012 album Red. Red presents several rhetorical situations including commentary on relationships.

Before analyzing Red’s use of rhetoric, it is important to know the rhetorical elements of ethos, pathos, and logos. Ethos is defined as how the writer expresses their ethics, morals, and credibility to their audience. Ethos heavily revolves around the writer or speaker. The audience wants to know who the author is and what their views on the subject …show more content…

In 2012, Taylor Swift had released 3 albums; Taylor Swift (2006), Fearless (2008), and Speak Now (2010). Also at the time of Red’s release, she had won 6 Grammy’s including best country song, best country album, and album of the year. Red was also nominated for three Grammy's but didn’t win. As for her public image, she is seen as a sweet and innocent young girl who dates a lot.

The next element in the rhetorical situation is pathos. Pathos is defined as connecting the author and the reader using emotion. Pathos is more reader dependent than the other elements. Pathos helps the writer know to know their audience and who they are intending to write for. Connecting to the audience using pathos is a strong way to get the support of the reader. The audience needs to be moved by what they’re reading. Without pathos, the writer won’t be able to properly connect to their audience.

Taylor Swift likes to invoke a lot of emotion into her music and includes several things she has experienced in her life. One major recurring theme in her songs is love. …show more content…

She does this by using facts like how a specific action made her feel or how a specific event changed her or the relationship she as in. An example of this is in her song “The Lucky One” which tells the story of singer Joni Mitchell. While she didn’t say the song was about her, there are many specific events she experienced that are included in the song such as her using a fake name and her sudan disappearance from the music industry. Another example of logos in Red is in “Starlight” when she writes the song from the perspective of a young couple in 1945 and includes certain details to properly set the mood and be historically

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