In similar fashion to the Ancient Greeks, President Obama uses didactic poetry: persuading, convincing and easy-to-be-remembered rhythmic style when addressing to a wide audience of the Americans. Didactic poetry rests upon repetition and parallelism, which are the basic tools for creating an easily memorized message. Parallelism is employed in the speech, it is seen that personal pronouns play a significant role in creating a foregrounding effect. In an attempt to cover the most important values of the American people, Obama appeals to those which rest upon family and religion. He cites the Bible but quite carefully and, having pointed out the diversity of religions represented in the country, applies his words to universal, "transcendental truth." All these devices positively correlate with a rhetorical style, which the orator chose for the speech.
Deictic expressions, known as deixis, can be interpreted only in the context in which they are used. The word deictic derives from the Greek language and is used for pointing a subject. I will focus on the use of deixis employed in the speech which, I will argue, creates an effect of unity on one side and "outsiders"" on the other. The use of person deixis in the speech, in these circumstances, is worth investigating. Unlike his previous public performances, where Obama aimed to convince the audience that he was the right candidate for the position of a congressman or, later, a president, here he is a victor and addressing his message from a position of Head of State. He, probably, does not need to put his personality in focus any longer, but rather needs the support for his future challenges. In this case, the pronoun I, which was used generously in Obama's previous speeches, emerges only three times in his inaugural address in its beginning: "I stand here today.I thank President Bush.Today I say to you., etc." The first person pronoun "I"" does not appear any more in the performance.
