Reagan's Challenger Speech

Yesterday was the anniversary of the Challenger disaster. In the wake of that tragedy, Ronald Reagan gave a tremendous speech, which reassured the nation. Listen to it here.

In writing the speech, speechwriter, Peggy Noonan, borrowed an image from John Gillespie Magee's poem High Flight to explain the disaster:

"We will never forget them (the crew), nor the last time we saw them this morning, as they prepared for their journey and waved goodbye, and slipped the surly bonds of earth, to touch the face of God."

(The poem begins: "Oh, I have slipped the surly bonds of earth" -- and ends "...I've...Put out my hand and touched the face of God.")

This device is known as "allusion." The point is to inject into your speech a poem or quote that most people in the audience will already be familiar with.