Running head: ESSENTIALS TO LOVE LEARNING AND WHY

Essentials to Love Learning and Why: Analysis of David McCulloughs Address

Ivy J. Rice
BYUIdaho

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David McCullough, a contemporary American historian, asks a simple yet profound

rhetorical question: How can we profess to love our country and take no interest in its history?
(p.336). In his essay, The Love of Learning: Address to the Graduates, McCullough, a Pulitzer
Prize winner, and recipient of many other awards including the Presidential Medal of Freedom,
argues effectively and answers that question by using logical reasoning, strong diction, and
personal experience, which appeals to the audiences intellect, emotions and belief. Therefore,
McCullough teaches the audience to trust that he knows the essential tools needed to learn how
to love learning and, most importantly, why we must make the love of learning central tolife
and discover the magic (pp.334-335).
McCullough as a renowned writer and historian knows how to weave a tale and lead the
audience on a journey of this magic he speaks so highly of discovering (p. 334). McCullough
builds the trust foundation with facts easily accessible in this Information Age, examples from
the pages of history, and his personal testimony of the happiness he felt and witnessed as he tried
his own true methods. Thus, McCulloughs organized essay, historical narratives, personal prose,
and experience make the audience feel they can trust him.
McCullough introduces the subject of learning to the class of 2008 with a subject they are
familiar with: The Information Age, a time of mass information readily and easily accessible to
all. McCullough recites facts about presidents, the highest mountain in Massachusetts, the Statue
of Liberty, and more. All these facts can be found on the internet or in the Almanac. The facts
grab the audiences attention because it is a subject they know. They were raised in the
Information Age. So they understand and know what he says is true, validating their assumption
of why they should trust him, thus it is more than just because he was chosen as commencement
keynote speaker.
Additionally, McCullough shares a moment in John Adams life, a man he has studied and
written his biography. Through strong diction the audience can picture a humble John Adams,

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when a college education was possible, and Adams discovered books and read forever (p.
334). McCullough summarizes that at 80 years old Adams was reading a 16-volume history of
France proving that Adams did truly read forever (p. 334).
Similarly, McCullough expresses his personal desire to read like John Adams. When I
set out to write the life of John Adams, I wanted not only to read what he and Abigail wrote, but
to read. . . what they read (p. 335).
Moreover, McCullough testifies that by age 60 he was rereading the classics from old
English classes, such as Pope, Swift, Sterne, Richardson, and Cervantes. Thus, through his
presentation, historical example, and personal experience, McCullough establishes a foundation
of trust with his audience.
Due to that foundation of trust, McCullough is able to build on top of that solid
connection. However, McCullough claims that facts alone are never enough [because] one
can have all the facts and miss the truth (p. 334). The truth that McCullough wants the audience
to discover is the first essential tool: The joy of reading. Abigail Adams once said that Learning
is not attained by chance. It must be sought with ardor and attended with diligence; therefore,
learning must be diligently attained through great books, McCullough believes, and
concentrated work (p.334).
Similar to John Adams, McCullough uses historic figure, Senator Charles Sumner of
Massachusetts, to support his next claim of what is needed besides reading great books.
McCullough teaches that Sumner traveled to Paris, attended lectures on history, geology,
Egyptology, and more. Sumner saw works of art at the Louvre and upon seeing the art of
Raphael and da Vinci, he said, [t]hey touched my mind, untutored as it is, like a rich strain of
music (p.334). However, it wasnt the lectures, nor the art, that made a difference in Sumners
life. It was when he saw that black and white students were not distant as in America and that

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changed his life and later effected the pre Civil War (p.335). Sumner did not learn or discover
that distance in a book. It was when he traveled to Paris and saw how others lived.
McCullough explains in a conversational tone that the love of learning . . . often happens
later and often by surprise. . . Thats part of the magic (p.334). Through diction, McCullough
evokes the hope and desire to feel the magic and acquire that love of learning (p.334).
Therefore, the detailed and documented history of Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts, the
difference he made in his own life, and in history because he travelled is the second essential tool
needed to learn to love to learn.
McCullough cautions that were all what we read to a very considerable degree so we
should read about science, American history, Greece and Rome (p. 336). With due diligence or
as Abigail Adams would say, with ardor all should read everything from the classics to history,
and travel as often as possible and to new places (p. 334). Therefore, by utilizing these two
essential tools it will help everyone to discover the magic and answer the most daunting
question of why we should love to learn.
Through nuggets of gold wisdom, McCullough shares what he has learned over the years
of how to learn to love learning: First to read, read!, second to travel, and lastly to discover
that the joy of learning to love learning helps the audience to be that example, and make a
difference in the world (p.336).
McCulloughs concluding words take on a pleading tone, a man of sound reasoning,
passionate about literature and history, vast experience, and his admiration for the audience, all
work together in provide a list of essential things a grandfather would want his grandchildren to
know. The implied and explicit thesis of McCulloughs essay are expressed here, Make the love
of learning central to your life. What a difference it can mean (p.335). Read about the great
turning points in history . . . (p.336). Read for pleasure. . . (p.336). Travel as much as you
can. . . (p. 336). Make a difference. . . [and] set an example for all (p. 336).

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Overall, McCullough utilizing his essays organization, narrative illustrations, and

prestigious experience to convey the logical reasoning, emotions, belief, and trust that appeal to
the audience.
Through McCulloughs essays formatting he is able to appeal to the audiences intellect
through logical reasoning. Through McCulloughs historical examples, his narratives are colored
by strong diction and imagery that appeal to the emotions. And through personal experience,
McCullough evokes trust.
Thus, McCullough appeals to the audiences reasoning, emotions, and beliefs he
solidifies his point that reading and travelling often are essential to learn how to love learning. It
is most important, in order to set an example like John Adams, or make a difference like Senator
Charles Sumner, or teach someone else the essential tools, like David McCullough, we must first
read. Read, read! as McCullough says (p.336). Then travel often because once we are doing
that, then eventually we will experience the magic and like Adam want to read forever (p.
334). And with that comes a time when we will be open and ready to make a difference.
In conclusion, McCullough asks a profound concluding question, to determine a persons
state of preparedness. He asks, How can we profess to love our country and take no interest in
its history? (p. 336). Furthermore, how can we profess to love to read, if we dont read every
great book? How can we profess to love to meet new people, if we keep our head bowed and we
dont see their faces? How can we profess to love to see new places, if we do not travel? How
can we live in the Information Age and not explore all the good and great information that is
accessible and ready for us to consume and learn from and make a difference?
Simply, we cannot.

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References
McCullough, D. (2008/2012). The Love of Learning: Address to the Graduates. In R. Seamons
(Ed.), The way of wisdom (pp. 333-336). Rexburg, ID: BYUIdaho. Retrieved from
http://ilearn.byui.edu