I Have A Dream Rhetorical Devices

At the height of the Civil Rights Movement, hundreds of thousands of people gathered at the Lincoln Memorial waiting for one man to speak: Martin Luther King Jr. The speech he gave that day became one of the most memorable and impactful speeches of all time. King’s strong rhetoric in “I Have a Dream” shows through in the powerful imagery, allusions, and repetition he chose. Martin Luther King Jr. uses noteworthy imagery throughout his speech, which often compares African American’s future situation as a bright and empowering one, while the current one is grim and despairing. King creates a metaphor for such a hopeful future by using light, such as when he references the Emancipation Proclamation “as a joyous daybreak to end the long night

King repeats the phrase, “Now is the time to…”, after describing the troubles African Americans faced. Often used to emphasize ideas to the reader or bring an emotional appeal, anaphora, in this case, is extremely effective. By previously recounting the struggles blacks had to go through, it makes the audience frustrated, and by then adding anaphora, those emotions channel into a sense of urgency where there needs to be a change now. Possibly one of the most eminent anaphoras of all time, the repetition of “I have a dream” is what makes the speech change history. Martin Luther King Jr. states, “...that even though we must face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream.” The expression “I have a dream” suits particularly well since he just described how long and miserable their fight has been but that it will all be worth it. Every time King uses anaphora, his audience becomes more and more hopeful of their future, and they anticipate what will come next. Next, he repeats the phrase “Let freedom ring” and describes landscapes from different parts of the United States. This anaphora is especially successful since he firsts starts by stating northern states and then moves onto the southern states, which tended to be more prejudiced. The anaphora in “I Have a Dream” was part of the reason why King’s rhetoric was so