Martin Luther King is one of the best orators still today. He is a role model for many people and there's so much to learn from him. Many people who write and relay speeches don't tend to become recognized like King did. There are many ways to overcome that struggle and using King's methods are definitely one of them. In this manual, you will many different ways to create an amazing recognizable speech like Kings. You will also learn how use them and what their purposes are. King uses metaphors, anaphora and antithesis to create many of his significant powerful speeches. King uses metaphors often to display imagery and give his words a bigger picture to the audience. Some people understand things better when the concept is relating …show more content…
King uses in his speeches to grasp the reader's attention is anaphora. Anaphora is when you repeat a word many times so the reader can really grab ahold of their point they are trying to convey. Anaphora is used to persuade as well. King uses anaphora in his speeches to do both of those things. In paragraph 6, he repeats the word “must” in every sentence. The purpose of this type of anaphora is to persuade. King says “...we must not despair. We must not become bitter…” etc. This anaphora is showing how King wants to persuade people to teach the misguided and to also respect everyone no matter what. King also uses anaphora is this eulogy in paragraph 11. This anaphora, unlike the other one, was used to get the point across instead of persuade. He repeats the word “beautiful” four times in three sentences because he wants to the audience to understand the beauty of this historic event and turn this tragic event into a stepping stone to a new revolution of black power. King uses anaphora many time in his speeches because it gives the reader a clear message. So make sure that when you are writing your speech you are using anaphoras to help make your point clear. Be careful to not use too much anaphora so you don't bore the audience with your …show more content…
Antithesis is used to create a bold statement that stands out to the reader and grasp their attention. I also believe that it is used to give the reader a positive perspective of something that can seem negative. King uses antithesis in paragraph 11 to differentiate two things in a bold way that easily catches the reader's attention. King states, “Their lives were distressingly small in quantity, but glowingly large in quality.”. This sentence shows how King is relaying how small these innocent children were in size but also how they were very tremendous people inside. King uses this to intrigue the audience and give them a bigger picture of what he is trying to say. This is one of those qualities that King uses in almost every speech he gives, so double check and make sure that this is in your speech if you are wanting to create a speech like King's
King uses another periodic sentence when he says, “I doubt that you would so quickly commend the policemen if you were to observe their ugly and inhumane treatment of Negroes here in the city jail; if you were to watch them push and curse old Negro women and young Negro girls; if you were to see them slap and kick old Negro men and young boys; if you were to observe them, as they did on two occasions, refuse to give us food because we wanted to sing our grace together. ”(King 273) In this sentence he does not hold off the meaning of the sentence until the very end like in the previous one, but he arranges the sentence in such a way that is very effective. He shows that experiencing these things that have happened to him, and the fellow members of his race, is the only way to understand the true cruelty. Another time King uses syntax is when he says, “It gives the segregator a false sense
One device used throughout Dr. King’s speech is epistrophe. Epistrophe is the repetition of a word or words at the end of successive clauses or sentences. King applied this term when he stated, “With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day” (King 3). Epistrophe is effective in this case because it puts emphasis on the fact that the Civil Rights Movement will always work together and will never forget or leave anybody behind to struggle alone. Without this term Dr. King loses a moment to unify the people and emphasis the importance that uniting together may one day bring freedom.
Firstly, two literary devices King used in his speech were ethos and logos. To appeal and emphasize his credibility, King began his speech with, “five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we
It gives the reader time to take a step back and examine how they really feel about the argument at hand. King’s aphorisms add strong pathos to his piece and generally sum up what he has previously stated; they always seem to have purpose where they are used. Thoreau uses them in the same way, but with more logic than emotion.
On August 28, 1963, the legendary Martin Luther King Jr. gave his empowering speech, demanding equality among the African American and white race, and the injustices that have proved the conditions unequal between the two races. In his speech, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. uses many rhetorical devices to convey the idea that whites have brutally mistreated blacks for hundreds of years, even though, as a group, they have paved the nation, laying the foreground of the United States.
Throughout this letter, King uses elaborate diction and complex rhetorical strategies. He addresses his audience directly; makes frequent use of balance and parallelism, understatement, and metaphor; and makes many historical and religious allusions. What effect do you think King intended these rhetorical strategies to have on the letter’s original audience of clergymen? Does King’s elaborate style enhance his argument, or does it just get in the way?
Throughout his speech King uses parallel structures with imagery to give his speech coherence, to separate different ideas within the speech and to engage his audience. Using phrases like, “I have a dream (…)”, “We can never be satisfied as long as (…),” “With this faith we will be able to (…),” and “Let freedom ring from (…),” repetitively he creates coherence in his speech. Coherence has allowed his speech to flow his ideas in a clear and logical way, which made it easier for people of all educational background to follow along, due to which he was able to keep audience interest. The parallelism have allowed him to separate different ideas for example the vision of the future with the usage of phrase, “I have a dream (…),” the goal of the speech with usage of phrase, “We cannot be satisfied as long as (…),” the assurance of unity to give them power to fight for their rights by using the phrase, “With this faith we will be able to,” the places with much hopeless conditions giving the sense of hopefulness for things to get better by using phrases like, “Let freedom ring from (…),” the result of letting freedom ring to leave the audience with a vision of bright future at the end of his speech by using phrases like, “when we let freedom ring from (…),” and “free at last (…)”. By separating different aspects of his speech he makes it clear to the audience what he is talking about, and what he wants them to take from his speech. Also by using imagery along with the
King employs numerous rhetorical devices weaved into “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” Apart from rhetorical questioning and metaphors Mr. King’s use of antithesis and polysyndeton are also noticeable. Polysyndeton is used many times, but is most evident in the following quote. “But when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim; when you have seen hate-filled policemen curse, kick, and even kill your black brothers and sisters; when you suddenly find your tongue twisted and your speech stammering as you seek to explain to your six-year-old daughter why she can’t go to the amusement park that has just been advertised on television…” Yes, this is a long quote, but it is the perfect use of the rhetorical device called polysyndeton. Dr. King’s abnormal and frequent use of the phrases/words brother, sisters, when, and and add a strong dramatic effect to this quote. Antithesis is also practiced many a time in Dr. King’s letter to you. Antithesis is used when King constructs two sentences with contrasting meaning in a close proximity to each other. Phrases like “moving with jet like speed” and “creep at a horse and buggy pace” completely contradict one another, but instead of using this device once King uses it twice in the same quote. “The nations of Asia and Africa are moving with jet like speed toward gaining political independence, but we still creep at a horse and buggy pace toward gaining a cup of coffee at
On August 28th, 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his famous and powerful speech I Have a Dream, at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. The purpose of his speech was to fight for the civil rights, equality, and to stop the discrimination against African-American people. His use of imagery, repetition, and metaphor in his speech had created an impact with his audience. King used the three rhetorical devices, ethos, pathos and logos to help the audience understand the message of his speech.
Dr. King uses ethos, logos, and pathos effectively throughout his letter to address a large audience. He intertwines the three rhetorical strategies seamlessly to support his argument. Although Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. has his critics in the clergy who argue against his civil rights demonstrations in Birmingham, he effectively uses all three types of rhetorical strategies to effective persuade his critics by explaining why his actions are just and timely in his “Letter from Birmingham Jail.”
The effect that this anaphora has on King’s speech is that it allows the audience to know what he will say next in his speech and it allows the audience to say it along with King to add that extra excitement and enthusiasm about what King is preaching about. Another literary device that King uses throughout his speech is imagery because he is repeatedly
His speech was given to an abundance of people of all races. However, his voice spoke out to the African American community the most. King used anaphora several different ways during his speech, because he was proving what troubles African Americans went through. Anaphora is the repetition of a word or phrase to make a point. Martin Luther King used anaphora in more than one paragraph.
Through making the audience realize this, he also gave them hope for a world reborn without racism, without segregation, without discrimination, and without hate. King wanted his children to live in a world without judgment of race, but with the consideration of personality, for nobody should not endure judgment because of the way that they look. He spoke of his own children, which introduced a reinforced emotional attachment to the audience; this gave many parents a scenario to relate to because no parent wants their child exposed to the horrid crimes of discrimination.... ... middle of paper ... ...
King also uses another very powerful speaking style; irony. He uses this when he talks about when he was at a book signing, and a woman came up to him and stabbed him in the chest. He was rushed to the hospital only to find out that the tip of the knife was on his aorta, and if it were to be punctured, he easily could have died. While he was in the hospital, he got letters from people all over the country-all over the world and this is what he said, “ I had received one from the President and the Vice-President. I've forgotten what those telegrams said. I'd received a visit and a letter from the Governor of New York, but I've forgotten what that letter said. But there was another letter that came from a little girl, a young girl who was a student at the White Plains High School. And I looked at that letter, and I'll never forget it.”(King 1). Although he had received a letter from the President...he only remembers what the little girl wrote to him. This shows how much he cares for rights and equality to all. His use of irony in this way again, brings more power to the speech- and shows the crowd that anyone- even that little girl from high school, has the power to make a difference and to make their
I speak for those whose land is being laid waste, whose homes are being destroyed, whose culture is being subverted. I speak for the poor of America who are paying the double price of smashed hopes at home and death and corruption in Vietnam. I speak as a citizen of the world, for the world as it stands aghast at the path we have taken. I speak as one who loves America, to the leaders of our own nation: The great initiative in this war is ours; the initiative to stop it must be ours,” (King 8) is an anaphora. It is an anaphora because it repeats the phrase “I speak for” while highlighting the point that so many are being affected by the war, including Americans. The emotional appeal in this anaphora is shown in the lines talking about the “suffering poor of Vietnam” and the “poor of America.” Here King is showing that he is there for and empathizes with the victims of the war. As an audience we see King is brave and we can try to sympathize with both the Vietnamese and the poor in America because we feel bad. This speech was given to young progressive African Americans (maybe some white liberals) so the repetition and emotion in this anaphora works to charm the audience and inspire them. It shows pathos because of that emotional appeal but also ethos because through these lines King shows that he cares a lot about people no matter their