Martin Luther King Speech Rhetorical Analysis

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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

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