I Have Been To The Mountaintop Rhetorical Devices

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On April 3, 1968 in Memphis Tennessee, Martin Luther King Jr. gave a moving speech about the unfortunate reality of society during that time. During the 1960s, the fight for racial equality began to really pick up speed. Racism was a major problem that was creating uproars, countless hate crimes, and many violent protests. In this his speech was able to convey his powerful message of peace by using metaphors and different analogies that people could easily relate to. Dr. King’s speech “I have been to the Mountaintop” was one of his most memorable, moving and inspiring speeches he had ever delivered. With King's use of the five canons of rhetoric: invention, arrangement, style memory and delivery he was able to give yet another successful, and important speech …show more content…

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

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