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Martin luther king speech analysis
Analysis of Martin Luther King's speech
Martin luther king speech analysis
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On August 28th, 1963, at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C, Martin Luther King Jr., spoke to roughly twenty-five thousands people attending the March on Washington for jobs and freedom. In Dr. King’s speech, “I Had a Dream”, he uses rhetorical devices to convey that all people are created equal and to educate the importance of the Civil Rights Movement. 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. …show more content…
King’s speech is isocolon. Isocolon is a parallel structure that is made up of words, clauses, or phrases of equal length, sound, meter, and rhythm. One example of isocolon is when Dr. King said, “Go back to Mississippi, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana” (King 2). Dr. King used isocolon to emphasize to the audience the places where segregation was strictly enforced. The second example is revealed when Dr. King claimed, “from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city” (King 4). This isocolon merely summarized his claim about freedom ringing from all parts of America. Overall, these two usages of isocolon are intended to boost the emotion of Kings’ speech towards conquering the ability to be
The iconic speech “I have a Dream”, originally named “Normalcy, Never Again”, is dubbed to be one of the greatest speech of all time. It was expertly delivered by civil rights activist Dr Martin Luther King, on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington. The speech was delivered during the March on Washington on the 28th of August, 1963. Dr King urgently called for the end of discrimination and racial prejudice between the Americans with different colour. He delivered his speech with finesse, inspiring and persuading his audience through the use of written, audio codes and body language. The written techniques Dr King utilized were repetition and metaphor and in addition, audio codes, which were volume and pace.
He starts of his speech by showing how the Emancipation of Proclamation was supposed to free them but didn’t. King says, “Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation of Proclamation.” He then shows how the African Americans feel after this whole time of when they supposedly had their freedom. Dr. King shares, “One hundred years later, the Negro still languishes in th...
The author of the “I Have A Dream” speech is Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. King, known for his work in Civil Rights during the 1960s. In this informative speech, Dr. King inspires individuals to have a change in both white and black citizens during the Civil RIghts era in the United States. Moreover, the premise of the speech is that both sides of the discussion must accept change in a non-violent yet effective way. He spoke about the injustices of segregation and discrimination of black citizens that was occurring in our nation. As he opened, “I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation,” he explained what he was there to do for all citizens. He is
In the essay “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” written by Martin Luther King, Jr., the author writes about the Christian movement for Human Rights that he lead was reasonable and in good quality. In this essay, while King sits in a jail cell he responds to a statement written by a disbeliever of his Christian movement claiming that the movement was unwise and untimely. King goes on to explain how Black people were treated unfair and that the movement was not unwise and that it was conducting at just the right time. In this essay, I will discuss ways King used ethos to create a strong argument about this situation.
The art of King's words in his speech are so articulate and marvelous that sets off the mode and tone in harmony throughout the text. "Lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean," "dramatize a shameful condition," "unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," and "bright day of justice emerging." Magnificent, promissory, sacred obligation, sweltering, racial justice, dignity, inextricably bound, unspeakable horrors, exalted, prodigious, and spiritual are just some words found in the speech. Despite their different lettering, they all share something in common. From the author's choice of these words, it tells you that this speech was inspiring, uplifting, and bold. The style of the author's words makes it easier to understand for the audience to listen and not misinterpret it the opposite way. Thus, making it easier for the author to persuade his audience too. A win-win for both
In his address, King calls for the audience to “go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, [and to] go back to South Carolina” to fight for the rights and privileges given to other citizens in the United States. Later on King states that “with this faith, [they] will be able to transform…the nation, with this faith, [they] will be…free one day.” Again, Dr. King uses repetition; this time appealing to the crowd’s religious views by stating with hope, faith and prayer, the oppressed can be freed. Repetition not only emphasizes his call to action but continually builds on King’s increasing passion; intensifying his milestone
Throughout the course of his speech, King makes allusions to multiple texts, such as the Bible, the song “My country tis of thee,” and Thomas Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence. From the Bible, King states that “justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream.” (paragraph 13; Amos 5:24) Based on this quote, King encourages the end to inequality and the beginning of justice and righteousness. From Thomas Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence, King uses that quote “We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal.” (paragraph 17) Based on this quote, King emphasizes that the nation should rise up and stand up for their rights. Also from the Declaration of Independence, King states that all men have the right to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” (paragraph 4) Based on this quote, King stresses that all men, which consists of both black and white men possess these unalienable rights by God. King uses a few phrases “My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrim's pride, From every mountainside, let freedom ring!” from the song “My Country ‘Tis of Thee” by Samuel Francis Smith.
Martin Luther King Jr. commences his speech with the use of repetition in order to set the tone of his argument and elaborate on his efforts to come. Dr. King Jr. repeats the phrase “But I wouldn’t stop there” in the last sentence of each paragraph, paragraphs 2-8, to not only connect the ideas at hand but also to emphasize his mentality on the “age [he] would like to live in.” Dr. King is speaking to the crowd gathered about what he would do if he could change the time period in which he lived and how it would change his life. He used repetition specifically so that he can connect the variety of time periods he would have enjoyed to live in. King also uses anaphora throughout his opening words in order to provide the same sense of
King used another rhetorical device in his speech which brings back or compares something similar to what point or what Dr. King is wanting to do. The comparison of two similar things, ideas, or sayings is a rhetorical device called an analogy. In his speech, it states an analogy that is used JFK’s speech, “we have nothing to fear but fear itself” (paragraph 8). This is a famous saying that is used in Dr. King’s and JFK’s speech to refer back to a memory that people have heard and experienced already, so the allusion helps the audience trust and believe in the movement. By using this specific device he could use sayings that are similar to famous sayings that have been used before in the past. Dr. King uses an analogy with Lincoln’s speech also to draw people’s attention and to make it sound persuading by using this
On August 28, 1963 Martin Luther King made his famous “I Have a dream” speech on the Lincoln Memorial after the March on Washington. He delivered this speech to millions of people blacks and whites. This is one of the greatest speeches because it has many elements like pathos, logos, ethos, repetition, assonance, and consonance.
King uses in his speech is Pathos, which is the appeal to someone 's emotions or beliefs. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. presented a strong feeling towards African-American people about how they were treated as equal individuals “But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination” (King par. 3). Another example of pathos that Dr. King used was when he uses vocabulary and phrases, such as “I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream” (King par. 12). He uses the appeal of emotion, especially the word of choice and diction to let his audience’s know what he would like to see in the
He felt that all Americans should be equal and that they should forget about injustice and segregation. He wanted America to know what the problems were and wanted to point out the way to resolve these problems. In his speech, King uses different types of rhetorical guidelines. He uses them to show his points in a better and easier way to understand. At the beginning he successfully uses mythos. A myth has a deep explanatory or symbolic resonance for the audience.
On the day of his “I Have a Dream” speech, King stood upon the steps of the Lincoln Memorial located in the heart of our nation’s capital. This location was essential to King’s success because it was a symbol of our nation’s historic efforts to abolish the enslavement of African-Americans; an act which was made possible due to the valiant efforts of Abraham Lincoln. As the preponderance of the speech began, King made reference to the former president in what Peter Paris said was a “Declaration proclaimed to America on behalf of all African people”. King stated, “Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice” (I Have a Dream 2). Through these words, he was able to mimic the tone and style of Lincoln’s famous Gettysburg Address while also evoking remembrance of the nation’s harsh past. The signing of one such bill, the Emancipation Proclamation, was the first time in history that African-Americans were able to progress in the social order. King tied this into his argument by introducing the concept that other laws could be enacted in order to allow the African-American population to continue
One of the many ways he used metaphors was when King states “But one hundred years later, the life of the negro people is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination.” This is effective because he is comparing segregation and discrimination to chains used for slave labour, and having just mentioned how slavery was abolished one hundred years ago, he is stating that they are no better now as they were a century ago. Dr King also used repetition to emphasise his points and state his passion. The most blatant use of repetition is when King continuously says “I have a dream that…”, a phrase in which the speech was named after. One example of King using this, a line which some consider being his most powerful line of all time, was “I have a dream that one day, my four little children will live in a nation where they are not judged by the colour of their skin, but by the content of their character.” By stating that he has a dream over and over again, he drills the idea into the heads of his listeners that he is working towards following his dreams, and it would mean a lot to him if they help him accomplish them. Another effect this has is it also inspires the negro population to win equality, by stating that in doing so, it would fulfil King’s dreams. King has a very strong speech, but it is all worth nothing if the audience doesn't understand him.
King begins his speech by referencing important historical documents such as the Constitution of the United States and the Emancipation Proclamation. This is emphasized when he states, ”Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation...But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free”. Which shows how even though the Emancipation Proclamation freed the African Americans from slavery, they still are not free because of segregation. He then transitions to the injustice and suffering that the African Americans face. He makes this