I Have A Dream Speech Rhetorical Devices

Martin Luther King Junior’s “I Have a Dream” speech was essential in ending the oppression and discrimination against the black population of America. At the march on Washington he addressed the entire nation in an attempt to unite them to end racial discrimination. The majority of his speech was an allusion to Abraham Lincoln’s Ghettysburg Address and it borrowed many devices that Lincoln used to catch his audience’s attention. His use of anaphora, antithesis, and countless instances of metaphors captivate and move the reader to his goal.

First, his ude of anaphora is easy to see throughout the entire speech and is clearly used to emphasize relevant points he is trying to make. In the second paragraph he begins many sentences with, “One

hundred years later”, to show the considerable amount of time that has elapsed since the rights of all citizens were supposed to be equal. It accentuates the connection to Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation and how his intents have yet to be realized or enforced. Later in the fifth and sixth paragraphs he brings the focus more to the present buy starting sentences with, “now is the time”. He motivates his audience by reminding them that the time for change is now and they are the ones who must rise to action. In paragraphs nine through twelve there is frequent use of the phrases, “We cannot be satisfied”, and, “We can never be satisfied”, to

express the current struggle the black population is facing. It calls attention to the various ways blacks were being discriminated against and how they lead difficult and oppressed lives. His use of anaphora also alludes to the Ghettysburg Address as it has frequent use of anaphora as well.
King also uses antithesis almost as often as he uses anaphora to illustrate the different situations blacks and whites are facing. In paragraph six he says the blacks face a “sweltering summer” of dicontent and that they long for an “invigorating autumn”. This is a comparison between what the blacks currently stuggle through and what the whites take for granted despite the separate but “equal” law. At the start of paragraph nineteen he uses the phrases such as, “every valley shall be exalted”, and, “every hill and mountain shall be made low”, to show the differences between how blacks and whites are treated. One could conclude that this represents the purpose King’s movement, to make all races equal in this nation. Also, to show the urge of the black population’s desires of equality he talks about a “great beacon light of hope” compared to the “flames of withering injustice”. It compares what the blacks were given a promise of the oppression and discrimination that they were facing at the time. The Ghettysburg Address also makes use of this device to show that the actions of people would long outlive any words said that they set down.
Finally, King’s copious use of metaphors relates the suffering of the black population to many vivid pictures of struggle. In paragraph two his use of the phrases, “ manacles of segregation”, and, “chains of discrimination”, show how the blacks are imprisoned and weighed down by the seperation. He uses this metaphor to relate the

blacks suffering to being shackled down and held back.

Later he speaks about a “promissory note” and “check” when reffering to what America promises its citizens in the terms of freedom. He says that the black population has received a “bad check” in that they have been denied what they were promised by America. He also mentions the “storms of persucution” and the “winds of police brutality” in reference to the violence the black protestors go through. He brings up this not long after reminding the audience that they must peaceful in their protest to draw extra attention to the uneccesary violence shown to them. King’s use of metaphors is used most often to demonstrate how bad the discrimination and segregation of the black population is.

In conclusion, Martin Luther King Junior’s “I Have a Dream” speech is a grand alluaion to Abraham Lincoln’s Ghettysburg Address and was given to unite a nation divided by race. He delivered the speech at the Lincoln Memorial and for the same reason Lincoln delivered his. He also used many of the same literary devices that Lincoln used in his speech to unify and capture the attention of his audience. To this day, King’s speech has been a proud reminder of the stand against racial discrimination and an event rooted into history books for ages to

come.