But before we look at these rhetorical devices employed in the speech in more detail, a brief summary of the discourse may be helpful. It can be divided into two parts. In the first part King depicts the racial injustice in America and calls for action using several themed paragraphs. The second half conveys King’s hope for a better future where there will be equality between the citizens of America regardless to the color of their skin. This part contains the thesis of the speech: “I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.”“ The address finishes with an emotionally rich and competently improvised paragraph themed around freedom.
As you read the text, you come up with hundreds of metaphors. Found almost in every line, they adorn the speech and make it more effective. Most of those metaphors are used to highlight the contrast between two abstract concepts. For example, King invokes the contrast between quick sands and solid rock to distinguish racial injustice from brotherhood: “Now is the time to lift our nation from the quick sands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood.” However, there is also a metaphor in the address used to