I Have A Dream Rhetorical Analysis

On the Lincoln Memorial more than forty years ago, Martin Luther King Jr. touched America with his famous "I Have a Dream" speech. This speech spoke about the racial injustice towards the black community of America and demanded change. The theme of this speech was that all human beings were created equal and that no one should be mistreated just because their race, color or religion. Martin Luther King's powerful message touched millions of people and allowed change to occur. Martin Luther King's speech was very carefully written and constructed so his message would come through to the people. The “I Have a Dream” speech incorporated many different types of literary techniques, which were greatly helped influence, the people and get his point across. The structure as well was an important part of the flow of his speech. Martin Luther King paid close attention to the lengths of sentences, paragraph and grouping of his ideas. King also
This in the end helped him influence his audience towards wanting equality for all. This moving speech used five important persuasive techniques: emphasis on phrasing by repeating at the beginning of sentences, repeated key themes, used allusions, used specific examples to set his argument, and lastly used a great deal of metaphors. Anaphora, which is defined as repeating, words at the beginning of sentences. This persuasive technique allows the main point of a speech to come through. In Martin Luther King’s speech the phrase “I have a dream” is repeated in eight successive sentences. Other words or phrases are repeated as well such as: “One hundred years later…” [Paragraph 3], “Now is the time…” [Paragraph 6], “We must…” [Paragraph 8], “We can never be satisfied…” [Paragraph 13], “Go back to…” [Paragraph 14], “With this faith, …” [paragraph