Martin Luther King's Speech

The speech “I have a dream” by Martin Luther King is acknowledged as one of the best speeches ever delivered. His escalated rhetoric demanding racial justice and an integrated society became a slogan for the black community. King’s words proved to be the basis for understanding the social and political upheaval at the time and gave the nations people a voice of their own to express what was happening. The key message King hoped to get across in his speech was that all people are created equal and that it must be the case for the future of America. King’s speech was by no means improvised, it was well researched and in preparation he studied the Bible, The Gettysburg Address and the US Declaration of Independence as he alludes to all three in his address. The speech can only be described as a political work of poetry and a well delivered, unintentional, yet beautiful, sermon full of biblical language and imagery. As well as rhythm and frequent repetition, alliteration is a key device, used to hit home major points.
King utilizes a simple format that enables his listeners to commit his every word to memory with ease and
In his speech, Douglass uses many different rhetorical devices to help show “the hypocrisy of American slavery,” the first being a rhetorical question. Douglass asks the people of Rochester “What to the American slave is your Fourth of July?” He continues to answer his own question by saying it is a day that reveals the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. Another rhetorical device Douglass uses is anaphora where he repeats the word “to” followed by an action that shows how slaves during this time were used and taken advantage of. His speech moved people and showed the hypocrisy of American slavery and the rhetorical terms and devices he used only helped him show