Rhetorical Analysis Of Martin Luther King's Speech

Dream Often, Dream Big, Dream Change Martin Luther King, Jr., was one of the most powerful leaders in the civil rights movement, from the bus boycott to his historical speech “I Have a Dream”. Martin Luther King presented his most inspiring speech on August 28, 1963, and it had a great impact on the United States. In his speech he emphasized phrases by repeating at the beginning of sentences. He also repeated key theme word in his speech including “freedom”, “we”, “our”, “you”, “nation”, “America”, and “dream”. Martin Luther King, Jr., also utilized appropriate quotations and allusions in his compelling speech. Using biblical verses and references to national documents like the Declaration of Independence. He used specific examples to ground
Repeating the words twice sets the pattern, and further repetitions emphasize the pattern and increase the rhetorical effect. “I have a dream” is repeated in eight successive sentences and is one of the most often cited examples of anaphora in modern rhetoric. He had many key phrases: “One hundred years later”, “now is the time”, “we must”, “we can never be satisfied”, “go back to”, “I have a dream”, “with this faith” and “let freedom ring”. In Kings speech he said “one hundred years later” four times in the beginning of his I have a dream speech. Even in the absence of the remainder of the speech, these key phrases and by extension make King’s story more memorable. The use of anaphora in Martin Luther King’s speech added emphasis to catch America’s
Martin Luther King, Jr., made numerous specific geological references throughout his speech including Mississippi, New York, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Colorado, California, and Tennessee. He mentioned Mississippi on four separate occasions in his speech because Mississippi would evoke some of the strongest emotions and images for his audience because that is on of the most prejudice states. He also used generic geographic references like “slums and ghettos of our northern cities”, “the South”, “every mountainside”, and “from every village and every hamlet”. Using geographic references gave his audience an image of how life was for the Negro and the harsh injustice that was