“I Have a Dream” by Martin Luther King Jr. is one of the most memorable speeches of all time. It is worthy of lengthy study as we can all learn speechwriting skills from King’s historic masterpiece. Martin Luther Kings Speech ” I have a dream” is a very touching speech which expresses freedom and equality to its audience. The greatness of this speech is tied to its historical content.
In this essay I will investigate and explore how Martin Luther King Emphasises various phrases, His repetition throughout the speech, Highlight his use of metaphors, portray his use of paralinguistic features, How he expresses emotive language and explain the rhythm of the poem. I will use several Phrases and words to show his use of tone, imagery ,structure and theme. In this essay I will try to portray Martin Luther Kings thirst for freedom and equality. Martin Luther King emphasises many phrases by repeating at the beginning of sentences. He says “I have a dream” many consecutive times throughout the poem.
This is an example of anaphora. This phrase shows martin uses triadic structure to make the speech more significant . Instead of using “I” he often uses we to make the audience apart of his speech .. Martin also links words and sentences by using informal words at the beginning of sentences such as “and” and “but”. Majority of the audience will most likely not pay attention to these words but these words would wake up the audience to get them more involved in the speech. Throughout the speech Repetition is used to show people the main primary theme of the speech which is freedom.
The Essay on Martin King and Henry Thoreau
Martin King and Henry Thoreau both write persuasive expositions that oppose majority ideals and justify their own causes. While this similarity is clear, the two essays, “Letters from Birmingham Jail” by King and “Civil Disobedience” by Thoreau, do have their fair share of differences. Primarily in the causes themselves, as King persuades white, southern clergy men that ...
Freedom occurs in the speech about 20 times. He repeats word and phrases in his speech so the audience can come to know what he wants. He repeats the word “I have a dream” so people could understand his main purpose of standing in front of his audience. Words such us “negro”, “we”, “nation” are repeated to show the audience who is apart of his speech and who he wants to give freedom to. These words also grab the audiences attention because they appear many times in many stages of the speech. It also crates predictability that allows the audience to anticipate what to expect and join in.
Most of the metaphors used in martins speech are mainly to give the speech a bit of tune to keep the rhythm steady. Martin Luther king uses metaphors such as “Manacles of segregation” and “chains of discrimination”. These metaphors give the speech more emphasis and opens up the ears of the audience to make them more involved. In this specific speech many metaphors are used which relate with weather such as “Autumn of freedom and equality”. Martin uses the metaphor “thirst for freedom”. This shows the audience his demand for freedom.
This portrays to the audience that he cannot wait until a day would come were there would be freedom for all. He tries to show us that the same way a vampire would die for blood he would die for freedom. When Martin Luther King first starts his speech he starts very calmly and slowly using emotive language when he says “I am happy” showing the audience how honored he is to stand in front of thousands of people to show them what he will say on that day was to be written down in history. Many times in the middle of his speech and towards the end he uses paralinguistic features to wake up the audience.
He changes the volume of the speech and starts to show stress. Most emphasis in this speech which relate with how the volume of the speech changes towards the end is linked with the phrase “I have a dream”. Most features in this speech are linked with rhythm. For example Matins use of metaphors, Paralinguistic features , alliteration and etc. Most of these features have a great effect on how the rhythm of this poem is structured in his speech. He puts emphasis in the speech by using words such as Emancipation proclamation and for alliteration he uses words like symbolic shadow.
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Like I have said many times in this essay this gives the speech some tune which grabs the audiences attention. The rhythm of this poem is kept very steady but all the features make this tone in his speech. He tries to give hope to the Negros so that they know that they don’t feel alone. When Martin says “I have a dream ” in the poem he expects the audience to show gratitude to him. This encourages Martin Luther king to continue his message with pride and confident where the audience is cheering for him. He uses the idea of religion when he says “continue to work with faith”.
This quote gives hope to the negros because it tells them to start wakening up their souls and start to work more spiritually. This quote also tell the audience that equality should be everywhere and for everyone not only for the black Americans but in fact for all religions. Martin wanted to see a future of equality and freedom for all black Americans and white Americans. He wanted to see everyone unite. He says “Black boys and Black girls will be able to join hands with white boys and white girls”. This shows us he wanted unity of brotherhood and relation ships in the future.
He wanted to see a vision of a new generation without separation and with equality in America. This shows us that he wanted to create peace and harmony in America uniting everyone democratically. Many times throughout the speech martin refers to his vision in the future. He often says “destiny “, “Tomorrow” , “ahead” and “one day”. These words create a picture in the audiences head as he says his speech referring to the future. All of these words symbolize martins imaginary dream in the future . There is a time towards the end of his speech when he says “I have a dream today”.
This quote is linked with the presence in front of the audience . This shows the audience that he doesn’t have till judgment day to live and he wants to see some aspects of his dream come true whilst he is in front of the audience. In many parts of the speech martin says “we cannot walk alone”. This phrase means that he cannot do everything he wishes to accomplish him self. He tries to get support from the audience and tries to say to them that if they want freedom and equality he will need some devotees to score his goal.
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There should be not any doubts that we are all different in our own separate ways. Our differences are expressed through individual personalities and ways of interaction. Looks and appearances also influence the way we are seen for others. A common factor about these factors is that they are adjustable. The flexibility of these personal factors makes us adjustable to certain situations and special ...
To wake up the audience Martin Uses a few rhetorical questions to get the audience to think about a few things in their heads. He says “when will you be satisfied “. In these type of rhetorical questions in his speech he expects fort the audience to present the answer to the question instead of speaking the answer. “Five score years ago…” refers to Lincoln’s famous Gettysburg Address speech which began “Four score and seven years ago…” This allusion is particularly poignant given that King was speaking in front of the Lincoln Memorial.
This Evoking historical content gives strength to martin as he says the speech and makes the speech itself very powerful. Martin uses alliteration and very creative sound effects to emphasise his main points in the speech to the crowd, this gives him more attention and more significance . Martin Luther king has to show the crowd his confidence and credence and he uses this technique of showing great confidence to the audience very superbly and magnificently. He also uses Mon symbolic words very clearly in his speech and places them where he thinks they are needed perfectly.
This helps him gain control of the audiences tempo and helps Martin slow down and quicken the speed at which he presents the speech. If I was to write about what I thought of this poem it would take me books for me to explain my point of view. One of the main reasons for this is because he has structured the speech very well using various techniques and his use of vocabulary is very eloquent. All in all I would say that martin Highlights through his use of various writing techniques such as tone, imagery and theme to express his thirst for freedom and equality.
This speech portrays his determination to fight for freedom and equality. Throughout the speech martin tries to emphasise that a time for change has come. He tries to express this in many ways so it could have an effect on the audience. In my opinion this affects the audience and makes them more and more intransigent that a time for change has come. Martin uses collognial language to show that he is one of the audiences himself. Overall I enjoyed studying this speech and liked martin’s use of word choice to
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GIVE ME LIBERTY Patrick Henry's Speech in the Virginia Convention is not only a model persuasive speech, but also displays his extraordinary persuasive speaking skill. He spoke concerning the American colonies' relations with England, and urged his audience to accept the inevitable war rather than try to make amends. Several key aspects of his speech, such as emotion and tone, were essential in ...