Summary Of Rhetorical Devices In Martin Luther King's Speech
809 Words4 Pages
In high school, teachers told their students to use rhetorical devices to make the essays more interesting to the reader. It is so hard to use certain rhetorical devices and make it flow through the paragraphs. Martin Luther King Jr. made it sound so easy with his prodigious speech “I Have a Dream.” He uses a numerous amount of rhetorical devices which help his speech flow beautifully. Without the rhetorical devices, the speech would be harder to connect and understand to the public. The most used and memorable rhetorical devices that are used are repetition, anaphora, and allusion. When one uses repetition, it is easier to remember. For example, athletes use a lot of repetition in their practices. Repeating drills to perfect their technique…show more content… In Martin Luther King Jr.’s work he states, “Five score years ago,” to state Lincoln’s speech,”The Gettysburg Address.” What made this allusion significant was because he spoke in front of the Lincoln Memorial. He brought this up because he wanted to give create to Lincoln for fighting for African American and to make people realize who to respect when it comes to historical people who fought for their rights. Martin Luther King Jr. referred the “Declaration of Independence” as another allusion by stating “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” He wanted to draw attention to the foundation of the country and for people to realize they need to stand up for their rights. Martin Luther King Jr. gives a political allusion when stating, “This will be the day when all God’s children will be able to sing with a new meaning, ‘My country, ‘tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim’s pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring.” He implies that black and white people are God’s children and that there will be equality of all races established. Going further into the quote, he “sings” the American National Anthem to remind people that everyone lives in the same