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The Famous Speech of Martin Luther King - Online Term Paper

The Famous Speech of Martin Luther King

Martin Luther King Jr. was a man of many words. Not only did his words inspire and arouse the hearts of thousands of people, but they had a particular structure in order to get the point across. One of King's most famous speeches, "I Have A Dream," is a prime example how his use of rhetorical devices such as repetition, allusion, metaphors, and parallel structure spoke volumes to the people. King used repetition of words in this famous speech for multiple reasons. Since there were not only African Americans within his audience, but white people as well, he had to make a point to both of these groups of people. For example, in the third paragraph of the "I Have A Dream" speech, King ...

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coming from his main audience as he repeatedly used the phrase, "We cannot be satisfied." King refused to let his fellow African American brothers and sisters be satisfied "as the negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one," and so on and so forth.
Allusion was another effective rhetorical device used by King in his "I Have A Dream" speech. For example, King actually quoted Scripture from the Bible when he said, "Until 'justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream," as well as quotes from the Declaration of Independence and from Abraham Lincoln in the Gettysburg Address. All of this was done in order to add depth and historical relevance to his words. As a result of this crafty device, when King said, "I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.'" it moved people. When King made a tie between something ...

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The Famous Speech of Martin Luther King. (2011, March 16). Retrieved January 7, 2026, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/The-Famous-Speech-Martin-Luther-King/96199

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PAPER DETAILS

Added: 3/16/2011 06:35:27 PM
Submitted By: dungdiem175
Category: African Studies
Type: Premium Paper
Words: 862
Pages: 4

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