Figurative Language In Martin Luther King's I Have A Dream Speech

In paragraphs 12-14 of “Letter From Birmingham Jail”, Dr. King begins addressing the clergymen’s belief that the peaceful demonstrations conducted by him and his associates were untimely. King starts answering questions frequently heard by opposing or moderate forces, as well as essentially denouncing the resistance to desegregation. King then introduced the relationship between the oppressor and the oppressed; concluding that the oppressor is not inclined to act on things that do not directly affect them. Therefore, providing a platform of his argument as to why blacks could no longer wait to be given their basic human rights. Action needed to take place because fair treatment was no longer a hope to be given, it had to be taken.

"I Have A Dream" is a mesmerizing speech by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. It was delivered to the thousands of Americans on August 28, 1963, during the March on Washington. Aimed at the entire nation, King’s main purpose in this speech was to convince his audience to demand racial justice towards the mistreated African Americans and to stand up together for the rights afforded to African American under the Constitution. To further convey this purpose more effectively, King cleverly makes use of the rhetorical devices — ethos, pathos and logos — using figurative language such as metaphors and repetition as well as various other techniques e.g. organization, parallel construction and choice of title.

In “I Have a Dream”, by Dr.Martin Luther King Jr persuades us to want equal rights for African-Americans through peaceful resistance. I have a dream speech by Martin Luther King Jr is a very compelling speech to me because, he is using figurative language in order to show all the hopes and dreams he has for his people.

He explains how, despite constant efforts, they cannot get their rights recognized so they must break these “unjust” laws. In paragraph eleven King declares, “the Southern lands have been bogged down in a tragic effort to live in monologue rather than dialogue.” With this statement King paints a picture that portrays a land of injustice and unequal opinion. By saying “the Southern lands” King is specifying that it is not just African Americans who are experiencing hardships, which makes the reader realize that the entire South, not just a single race, feels these problems. King wants the reader to see that if the entire South is in a standoff of justice then there is a good possibility that some laws are unjust and need to be changed.

Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech is one of the most successful and most legendary speeches in United States history. Martin Luther King Jr. was a masterful speaker, who established a strong command of rhetorical strategies. By his eloquent use of ethos, logos, and pathos, as well as his command of presentation skills and rhetorical devices, King was able to persuade his generation that "the Negro is not free" (King 1). His speech became the rallying cry for civil rights and lives on as an everlasting masterpiece.

Martin Luther King Jr. was the man who wrote the speech entitled “I have a dream” and presented it to nearly 250,000 people on August 23, 1963. In that speech, MLK Jr. used several different types of figurative language/rhetorical devices in order to convey his message to the people on a deeper level. These devices include personification, allusion, symbolism, hyperbole, metaphor, simile, and anaphora.

African Americans have undergone unimaginable hardships in this land and were powerless to effect change in the system with their vote. I find this to be great injustice. Another example of injustice in this reading is King’s arrest. He writes, “I have been arrested on a charge of parading without a permit. Now, there is nothing wrong in having an ordinance, which requires a permit for a parade. But such an ordinance becomes unjust when it is used to maintain segregation and deny citizens their First Amendment privilege of peaceful assembly and protest.” As King explains how a just law can become unjust through capricious or malicious application, I find myself confused by the situation. African American citizens are struggling for the equality America was founded on, and these people are being arrested for improper parading. After exhausting many other approaches, African Americans moved to peaceful protest and even that was stifled. I find myself asking where else were they to turn, how else could they effect change, and where is their justice? Would anyone have blamed Dr. King for being angry with his situation? I doubt it. King made a wise choice to remain optimistic, to address those who questioned his motives with reverence. In fact, he defines how he will respond to his critics in the opening paragraph of his letter: “I want to try to answer your statements in what I hope will be patient and reasonable terms.” This statement demonstrates King’s commitment to

To begin, King uses techniques of diction like antithesis and connotation to help get his message across to the clergymen. First, he develops antithesis to strengthen his purpose. King makes this stand out to the clergymen by putting words together such as, "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere,"and “...freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed,”so they take notice wording. (282, 284) King wants this to stand out for the clergymen and notice the opposite meanings. This helps bring attention to the opposite words being placed together to get across Drawing the clergymen to pay closer attention It builds on what he truly wants to get across. King uses the words “never” and “must” to build emotional appeals with the clergymen, but also have them have a sense of what is going through his mind, when he is protesting willing in the streets of Birmingham. He wants to make them see truly the effects the African Americans have gone through either segregation and make them realize how they are at fault for continuing to support this behavior and not help out. “Injustice” and “Justice” help force the clergymen to take notice of the powerful association and have them think over it. It stands out as they read the letter, but also makes them think over it as they continue reading. The phrase makes the clergymen wonder if what

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s “I Have a Dream” speech was an astonishing display of language that persuaded the American nation to dissolve the barrier that stood between equality for all in our great nation. The true beauty in Dr. King’s speech rests in his ability to persuade the audience at the Lincoln Memorial, as well as, the nation to believe that it is a necessity to rid the exigence of segregation. Through the usage of metaphors that engage the reader, King uses language as an instrument to control the audience’s emotions and fuel their ideas that they can be the ones to make the change to propel our nation from one mediocrity to greatness. In his speech, King uses an eloquent blend between symbols and emotions through metaphors to persuade the audience that there is no true constraint that can hold them from achieving their goal and use the historical March on Washington as the solution to this exigence that failed to wither away one hundred years ago when Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation.

In Martin Luther King’s I Have a Dream speech, King makes use of an innumerable amount of rhetorical devices that augment the overall understanding and flow of the speech. King makes the audience feel an immense amount of emotion due to the outstanding use of pathos in his speech. King also generates a vast use of rhetorical devices including allusion, anaphora, and antithesis. The way that King conducted his speech adds to the comprehension and gives the effect that he wants to rise above the injustices of racism and segregation that so many people are subjected to on a daily basis.

King combines the use of ethos and pathos as he compares himself and the rights of men to religious backgrounds. His first comparison is with the Apostle Paul, where Paul had “carried the gospel of Jesus Christ,” as to Kings carrying of “the gospel of freedom.” King addresses this similarity to show why he felt committed to go to Birmingham, because like Paul, he needed to respond as an aid to his people. Towards the end of Kings letter; he exemplifies courageousness in the Negro demonstrations by relating them to the actions of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego when they refused to follow what they believed to be unjust laws. Saying that if they are supposed heroes by going against unjust laws, why shouldn't the people see Negro demonstrators the same way? They are also God's children and by those disobedience’s, they were really showing the grace of God. These connections to religion supports their fighting against unjust laws as a divine cause.

Martin Luther King uses a lot of repetition in his speech. They are scattered throughout but very close. One of the repetitions in his speech is “I have a dream.” He uses this phrase to show what he sees in the future of America. One of the phrases he uses with it is: “I have a dream that one day this nation will and live out the true

We are explained the difference between just and unjust laws. He asks the government why its okay to obey some laws, and disobey others, specifically the ones that make it illegal to segregate against blacks. A just law in King’s words is a “law that uplifts human personality”. Thus meaning, all laws that prevent blacks from gaining their civil rights are unjust. By degrading the human personality, they are wrongfully preventing others from receiving their owned rights, they are going against what is a just law. They are allowing those being oppressed believe that they hold no superiority whereas the oppressors hold all of it, and that is morally wrong in Kings ideas. Segregation isn’t limited to just being politically, economically, and sociologically wrong but more importantly, morally wrong and sinful. King wasn’t asking the public to disobey laws just for the fun of it, rather he’s asking them to disobey the segregation ordinances implemented simply because they were wrong and equivalent to committing a

“I have a dream…”, ‘one of the most controversial speeches in history, was delivered by Martin Luther King, Jr. Not only did the speech help to change the way people viewed slavery, but it also was filled with various types of figurative language. In this essay I will go over what the types of figurative language is, how they were used, and why. But first what is figurative language anyway?

Martin Luther King Jr. uses figurative language to manipulate people in his “I Have A Dream” speech. For example, in his speech he mentions that our nation will be transformed into an “oasis of freedom and justice”(165). He uses a metaphor by comparing an oasis to justice and freedom without using “like” or “as”. He does this to give the reader and the people listening the feeling of hydration, the thought of something beautiful, and the thought of something that gives them relief and freedom. Furthermore, he also mentions that we can “...transform the jangling discord of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood”(165). He uses this metaphor by comparing our nation to jangling discords without the use of “like” or “as”. He does