preview

Letter From Birmingham Jail Logos

Decent Essays
Open Document

Dr. King uses different argument tools to persuade and move his audience, including the use of logos and pathos. These tools are used to convince the audience of a certain point of view as well as stir the audience’s emotions. Dr. King is a very powerful speaker and uses many tools to further defend his argument. While Dr. King uses both of these tools, I believe that he uses more of one tool than that of another. These tools are also similar in adding meaning to the words, but different in the way they add this meaning. Dr. King uses Logos in both texts, though “I Have A Dream” uses Logos more than “Letter From Birmingham Jail.” In “I Have A Dream,” he uses charged language to stir the audience’s emotions. For example, in paragraph 15, King states “Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends.” (King Pg 263) Moreover, he uses repetition and parallelism to unite sections of the speech and add rhythm. In paragraphs 27 through 38, King repeats the phrase “let freedom ring” in a constant and rhythmic pattern to enforce the concept of equality everywhere (King Pg 264). In addition to this, King uses Logos in “Letter From Birmingham Jail” frequently, like when he compares people’s thoughts about police brutality to his own (King Pg 285). …show more content…

A good example of this is King’s “I Have A Dream” speech, which is used to move the audience. King uses charged language throughout the speech, like in paragraph 15 when he says “Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends.” (King Pg 263) King also uses Pathos in “Letter From Birmingham Jail.” Throughout paragraph 14, King uses the same sentence structure repeatedly to form a rhythm and add emphasis to his words (King Pg 275). King uses this literary device to add rhythm, structure, and emphasis to his

Get Access