Martin Luther King Jr Figurative Language

In Birmingham City Jail on April 16, 1963, Martin King Luther Jr. wrote, “My dear Fellow Clergymen, While confined here in the Birmingham City Jail, I came across your recent statement calling our present activities "unwise and untimely."” This is the beginning of King’s letter to the clergymen that was over 6,000 words long. This letter spoke about law and justice for racial inequalities, and in this letter, he was trying to convince the clergymen to act and stop racial inequalities. To do this, Martin King Luther Jr. used many types of figurative language, for example metaphors and similes, and different types of structure to help prove his point.

He uses short sentences very frequently to drum his ideas into the audiences mind. A perfect example of these short sentences is when King says, ?This is our hope.? By making those four words a complete sentence, it emphasises the individual words and really persuades the audience towards his ideas. Another persuasive structural technique which King uses to captivate the audience is the length of his paragraphs. He signposts the beginnings and ends of his paragraphs very effectively throughout his speech using recurring ideas. An example of this is when he starts 8 consecutive paragraphs with the words, ?I have a dream?. This helps the audience to understand his speech and each of the different points he makes. Another structural aspect of his speech which makes it easy to listen to is the grouping of ideas. The major grouping of the ideas in the speech is in two parts. The beginning of the speech is about how black people were being mistreated at the time and how the Negro was, ?sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination.? The second part of the speech however, was all about looking to the future. It was about his dream of a nation where people, ?will not be judged by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character.? This structure to his speech makes it easy to listen to and helps draw the audience in to him.

It is amazing to think about the "I Have a Dream" speech that will always be remembered in the lives of millions, and nevertheless gives remembrance of a strenuous period in time for African American. There's a particular reason the speech will always be remembered and is filled with much interest, actually the reason is something as simple as figurative language. This is a language that uses words or expressions with meanings that are different from it's literal interpretation.

In Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s Letter from the Birmingham Jail, he argues that segregation is inhumane and is hurting the American society as a whole. All the time and energy that goes into segregation is slowing down the American society’s progress to succeed as a nation. He uses several rhetoric strategies that help adopt a tone that is both personal and logical. King was able to incorporate the rhetoric triangle into his letter and still managed to address his arguments. While using pathos, ethos, and logos, Martin Luther King Jr. was able use the clergymen’s accusations to successfully promote his own views and opinions instead.

Before Martin Luther King Jr. wrote his letter, Birmingham was a segregated and immensely prejudice community. African American kids could not attend the nice schools because they were white only, they could not play on nice parks, they could not shop in the nice stores, they could not eat at nice restaurants, nor could they get jobs that required skill. The white Americans ignored the laws that gave Blacks rights and privileges; they ignored laws that protected Blacks from harm, and they treated African Americans with the least amount of respect possible. Furthermore, they didn’t just ignore the Blacks and send them away, they beat up, mobbed, and murdered many Africans. After he was arrested he was put in solitary confinement where he

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.

Referring to “vaults of opportunity… riches of freedom and the security of justice”, Martin Luther King Jr. intelligently and metaphorically expresses how valuable equality is for African American citizens (King Jr. 2). After speaking out about injustice and lies, his discourse changes as it comes to an end. King Jr. focuses more on the unification of the nation instead of focusing only on African Americans. He faithfully believes the nation can “transform…. Into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood” (King Jr. 5). Highly contrasting from his first metaphors, the audience is provided a sense of peace and faith. Martin Luther King Jr. used many metaphors to mold the hearts of the audience and persuade them to believe in the civil rights movement.

King Jr. calls to those in society to put away the “racial prejudice” and encourages those to think clearly instead of being in a dazed and confused state of misunderstandings and fear. Quickly a nation can be corrupted by national policies, especially if they are unjust. “Now is the time to lift our national policy from the quicksand of racial injustice to the solid rock of human dignity” (King). Referring to the nation as an unstable foundation, King Jr. calls to one another to create a uniformed and solid ground for everyone to stand on as a nation. Martin Luther King Jr. uses clear metaphors and alliterations to clearly and visually make his points on segregation.

Martin Luther King Jr wrote an extremely powerful letter that created awareness within the Negro community that displayed use of logos, pathos, and ethos effectively. King writes from Birmingham Jail to the clergymen using the rhetorical appeals to persuade, particularly the white community that, “oppressed people cannot remain oppressed forever” (King 7) by being the voice of the Negro communities. Even though the letter was written to diminish the clergymen’s assertions about the Negro community, King wrote a timeless piece of literature that moved both the white and Negro communities. Balanced sentence structures offered logical and concrete arguments that were addressed by Dr King through the heavy use of logos. King argues against the

Martin Luther King’s use of Pathos and Logos in “I have a Dream” showcases how he uses the devices to inspire others, compared to how he uses these rhetorical devices in “Letter From Birmingham Jail” to persuade the Clergymen. Martin Luther King, also referred to MLK, uses both Pathos and Logos to fit the audiences and occasions for each text. His uses of Pathos and Logos in these two texts are examples of how words can inspire change.

Martin Luther King Jr. uses many metaphors and rhetorical devices to appeal to his audience from several angles and emotionally to persuade people to join his anti-racism movement. Martin Luther King Jr. uses many metaphors and rhetorical devices to appeal to his audience from several angles and emotionally to persuade people to join his anti-racism movement. Martin Luther King Jr. uses many metaphors and rhetorical devices to appeal to his audience from several angles and emotionally to persuade people to join his anti-racism movement. Martin Luther King Jr. uses many metaphors and rhetorical devices to appeal to his audience from several angles and emotionally to persuade people to join his anti-racism movement. Martin Luther King Jr. uses

These optimistic words by Dr.Martin Luther King Junior in his famous speech “ I have a dream” he has motivated and convinced many citizens about African American rights. In his speech Dr.Martin Luther King Junior had many strategies and one major one is the use of metaphors. What a metaphor means is a comparison of two things without using “like” or “as”. In this speech Dr.Martin Luther King Junior used countless of metaphors.

In the “Metaphors We Live By,” George Lakoff and Mark Johnson explain that metaphor is much more than just a poetic device—it is essential and pervasive in our everyday life, communication, thoughts, and actions (Lakoff and Johnson, 1980, Pg. 3). In the speech “I have a Dream” by Martin Luther King Jr., there are many metaphors that fall into metaphorical categories which Lakoff and Johnson describe in the “Metaphors We Live By.” King tries to pull attention of his audience by using metaphors in his poem so his audience could understand the message better. Before looking at the King’s speech, a clear understanding of Lakoff’s and Johnson’s terms and metaphorical concepts need to be present. Following that, you should know when, where, and why King wrote his speech and what is it about.

While looking over Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s “I Have a Dream” Speech, I pin-pointed two examples of rhetorical devices used. “Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.” This quote uses figurative language and makes his speech more powerful. Dr. Martin Luther tells everyone to not wallow in the valley of despair, he simply means that you should not stay in a negative mode and instead lift yourself up from, ‘the valley of despair’. My second quote from the speech is also said in a figurative tone, “Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands, of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood.” The word quicksand is used as to represent the fast judgements of racist. To gather from these parts of his famous speech, we understand

The stories relate to my topic because each story has a character or a subject that makes you change your point of view on certain things. Each character demonstrates they’re different experiences in their story. For example, ever feel like trying something new? Or have you ever gone through something not knowing what you were getting into? This exactly what each story demonstrates, Daniel Webster goes against the devil to fight for a commoners rights who has sold his soul to the devil. No one is oblivious enough to just go against the devil himself, and yet Martin Luther King Jr. went against a whole community of white’s in order for black’s rights.  These stories go to the topic because all stories relate to experiencing new