Rhetorical Devices In I Have A Dream Speech

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Waking up the day of August 28, 1963 America did not know that in precisely a couple of hours the views of hundreds and thousands of people would be changed forever. To be exact everyone in America did not know this except one person, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a Baptist minister and social activist, who led the Civil Rights Movement in the United States. With his passion and power of his spoken word, King gathered 200,000 people on the steps of Lincoln Memorial after a march on Washington and delivered his “I have a dream” speech. One that has gone down in America has the greatest speeches given by an African American activist. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is an inspiring, emotional and strong speaker that with these main qualities was able to tug a deep root of emotions in not just the 200,000 that where present but in every American’s heart present and listening all over America. He made this happen with the use of …show more content…
The irony was well present when Dr. King Jr. decided to begin his speech with an allusion to Presidents Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address who was also the President who freed the slaves and ironically enough on the steps of Lincoln Memorial. By saying “Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation” Dr. King Jr. began his speech in a very strong way because Lincoln was the one who spoke about ALL men being created equal. His allusions, allowed him to touch intellectual contact with his audience in order to enhance the force of his argument. By doing this he set the tone of the entire speech. Analyzing the text, Dr. King Jr. in only four words with the allusion to President’s Lincoln’s speech helped influence his audience towards wanting equality for all. Making it a very powerful