What makes a good speech? Analyzing MLK’s “I Have a Dream”

Background info Martin Luther King "I Have a Dream" August 28, 1963 The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom was partly intended to demonstrate mass support for the civil rights legislation  proposed by President Kennedy in June. Martin Luther King and other leaders therefore agreed to keep their speeches calm, also, to avoid provoking the civil disobedience which had become the hallmark of the civil rights movement. King originally designed his speech as a homage to Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, timed to correspond with the 100-year centennial of the Emancipation Proclamation.

Watch Martin Luther King’s “I Have a dream” speech Demographic

Introduction He used an Allusion What else could be used? Question Statement of fact Quote A verbal picture: “Imagine this,” “Picture in your mind” Joke Other ideas?

Body What are some of the ways MLK made his speech interesting? These are called “Rhetorical Devices” A rhetorical device is a use of language that is intended to have an effect on its audience. 

Ethos Credibility of the author-often relating to someone else “Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation.”

Ethos cont. To establish ethos, a speaker may give a quote from a famous/respected person

Logos Using logical appeal “ But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation.”

Logos cont Logos may be also established by using facts and figures that have been researched and established by someone else

Pathos Emotional appeal “There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. “

Pathos cont. May include a sad or happy story. Something that will evoke emotion

allusion is a figure of speech that makes a reference to, or a representation of, people, places, events, literary work, myths, or works of art, either directly or by implication. “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."

Anaphora repeating words at the beginning of neighboring clauses Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania. Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado. Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California.

Alliteration The repetition of the same sounds or of the same kinds of sounds at the beginning of words or in stressed syllables “They will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."

Personification Giving inanimate objects human traits to make a point “that one day the nation (America) will rise up and live out the true meaning…” America is hereby being compared to a human being who can rise up and live the true meaning of his creed. 

Metaphor Comparing two unlike things Relationship of the black people of America to that of a making a withdrawal at a bank.

Simile Comparing two things using like or as No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until “justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.” 

Hyperbole Extreme exaggeration “I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; "and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together."

Rhyme You know a rhyme when you see it with some time you can be it  My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrim's pride, From every mountainside, let freedom ring!

Antithesis Antithesis is used when two opposites are introduced in the same sentence, for contrasting effect "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today!"

Paradox is a figure of speech that contains two statements or assertions that, according to logic, cannot be true, yet the figure links them in a way that creates a new meaning, one that defies logic but works on situation. “..the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land” How can you be an exile in your own land?

Rhetorical question A question asked merely for effect with no answer expected Can you find it?

Conclusion Sums up the speech Concludes with an allusion to how he started: And when this happens, and when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual:                 Free at last! Free at last!                 Thank God Almighty, we are free at last! All men are free-just as slaves made free in emancipation proclamation

And that is how you write the perfect speech. Watch this next speech and write down what rhetorical devices he used. This is Josh Gad. He won Original Oratory at the national competition in 1998 and 1999. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYp3QqXS4ic