Martin Luther Kings I Have a Dream - Literature review Example

Speech Analysis: Martin Luther King’s “I have a Dream” Introduction Although it is essentially based on a rather simple context, Martin Luther King Jr’s I have A Dream speech is widely acknowledged as being one of the greatest speeches to have ever been given. Dr. King who was widely known for his Civil Rights efforts during the 1960’s, gave the speech with the sole aim of inspiring both the Black and the White citizens of the United States during the Civil Rights era. The success of the speech is seen to have put the civil rights movement into the very minds and hearts of American citizens and beyond in addition to also contributing towards Dr. King being named as Time Magazine’s man of the year in 1963 as well as his winning of the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize (Jakoubek and Heather, 91). A rhetorical analysis of Dr. King’s speech reveals that the speech generally conveys a large number of the personal experiences and thoughts of the author; of note however is that Dr. King takes what is a rather strong position against what he terms as the crimes of America’s White citizenry and the entire nation as a whole. The style that is used in the development of the speech is largely formal although it nevertheless does have some hints of a little informality. Although the diction that has been used in the speech is rather comparable to a number of other famous political speeches such as that which was given by John F. Kennedy during his inaugural address, one particularly striking difference is that a careful rhetorical analysis of the speech reveals that it has aspects of black gospel contained within it (King III, 94-96). The ornaments and images that Dr. King used in his speech are noted to be heavily religious and are quite reminiscent of what one would expect at a Sunday church sermon. The speech is descriptive, its ideas give off a feeling of sincerity, its imagery is rather very dark and the tone is both argumentative and informative. Kings use of biblical codes throughout the speech is seen to lend the speech national support and to further bolster this support; he is also noted to have used his own testimony pertaining to what was happening across the United States at the time. To help in lending the speech some form of artificial support, Dr. King is seen to have used a large number of different kinds of pathos with one of the most prominent of these being that he begins the speech with what is a rather long allegory that touches on the subject of banking and Negro freedom. In addition to this, Dr. King also uses the imagery of his being behind Abraham Lincoln whom he considers to be a great leader. The use of the imagery of Lincoln can be argued to have links to ethos based on the fact that by banning slavery across the country, Lincoln is acknowledged as being the father of the Emancipation proclamation. A surge of pathos can be noted towards the end of the speech as King starts to discuss the brutality that has been meted out on the negro, in addition to this, he also mentions the basic mobility challenges that continually face the negro who is often unable to stay in hotels or even find a job. At the very end of his speech, Dr. King delved into a discussion of the creation of what he considers to be a decent future that uses the pleasant imagery of children of all races playing together. While Dr. King evokes Lincoln at the introductory section of his speech, he uses lyrics that have been drawn from the song America and an old Negro spiritual song at its conclusion. (King III, 94-96) As an art form, rhetoric has essentially been divided into five major categories of invention, arrangement, memory, style and delivery. These five major categories together serve to make up the five canons of rhetoric. In his I have A Dream speech, Dr. King is noted to have used the five canons of rhetoric as follows. Invention: Invention has been described as the art of being able to find a number of appropriate arguments that can be presented in a specific rhetorical situation (Livingston, 36). Although Martin Luther is not considered as the first person to have invented the subject matter of having a dream, he is however credited with having ordered and eventually delivered it in a style that is found to have been quite appropriate to the mixed audience that he was addressing. Invention is seen by his providing a vast amount of information and knowledge to his audience. Dr. King is able to draw upon past instances such as the Emancipation proclamation and slavery before proceeding to describe the present in rather blunt terms. In the speech, Dr. King is seen to have been able to successfully draw upon a number of commonplaces that are noted to lie deep within the cultural memory of all Americans. In doing this, Dr. King was able to employ the use of a sober charisma that not only served to make his words memorable, but also very effective. Arrangement: Arrangement is described as being the arrangement of a speech with the objective of ensuring that it has maximum persuasion (Ibrahim, 99). When writing his speech, Dr. King is noted to have used the rhetorical canon of arrangement as the speech is written in a manner that allows it to logically flow from one main point to the other in what is a clear transitional style that serves to allow for Dr. King to easily persuade his audience as well as obtain the maximum amount of response from them. Style: The rhetoric canon of style alludes to the manner in which something is written, performed or spoken (Livingston, 39). The style of speech that was used by Dr. King is found to have been especially effective as it allowed for Dr. King to draw upon the emotions of his mixed audience, the style also makes use of pauses that serve to allow for the audience to motivate and continuously cheer on the speaker. Memory: The rhetorical canon of memory is noted to include the various devices and methods such as the use of figures of speech that aid in the improvement of memory (Livingston, 43). The use of this canon is evidenced by the fact that Dr. King constantly looks away from the speech and on occasion, he is also noted to have spoken about items that he had not written down as part of the speech. This is an indicator that Dr. King at times spoke extemporaneously based on the crowd reaction that he was able to receive. Delivery: The rhetorical canon of delivery is seen to pertain to an individual’s gestures and voice over the course of an oral discourse (Ibrahim, 104). Though out the course of his speech, Dr. King is seen to constantly change his voice and the gestures he’s using to help in the emphasis of certain points as well as obtain an intended reaction from his audience. Conclusion Martin Luther King’s I have a dream speech is widely regarded being one of the most powerful speeches to ever be given. It is widely acknowledged as providing an excellent example of a speech that has effectively made use of all the five canons of rhetoric and it is this aspect that is thought to help in searing the memory of this speech deep into the minds of all those who are fortunate to hear it. Works Cited Ibrahim, Zeinab M. Diversity in Language: Contrastive Studies in Arabic and English Theoretical and Applied Linguistics. Cairo [u.a.: American Univ. in Cairo Press, 2000. Print. Jakoubek, Robert E, and Heather L. Wagner. Martin Luther King, Jr: Civil Rights Leader. Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishers, 2005. Print. King III, Martin Luther. The Words of Martin Luther King, Jr. Newmarket Press, 2008. Print. Livingston, Ruth. Advanced Public Speaking: Dynamics and Techniques. Bloomington, IN: Xlibris Corp, 2010. Print. Read More