A short hopeful phrase of “now is the time” is repeated four times back to back to back to back in the last four lines of the paragraph. The fourth “paragraph” of the speech ends with an example of anaphora. The use of all these smaller metaphors feed into the larger one and these rhetorical devices are used to link intangible to tangible.Īlso this shows the realist side of the speaker, not only does he allude and reference biblical things but also he realizes the importance of equality to blacks economically. Furthermore he makes a metaphor of freedom to riches and security to justice. shows his hope the country in the continuance of the metaphor in which he refuses to believe “the bank of justice” is bankrupt and that there are insufficient funds in the “great vaults of opportunity”. ” These metaphors feed into the larger one of a citizens rights to a promise of a bank. He goes on the say that the Negro people have received “a bad check” and when they tried to cash this check is comes back marked ““insufficient funds. This metaphor links these intangible unalienable rights to something tangible which falls into place with the rest of the expanded metaphor.
Throughout this portion of the speech King makes a metaphor of these guaranteed rights saying they are a “promissory note”. This allusion to such an important American document is used to support King's theme of equality by pointing out its resonance in the purely American document. ” Which within itself is a tricolon ascends. In Specific King alludes to the declaration in saying “unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Paragraph four of the speech is a large metaphor for an allusion to the United States Declaration of Independence which is later cited directly. ” The usage of these rhetorical devices relates slavery to jail and further contrast it from the biblical allusions used with equality. The duration is important but also the effect of its repetition makes the paragraph seem longer and drawn out- like the injustices that are still being suffered- one hundred years later.Īlso a simile is used to compare segregation to imprisonment in the the phrases “manacles of segregation” and “chains of discrimination.
This is used to thrust home the point of how long the suffrage has gone on. The third paragraph contains a strong example of anaphora with the repetition of “one hundred years later” four times. Southerners being in the “bible belt” and dominantly Christian, this reference to the bible strikes home to these slaveholders. The use of biblical references helps link the work of MLK to the bible and divine things. Order custom essay Analysis of I Have a Dream Speech Weeping may linger for the night, but joy comes with the morning” to King's line “ It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity” the parallels can be seen. In comparing Psalms 30:5 “For his anger is but for a moment his favor is for a lifetime. The last sentence of the second paragraph is the first of many references to the bible. ” The metaphors help prove King's point through contrasting two abstract concepts through tangible things. The metaphor is expanded to call the proclamation “a joyous daybreak” to a “long night. continues with comparing this (the emancipation proclamation) “momentous decree” to a “great beacon light” to those who had “been seared in the flames of withering injustice” in an example of a simile and then a metaphor. A memorial to the president who passed the emancipation proclamation. This is particularly poignant due to the fact that the speech was given on the steps of his memorial. The second paragraph of the speech starts with “Five score years ago”, an allusion to Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg address. ”The passionate speech is filled with rhetorical devices that help ground into earth King's demands of racial equality and outcries of social injustice.
It has been called “masterfully delivered and improvised sermon, bursting with biblical language and imagery. C, King delivered his speech on the steps of the Lincoln memorial and as his powerful voice echoed out across an audience of 200,000 people, echoes of the Gettysburg address could be heard as well as the Declaration of Independence and the Bible. On August 28, 1963, Martin Luther King Jr.