The Memphis sanitation strike began on the day of February 12, 1968, when over 1000 black men and women when on strike because of the death of two black sanitation workers. The workers had been crushed in a garbage compressor when it malfunctioned, because that’s the only place they men were legally able to seek shelter from the rain while on the job. The mayor of Memphis at the time, Henry Loeb, declared the strike as illegal and dismissed meeting with local black leaders. Over time, the strike turned into a major civil rights battle. On April 3, 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. gave I’ve Been to the Mountaintop, a speech concerning the Memphis sanitation strike at the Mason Temple church in Memphis, Tennessee. The purpose of the speech was to persuade;calling for people to …show more content…
For example, Martin Luther King says, “Before I knew it I had been stabbed by this demented woman. I was rushed to Harlem Hospital.” With the use of the facts there, he was able to lead up to one of his most powerful points in the entire speech. The passion in Martin’s speech is most definitely what made his speech the most powerful. He uses pathos to another level; the level of the people. In his speech, Dr. King says, “The cry is always the same: “We want to be free.” Then later, he says,” And so I’m happy, tonight. I’m not worried about anything. I’m not fearing any man!” Dr. King uses these examples of pathos to get on the level with the people and let them know that he is one of them, and that he is with him. He’s showing with those use of pathos that he is with them, and he uses it to persuade them to get together. The use of rhetorical devices in Dr. King’s speech was critical. He used allusion, anaphora, pathos and logos to persuade his audience to do influence his audience to stand with him. Dr. King was one of the best speakers in history because he used the devices very
How was Martin Luther King, Jr., able to impact so many people with his words? It’s no secret that Martin Luther King Jr. was a great speaker and motivated so many people with his words. Particularly in his letter from Birmingham Jail, he was able to shape public opinion and gain support for the civil rights movement while also refuting the claims of the white clergymen. He was able to do this through his use of rhetorical devices in his writing, which he used to connect with other people better, persuading them in the process. Rhetorical devices are strategies good writers use to convey an idea more effectively.
Question 1 Martin Luther King Jr. has used a variety of figurative devices in his memorable speech “I Have A Dream” on August 28, 1963 in Washington, D.C. about civil rights. He used devices like metaphor, simile, anaphora, repetitions and allusion to express his thoughts of eliminating discrimination, in order to develop equality amongst people and his vision of what the country should be like in the future. Firstly, King uses similes to compare justice to the power of water. This is evident in this quote, “justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream”.
Martin Luther King Jr. gave many speeches in his lifetime. Martin Luther King uses persuasive argument in his speeches. One speech to show he did this is the "Beyond Vietnam - A Time to Break Silence" speech. In this speech he use Logos and Pathos. Him using these techniques is why everyone loved to listen to him and they just didn't hear him, they listened.
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 Kings has been, still is, and always will be one of my favorite speakers. He was an outspoken activist of civil rights, not just for hisself and his family but for society as a whole. His words were powerful and had the ability to not just make his audience listen but to actually take action along side of him. He had the ability to make you feel like you were right there with him when you were no where around or even thought about at that time. His language was full of imagery and his words sprung to life when he spoke them. " now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood." is just an example of the imagery he used when delivering his speeches. To me, this shows his
Can you imagine being in Martin Luther King Junior’s position in a hall or church somewhere speaking to people with the hope of challenging and inspiring them? I’ve Been to the Mountaintop is a speech made by Martin Luther King’s Junior or 3rd April 1968. It is a speech that presented a long term mission for the City of Memphis. It was a time when African Americans struggled with racial prejudices. There were inequalities whereby the African-Americans were forced to live separately from the whites. Martin Luther King believed that if they join hands together, African-Americans will be able to fight against the unfair inequalities. King wanted to inspire the people that they can achieve justice without the use of violence.
Martin Luther King Junior (MLK) was a preacher, clergyman, and a powerful speaker who started the end to the black and white segregation in 1960s America. He created many heartfelt and sincere speeches, since his use of literary techniques skills developed an ideas of his political and social concerns. His skills were most evident in such speeches as “I Have a Dream” (IHD), “Eulogy for the Martyred Children” (EMC) and his final speech “I've Been to the Mountaintop” (IBM). In which MLK expressed his political and social concerns through literary techniques such as “Imagery”, which assisted in describing there being “No Action” towards segregation. “Metaphors” to hint at “Injustice”. As well as “Allusion” which he used in indirectly expressing
Martin Luther King’s speech made a change in the society. His speech of wisdom had changed and affected everything
In this essay, I will be highlighting the rhetorical devices Dr. King used to have a truly effective speech.
Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech is a speech that will continue to be talked about until the end of time. Recently, there have been way too many situations that makes his speech even more relevant than it should have to be. For instance, the March to Confront White Supremacy is a march that tried conveying the same purpose as his speech did. This march is also similar to a march that King himself led over 50 years ago.
This speech was compelling because the things that he says are attention-grabbing. Martin repeats the start of sentences, and what he says after those sentence starters is pretty cool. The main rhetorical devices Martin Luther King used in his speech to help get his point across, and to interest the audience were: repetition of certain words, figures of speech and imagery. These things did help him interest the audience, and helped him to get his argument
When giving a speech for a cause, you need to be able to rally your listeners. Some like to rally people through their mind, with facts and such. But if you really want to rally your listeners, you rally them through their hearts. Using emotion creates a much stronger message, and will make your movement much more powerful. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. uses a mixture of parallelism, visualization, extended metaphors, and references to God, the soul, and brotherhood to structure his speech similar to that of a sermon, so that he may reach into the hearts of his listeners.
From the steps of the Lincoln Memorial more than two score years ago, Dr. Martin Luther King electrified America with his momentous "I Have a Dream" speech. Aimed at the entire nation, King’s main purpose in this speech was to convince his audience to demand racial justice towards the mistreated African Americans and to stand up together for the rights afforded to all under the Constitution. To further convey this purpose more effectively, King cleverly makes use of the rhetorical devices — ethos, pathos and logos — using figurative language such as metaphors and repetition as well as various other techniques e.g. organization, parallel construction and choice of title.
Dr. King was a prominent man. A prominent man who wanted people to be judged not by the color of their skin, but by who they were as a person. This idea of his is reflected throughout the speech. He uses various rhetorical devices to develop his theme, including repetition, comparisons, allusions, and logical tools, to name a few.
Rhetorical devices are the techniques and tools of language applied in a writing or speech so as convey meaning (Harris, 28). Brilliant use of rhetorical devices nourishes, enriches and brings clarity to a text. Literary writers use literary tools to distinguish a literary work from the non-literary one as well as creating an effective literary work. According to Harris, rhetorical devices are not only used in literary texts, but they are also used in speech, so as to improve the effectiveness of the speech to the listeners as well as making it more appealing (Harris, 39). Rev. Martin Luther King who lived between 1929 and 1968 was one of the core leaders of the A.M.C.R.M (American Civil Rights Movement) and he was famous for his non-violence protests advocates, in America. The speech "I have a Dream" is one of his historical watersheds that he delivered in a remarkable day, March 28th August 1963 while at the Memorial of Lincoln Washington DC. In order to make his speech majestic and make it memorable, Rev. Martin Luther used various rhetorical flourishes such as repititionto engage his audience.