Martin Luther King - Essay on his speech "I have a dream"

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I have a dream is a speech delivered by Martin Luther King on 3 August 1963 on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington. During a time of great struggle for the Black race, King’s speech came as a call for equality across America. With s uch widespread media interest and over twenty thousand in attendance, King’s style of spoken language and the non-verbal aspects of his speech were obviously greatly polished and perfected. The speech has gone down as one of the most significant in history and is a great example for many other orators and politicians today.

One of King’s great skills was his ability to create a positive rapport with his audience. He did this in many spoken and non-spoken ways. Immediately in the speech he begins with ‘I am happy to join with you today’, this is King’s way of greeting the audience and making a connection between the ‘audience’ and ‘speaker.’ King’s speech contains many other ways of creating a ‘connection’ with the audience referring to America as ‘our nation’ and saying; ‘we refuse to believe…’ and ‘we must never…’, here King is using personal pronouns to establish a bond with his audience, ensuring their confidence in him. King then ends his speech ‘we are free at last’ this shows to the audience that it is not only them fighting for freedom but King also. The speed of speech in this address also connects the audience as King deliberately talks very slowly and clearly making it easy for his audience to hear and understand. King does not only use speech to create rapport, he uses many non-verbal techniques to keep a strong connection with the audience. Making sure he keeps eye connection with audience at all time and rarely checking his prepared speech he approaches the audience with confidence. King’s hand actions also play a great part in his connection with the audience, raising his hand at the end of the speech brings great courage and hope to the audience.

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The opening of King’s speech also masters many other elements of the English language including archaic language and sibilance. The archaic language helps emphasis the importance of the date, creating a sense of historical importance in the audience. The sibilance also helps to stress the importance of the previous declaration to Americas freedom. An example of the archaic language King uses is ‘what will go down in history’, ‘in the history of our nation’. The technique of using sibilance and alliteration is carried throughout the whole speech, emphasising important points, ‘land of the pilgrim’s pride’ and ‘mighty mountains’ are ...

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