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 both examples of the alliteration used in the passage to move his audience.
Martin Luther King alludes to historical event throughout his speech, an important technique in stressing the importance of both the occasion and the issue at hand. In the third paragraph of his prepared notes, he alludes to the important speech made by Abraham Lincoln, this shows to everyone that King’s speech is along side one of the most important addresses in the world. King then goes on to refer to the Declaration of Independence, this is an important feature in his speech as it was signed to bring freedom and justice to all Americans, Black and White. King refers to it as ‘magnificent’ and hails it as Americas ‘promissory’ note of freedom, highlighting the fact that Black Americans have yet to receive these promises of freedom. During the speech King also Alludes to the Bible, being a Baptist Minister it is no surprise that King does this, he refers to Isaiah 40:4-5 when he says “Every valley shall be exalted, and very mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight’’
Another one of Kings very effective techniques was antithesis. It helped to evoke powerful emotions in audience as it sometimes created outrage. ‘It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity’, here King is contrasting day and night with freedom and captivity, emphasizing that the darkness of slavery is overcome with the light of freedom. King then goes on to use many other examples of antithesis in his speech; ‘With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope’ this shows their is a very small amount of hope with lots of despair, but does that mean their is no hope? The Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of prosperecey’ here King again is showing that the black race has a very small amount of money compared to the white person. This is intended to stir the audience into action and emphasize the injustice that prevails.
Metaphors are also commonly used in Kings speech. It is a great way of creating rapport as it helps audience to understand what King is saying. In the fifth paragraph of Kings prepared speech he uses a metaphor directly comparing freedom to a cheque; ‘America has given the Negro people a bad cheque, a cheque which has come back marked insufficient’. This refers to the Black people of America do not have freedom, and hints that they are missing out on a basic American right, does this mean Black people were not real Americans? Other examples of metaphors in Kings speech are; ‘the whirl winds of revolt,’ ‘thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred’ and sweltering with the heat of injustice’. These metaphors all refer to the discontent of slavery and the hope for freedom creating outrage and infuriation from the his audience.
Anaphora is also greatly used in Kings speech. He uses this often when he stops reading from his prepared speech and starts to preach he starts his sentences with; ‘I have a dream’ he repeats this ten times, this also can create rapport as it gives the audience confidence and show that the speaker believes and has hope in what he is saying. Another anaphoric part of Kings speech is when he ‘commands’ there to be freedom. He repeats ‘let freedom ring..’. This shows the strength of King, he raises his voice so that it sounds stronger.
Repetition is a great way of emphasizing a point. King uses this technique of speech making brilliantly, he creates urgency by saying ‘we can not be satisfied’ three times but then changing the tense to say ‘we are not satisfied’. Explain effect here. King also repeats ‘I have a dream’ this is when King is preaching to his audience, it emphasizes main goals and shows to the audience that he is not making the speech for the them but for himself as well again creating a bond. Tripling is also used in Kings speech when he says ‘black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics’ saying things in groups of three is an extremely powerful technique used in speeches as it is easily remembered.
The use of emotive language is one of the most outstanding techniques used in Kings speech. He uses words that create a strong emotional response from the audience; ‘chains’ and ‘manacles’ are examples of these, they relate to slavery making the audience outraged at the injustice, slavery was supposed to be abolished. King also uses emotive language to encourage positive behaviour, he tells his audience not to ‘seek to satisfy’ their ‘thrust for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred’.
Beyond the spoken aspects of King’s speech, he uses non-verbal methods to increase the effectiveness of his speech. Long pauses allow for emotional involvement and gives time for audience to reflect, an example of this is when he pauses after ‘… greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation’. King’s deliberate lack of movement is an obvious demonstration of how serious he is about the topic at hand. It also shows us his modesty letting his audience focus on the speech and not what he is doing on stage. King raises his head for emphasises at some points in the speech, he does while speaking the words ‘it is a dream deeply routed in the American dream’.
As King ends his speech he speaks with a very strong voice, raising it for every line he quotes in the ‘Old Negro Spiritual’ ‘Free at last! Free at last! Thank God almighty, we are free at last! The exclamation marks emphasise that it is going to happen. While King speaks these last word he raises his voice and raises his arm, this creates an uproar of applause from the audience. This is the climax of his speech, his voice is strongest and he speaks with passion. This creates a sense of brotherhood between king and the audience, and builds up emotion in the audience.
In conclusion I think it is not only King’s many powerful and emotive words that make his speech a historical wonder, but his actions, his hand movements and his connection with the audience. King proves to everyone that he is not only a magnificent public speaker but an inspirational figure who is passionate about what he believes in. Today Martin Luther King is not only an example to public speakers, but to everyone in how to stand up for one another and in how to live life.