Rhetorisk analyse af Martin Luther King Jr.'s 'I Have a Dream'

The text below here is an excerpt of Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech. The speech was given on August 28th, 1963, from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. during the American civil rights movement.

ASSIGNMENT: write a 400-word paper where you analyze King’s use of the three appeal forms.

Start by briefly outlining, in a line or two, what the three appeal forms are and what they are used for/what they appeal to.

Find examples of the three appeal forms.

Conclude on your findings: What is the effect of using these appeal forms? Is one of them used more than the others? – and if so: why do you think that is?

Also: Find two examples of anaphora and one example of an allusion* - this last part is not included in the word count (of 400 words), so just find the examples and list them below your analysis of the appeal forms (although you must briefly mention what the allusion alludes to).

* ‘Allusion’ is not on your handout about ‘Tropes and Schemes’ (unless you added it when I told you about it in class), but an allusion is “a brief and indirect reference to a person, place, thing or idea of historical, cultural, literary or political significance. It does not describe in detail the person or thing to which it refers. It is just a passing comment and the writer expects the reader to possess enough knowledge to spot the allusion and grasp its importance in a text.”