A Rhetorical Analysis of I Have a Dream

When we analyse a speech we need to identify the literary and rhetorical devices the author has used, give examples from the text, and comment on what is achieved by using these devices.

When we analyse a political speech, there are some questions we need to ask. These questions can serve as a way of structuring our texts, and they help us remember to touch on the most important issues. These questions are:

Before you read the analysis, you should familiarise yourself with Dr. King's speech. You can find it by searching for it online, or by following this link to National Public Radio's webpage. (Here you can also find an audio recording of the speech, which you can listen to while you read.) Link to NPR's webpage: transcript of the speech I Have a Dream

Who is speaking?

When King was introduced to the crowds on 28 August 1963, he was described as 'the moral leader of our nation'. Martin Luther King jr. was born in 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia, making him 34 years old at the time of the speech. He was an ordained minister, and he was the leader of the civil rights organisation called the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). The following year, he would travel to Oslo to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. That year, however, he had served time in jail in Birmingham, Alabama. He was arrested for leading a civil rights march intended to force the desegregation of lunch counters. He was also put under surveillance by the FBI. So, to some people he was a moral leader, while to others he was a dangerous criminal.

When delivering a speech, the speaker will appeal to ethos, to convince the audience that they are credible. In the US of the 1960s, Christianity was important, and being a minister was a respected profession. When we listen to King giving this speech, we can easily hear that he is a preacher, and we can imagine him standing in a church. It does not stop there. When he talks about his dream, he quotes Isiah from the Old Testament: 'Every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low (…) and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed'. His closing words are words from a spiritual (a religious hymn sung by slaves): 'Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!' The religious allusions could both strengthen his personal ethos as a man of God and perhaps make him sound less scary to people outside the movement, while also contributing to the idea that they had God on their side in their justified struggle.

To increase the support from the people of the movement, King indirectly reminds them that he is one of them and has suffered in the same way as they have: 'Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. (…) your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and the staggered by the winds of police brutality'. This also contributes to his ethos.

Where and when are they speaking?

In 1863, during the American Civil War, President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared the end of slavery. One hundred years later, several civil rights organisations joined efforts and organised a mass demonstration. It was named the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, and between 200,000 and 250,000 people attended. All these people gathered in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.

At this point, the Civil Rights Movement had become a mass movement. It was centred on the South, where they were fighting for desegregation of public spaces such as buses, restaurants, and beaches. In a ruling nine years earlier, the Supreme Court had desegregated schools, but the Southern states and school districts were dragging their feet, turning schools and colleges into battle grounds. Civil rights activists were fighting for voting rights in the face of violent terrorism at the hands of white supremacist groups. So, when they choose this time for a momentous rally, it was in itself an appeal to kairos – the right time at the right place. A mass movement, meeting exactly one hundred years after the freeing of the slaves, at the Lincoln memorial.

King shows how aware he is of this in his speech, and not only when he said that they are standing in Lincoln’s symbolic shadow. He also alludes to a speech that Lincoln made: The Gettysburg Address. King starts his speech with an old-fashioned way of counting, saying 'five score years ago' instead of 'one hundred years', mirroring the first line in the Gettysburg Address of 'four score and seven years ago'. Calling on other important leaders and historical people is also a way of borrowing ethos, to strengthen your own.

Why are they speaking?

Sometimes we have to dig deep to find the message in a speech, and look for clues in the subtext and context. In this case, the main idea is easier to uncover, but it is a good idea to look for minor messages as well.

This speech is a call for equality and freedom. Despite slavery having been abolished for one hundred years, there is still no equality, and African Americans did not have the rights they were promised.

There is a clear message of unity as King paints a picture of a future of racial harmony, with black and white children joining hands and sitting at the same table. He emphasises that there are white people in the crowd as well, joining their struggle. They all share the same destiny and the need for freedom, and he argues that 'we cannot walk alone' if we are to succeed.

King believed in the idea of non-violence, and this speech was no exception. His message to his followers is that they need to conduct their struggle 'on the high plane of dignity and discipline', and without physical violence. Physical force shall be met with soul force.

This speech is often portrayed as bearing a message of love, optimism, and non-violence. However, it is important not to overlook a warning he gives to the secondary audience, to the white men in power: 'It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment'. King declares that there will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until Black people are also granted their rights as citizens, and he promises that 'the whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges'.

It should not be left out that while the South was the main battle ground at this point in time, they were also fighting racism, poverty and unemployment in the North. King refers to this several times in his speech, for instance when he speaks of 'the slums and ghettos of our northern cities'. However, the message of anti-racism, equality and justice applies to all of the United States.

Who is the target audience?

When analysing speeches we often speak of a primary and a secondary audience. The primary audience are the people at the place where the speech is delivered, in this case up to 250,000 people, caught in the adrenaline of an enormous mass gathering and a sense of togetherness and shared ideals. King knows he is speaking to his fellow activists and supporters.

However, there is also a secondary audience: the people who will listen to this on the news, or read the transcript, in the days to come. This includes the political leaders of the country. So, when King speaks, he is also mindful of his words being heard by people who do not agree with him, and by the people who hold the political power to change the laws and thus change the country.

How are they trying to convince their audience?

King uses rhetorical devices, but also literary and linguistic devices, to get his message across.

First, repetition. The most famous words from this speech are of course 'I have a dream'. It is repeated nine times, and when a word or phrase is repeated at the beginning of successive sentences, phrases, or clauses it is called anaphora. So, what is this dream about? In US politics, there are a lot of references to the American Dream, which is the myth that anyone can succeed if they just work hard. King starts off by saying that his dream is deeply rooted in the American Dream. This implies that when all the things he dreams about come true – black and white children joining hands in Alabama, Mississippi transforming into an oasis of freedom and justice etc. – then Black and white people will have the same opportunities in the United States.

Another example of anaphora can be found when King repeatedly declares 'Now is the time'. He insists that now is the time to make real the promises of democracy, to lift the nation, to rise from the dark valley of segregation, to make justice a reality. Using anaphora instills in the listener a sense of urgency.

A third example is the answer to the rhetorical question of: when the civil rights activists will be satisfied? King uses this occasion to emphasise how much they must amend in society and responds to this by saying that 'we can never be satisfied' as long as motels are segregated, Black people in the South cannot vote, Black people in the North do not see any point in voting, social mobility is not available to African Americans, and police brutality exists.

Sometimes it is interesting to simply count how often a word is being repeated. Even if it is not anaphora or a part of a famous quote, repeating a word says something about the importance of it. In this speech, King mentions 'freedom' twenty times; repeating the word makes it clear that it is an important part of his message.

There are several allusions to historical documents in this speech. As mentioned earlier, King alludes to Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address by choosing to begin his own speech with 'five score years ago'. He speaks of the Emancipation Proclamation, he refers to and quotes from the Declaration of Independence, as well as from the US Constitution. This is both an appeal to logos, justifying his claim to civil rights with historical facts and important documents, and to ethos, as it shows that he is an educated and therefore trustworthy man. This adds to the ethos he has established through the allusions to the bible and other religious texts.

Pathos is always useful when trying to get the audience to sympathise with your message. One of the easiest ways of awakening emotions in an audience is to talk about children. King does this when he talks about the black and white children in the future joining hands, but he also strikes a more personal note and tells the audience about how he dreams of his four little children one day living 'in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character'. Not only does this make the listener emotional because children are symbols of innocence, and everyone has a child, has been a child, or knows a child, but it also strengthens King’s ethos, as he has a vested interest in the future through his children.

Emotions are also stirred with his choice of words that have negative connotations: crippled, lonely, poverty, languishing, shameful, bitterness, hatred, brutality, horrors, fatigue, suffering. Sometimes these words are used to create contrasts, such as the 'lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity', or how we need to 'rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice'. Contrast can be used to highlight terrible conditions, but to also make it clear that we can make different choices.

This speech reminds us that literary devices are not only found in fiction. In this speech, there is a lot of imagery– a term which includes both metaphors and similes. King creates sets of imagery that go together. He speaks of how the Emancipation Proclamation 'came as a great beacon light of hope' to the slaves who had been 'seared in the flames of withering injustice', but how they are still not free today, but rather 'crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination'. While withering injustice does not literally burn, the fire metaphor of 'being seared in flames' makes the audience think of how some of the slaves were marked with a branding iron. While African Americans had not been slaves for a century at that point, and therefore no longer wore physical manacles and chains, King creates this image to explain how segregation and discrimination stops them from living their lives as free citizens.

A set of metaphors revolve around the check, a method some people in the US still use to pay their bills. A check is a note where the person who signs it promises to give the bearer the stated sum of money, and this can be cashed in at a bank. King states that they have come here to Washington to cash the check that had been written when the Founding Fathers wrote in the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence that all men were created equal, and promised everyone the right to 'life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness'. This promise has not been kept – or as King puts it – the check was bad and had come back marked 'insufficient funds'. Despite this, he does not believe that the 'bank of justice is bankrupt', he believes that there are still 'great vaults of opportunity', and now it is time to cash the check that will give them the 'riches of freedom'. This is an image which merges high ideals and allusions to historical documents with the everyday action of paying your bills. Writing a check if you do not have the money in your account to cover it is illegal, so he gives the impression that the government is either lying or doing something unlawful.

People in the Civil Rights Movement were accused of being unpatriotic, of being communists, and of being ungrateful for their country and their freedom. King counters this by striking a patriotic note in his speech. First, he refers to the American Dream as an ideal to strive towards, and therefore signals that he is just like any other American and does not question its values. Mentioning the most well-known historical documents of the nation is also a way to give this impression. He ends his speech by chanting a patriotic anthem: "'My country, 'Tis of Thee', and uses the line 'let freedom ring' to list mountains from various states from north to south, east to west. This shows his intent to spread freedom and equality to the whole country, but it also reminds us of his knowledge of and love for the United States of America – despite its imperfections.