Listen to Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech.
Write a one-paragraph analysis that evaluates the clarity, quality, effectiveness, and general coherence of this speech.Your analysis might focus on the details in the speech that make it moving and powerful or any rhetorical strategies King uses to reach his audience. Consider looking at King's language, tone, enthusiasm, and passion.
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The 'I Have A Dream Speech' delievered by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on August 28, 1963 has its place among the finest speeches in American history, for that reason I hope you listened to the speech yourself. Although I cannot write the paragraph for you, I offer the following points to assist you in writing your paragraph.
1. The speech was delievered in front of the largest audience ever assembled with regard to the Civil Rights Movement. Dr. King's speech was also televised, there was no denying the impact of the media on that day.
2. Dr. King was the undisputed Civil Rights leader, however he was a Baptist Minister by profession. Having said that, the speech has a powerful spiritual passion and tone in its delievery. As the speech progresses Dr. King's voice becomes evermore vibrant and spiritually invasive. Dr. King makes several biblical analogies in order to completely clarify his intentions, for example the following statement in his speech is clearly an analogy to Jesus' Sermon On The Mount'...
'I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.
3. The speech is filled with elements rooted in the democratic ideals of the founding fathers. His speech actually quotes The Declaration of Independence; We hold these truths to be self evident; that all men are created equal'. In doing this Dr. King forces all Americans to face the injustice inflicted upon African Americans.
4. Moreover, the speech reminds the listener of America's most important asset, its children. Dr. King's vivid description of his own children, as well as, the children of white Americans joining together hand in hand to 'sing the words of the old Negro spiritual, Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last' concludes the speech with such moral fortutide even those who were indifferent to the Civil Rights Movement it became impossible to ignore the injustice that so many had suffered.
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