Instruction
ANALYZING A PERSUASIVE ESSAY IN WRITTEN & AUDIO RECORDINGS FORM, FOR RHETORICAL STRATEGIES OF PERSUASION, "I Have a Dream" by Martin Luther King, Jr. 1963
Note: you may have to copy/paste the links below to an outside web browser to access them. Your response should be a solid 2-3 paragraphs.
I HAVE A DREAM
Read the speech:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/17/i-have-a-dream-speech-text_n_809993.html
Now, listen to this audio file of Dr. King delivering his speech in 1963 at the Washington Memorial at the end of a long civil rights march for equality.
https://archive.org/details/MLKDream
In your response, first do the following: Give a 5 W's synopsis (who, what, when, where, why and how) of this essay. What is King's purpose; who is his audience; what is the mood and tone of his "voice?"
Now: what do you read and hear that stands out, that you feel appeals to your emotions, ethics, logic; that frames what he is arguing for; outside examples, authority, statistics, and historical parallels to the current situation King is focusing on; symbolic images and metaphors that create a vivid picture of what King is trying to convince his audience of; strong words, phrases, and repetitions of certain words and phrases that strengthen his argument; and anything else that helps build his argument? How does King demand and sustain his authority on this subject and win over his audience? Please give specific examples. Also, discuss how reading the text of the speech is different than hearing it spoken by King himself. Which version impacted you more strongly?