I Have A Dream - Martin Luther King

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find a variety of stylistic devices. Right from the start Martin Luther King uses Metaphors. "Flames of withering injustice" (line 6), "the chains of discrimination" (line 8-9), "a vast ocean of material prosperity" (line 10), "a lonely island of poverty" (line 9), "the storms of persecution" (line 15), "the winds of police brutality" (line 16), "the veterans of creative suffering" (line 17), "the valley of despair" (line 20), "the mountain of despair" (line 37) and "a stone of hope" (line 37). All these Metaphors are making the speech mor interesting and powerful through strong images. The listeners are creating a picture in mind and need to think about the words. Metaphors are appealing directly to the sense. But there are many more rhetorical devices used for example two symbols "as a great beacon light of hope" (line 4-5) and "as a joyous daybreak" (line 6). Martin Luther King uses symbols to make his idea easier to understand and to support his own view. In addition there are a lot of repetitions like "I have a dream" (line 25-33), "with this faith" (line 37-40) and "let this freedom ring" (line 45). Through using repetitions the author draws the listeners attention to a certain idea and the speech stays in peoples mind. All in all we can say that the speech is remembered principally for its stirring rhetoric, in particular its vision of a future in which King's children would "not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character". This speech was important for the Civil Rights Act 1964 and the Voting Rights Act 1965. To summarize this speech is a big part of the Civil Rights Movement.