A Brief Stylistic Analysis of
“I Have a Dream”
Delivered by Martin Luther King, Jr.
ⅠIntroduction
Martin Luther King (A.D. 1929 - 1968) was an African American lawyer and prominent black leaders of the civil rights movement. He was been arrested and assassination three times during his life. In 1964, he won the Nobel Peace prize. In 1968, he was shot by a racist. He was known for one of the eight most persuasive speakers nearly a hundred years. In 1963 he led 250,000 people to \march on Washington \for the freedom and equality and employment of the black. Martin Luther King made this famous speech in March. Reviewing the whole speech in such context, we find out many stylistic features that are rare in other general public speeches. Therefore, it deserves our exploration to exhibit what the stylistic characteristics of eulogistic speech are. The examination will be carried out in two perspectives, lexical and semantic analyses.
ⅡLexical Features
Generally speaking, a public speech possesses double traits of expression: it is formal as is required of written language, and it is yet not difficult to understand at the time of delivery as is required of the spoken mode. So does this eulogistic speech. King used many common or popular words for valuation, these are connected with everyday life such as promise, check, luxury, fatal, equality, palace, soul, create, creed, fresh, victim, dream, happy, freedom, despair, beautiful, light, home, flame, daybreak, island, ocean, chain, capital, fatigue roll, brotherhood and so on. These words are quite familiar to the audience so that can helping them to understand King’s speech more easily. We should make sure that King’s audience were comes from different classes and different background, these daily words can helping them to get the main
point of King’s speech—to call on the people struggle for the freedom with non-violent. At the same time, he also used some literary words in his speech, such as segregation, discrimination, architect, magnificent, unalienable, pursuit default insofar, obligation, insufficient, vault, security, hallow, urgency, engulf, emancipation, proclamation, momentous, decree, sear, withering, captivity, cripple, manacle, prosperity, languishing, exile, dramatize and so on. These words are exploited to create a solemn atmosphere, showing that the black’s urges and their fighting for equal rights must be taken seriously and the non-violent moment will be ended until they are get the equal rights.
In King’s speech, we can find that he uses many words of complete form instead of shortened form to reinforce the effect of the speech. The examples are as followed: I am, It is, We have, It would, There is, We must not, We can not, I have, Let us and so on. As we know, pronunciation is crucial in a speech, especially in such a speech of so important a demonstration, where people of all kinds come to anticipate from every corner of the state. Such words of full form are pronounced much more clearly and have more emphatic effect than those of shortened form, which always appear in daily life.
The use of pronouns in speeches is quite common and King’s speech is no exception to it. Pronouns such as I, we, our, you are largely exploited in this speech. For example, the word I has been used for 14 times, our 15 times, you 7 times and we has been 31 times. By using these words, King brings himself closer to the audiences, making them have more empathy with him.
ⅢSemantic Features
In order to achieve a good result, public speeches are usually well prepared in written form in advance. This makes it possible for the speaker to employ figurative language, which can effectively engage the audience. The semantic effect is mainly achieved by the employment of different kinds of figures of speech.
The most frequently used figures of speech are figures of comparison, which include metaphor, simile, analogy, personification, etc., of which metaphor is the most
frequently used.
Instead of explaining anything that may be too complicated or abstract for the readers to follow, several figures of speech in this extract are designed to enliven King’s speech and thus leave us deep impression.
1. Parallelism
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: \equal.\
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
Public speeches are conveyed orally, and speakers often take advantage of the auditory channel of the audience by employing phonological devices, such as alliteration, rhyme, and different kinds of sound patterning, of which alliteration is more effective and therefore it is often used by skillful speakers.
2. Euphemism
In the second paragraph, King said: It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of captivity. Here captivity is a kind of euphemism. Euphemism is substitution of an agreeable or inoffensive expression for one that may offend or suggest something unpleasant. Examples of euphemism can also be found in the seventh paragraph, where King declares that those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. Here a rude awakening is also a kind of euphemism.
3. Simile
Simile is an expression that describes something by comparing it with something else, using the word “as” or “like”. In this speech the use of simile can be found. Take the second paragraph for example. King compares Emancipation Proclamation to the
beacon light in the black’s heart, for it will bring them hope. Likewise, he wants a joyous daybreak to end the long night of captivity. However, the light of beacon begins to wither away.…We will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream. By using such kinds of vivid simile, King succeeds in leaving us deep impression
4. Paradox and irony
Paradox is a statement that seems impossible because it contains two opposing ideas that are both true. Examples of this are One hundred years later; the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. When audience first heard of it, they may think exile in his own land seems self-contradictory to the establish fact. However, after further thinking of it proved to be true. The blacks have no civil rights at all. They were always driven out their homeland by the whites. Using paradox here is more effective presenting a sadly ironic picture of living conditions of the Negro to earn audience’s empathy.
ⅣConclusion
King’s speech is beautifully written by the skillful use of the words in lexical and semantic, which add much interest and beauty to his speech. This may be one of the reasons why this speech has been enjoying wide and permanent popularity among people all over the world.
Appendix
Martin Luther King, Jr: I Have a Dream
1. I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.
2. Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.
3. But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. And so we've come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.
4. In a sense we've come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the \Rights\of \Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.\It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note, insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked \
5. But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. And so, we've come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.
6. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of Now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.
7. It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. And those who hope that the