Emphasis through repetition makes these phrases more memorable, and, by extension, make King’s story more memorable. Even in the absence of the remainder of the speech, these key phrases tell much of King’s story. “We can never (cannot) be satisfied…”.By order of introduction, here are the key phrases: But this is just one of eight occurrences of anaphora in this speech. “ I have a dream” is repeated in eight successive sentences, and is one of the most often cited examples of anaphora in modern rhetoric.
Repeating the words twice sets the pattern, and further repetitions emphasize the pattern and increase the rhetorical effect. Lesson #1: Emphasize Phrases by Repeating at the Beginning of SentencesĪnaphora (repeating words at the beginning of neighbouring clauses) is a commonly used rhetorical device.
#I have a dream speech metaphors series#
This article is the latest in a series of video speech critiques which help you analyze and learn from excellent speeches. It is worthy of lengthy study as we can all learn speechwriting skills from King’s historic masterpiece. is one of the most memorable speeches of all time. “I Have a Dream” by Martin Luther King Jr.