The Speech to Seek For Freedom

‘I Have A Dream’ by Martin Luther King, Jr. was delivered on the steps at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. on August 28, 1963.

One thing that I learnt from this is that a one of a good speaker characteristic is he delivers speech spontaneously instead of preparing his text of speech and read it aloud. A good speech is for intelligent listeners. Usually, we will find speeches that were prepared by another person instead of the speaker himself prepared his speech text. So, we cannot assume the same person to write their speech. This is because that some of them are not capable to do both skills. So, here I assume that we cannot respect people who cannot deliver his speech well especially when that person is one of the candidates to be our leader.

In Martin Luther’s speech, it seems like he uses lots of devices in preparing his speech. On of the devices is the use of contradiction or binaries that also provide connotation related to his intention of speech. Such as, the connotation of night is ignorance and suffering, while connotation of light is truth, knowledge and hope. Here is some example of binaries in the beginning of his speech:

Shadow – light
Daybreak – night
Island – ocean
Prosperity – poverty

His capability to use imageries in his speech amazes me. One of images he used in his speech is images of season. Other than that, he also uses repetition as to emphasize his point of the speech. Overall, his speech is focus on the pain and suffering they experienced because of discrimination. He describes the suffering as ‘unearned suffering’ in his speech. It is wonderful how he captures his listeners to support him.