Martin Luther King SPES

Throughout Martin Luther King’s speech he uses many literary devices that help

strengthen his claim and get his point across. In the third paragraph of his speech “I Have a

Dream” speech he uses the phrase “one hundred years later” four times. He is saying that no

change is being made, that one hundred years after slavery was ended nothing has improved. The

fact that nothing is being done frustrates him, but it is a part of his motivation. The next literary

device MLK uses is a metaphor. “We have come to the nations capitol to cash a check”. The

figurative check that Martin Luther is talking about represents the rights that they were owed.

MLK and his supporters have come to gain those rights as well ass express their grievances.

Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech included many examples of figurative language

which helped make it as clever and effective as it was. Eventually this speech became one of the

building blocks to African Americans gaining rights.