During the first few weeks of class last semster, Dr. Persuasion gave me a copy of The Rhetorical Act. It’s a undergraduate textbook that walks you through the elements of rhetorical criticism, step by step, and gives examples of how to evaluate a speech.
The first example was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s I Have a Dream speech, one of the finest pieces of rhetoric in the 20th century. I was on the bus, riding home after a long day of work, and I started to read the speech from the very beginning. It’s amazing and inspiring.
Dr. King reminds you of the past — what the United States of America stands for and what it means to be an American. Drawing upon Abraham Lincoln’s rhetoric, he uses similar phrases and words to describe the present struggle for equality and freedom. He uses repetition and vivid imagery to evoke a spirit of hope.
Unlike many great speeches of the past, you can actually watch a video of the speech and exprience the rhetorical situation for yourself. So take five minutes (yes, only five minutes) and learn from this great master of rhetoric.
