Rhetorical Analysis Worksheet

Rhetorical Analysis Practice

Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions that follow. Pay close attention to the author's use of rhetorical devices and appeals.

Excerpt from 'I Have a Dream' by Martin Luther King Jr.

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. 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.

1. What rhetorical device is primarily used in the opening sentence, 'Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation'?

2. The repeated phrase 'One hundred years later' is an example of which rhetorical device?

3. The phrase 'seared in the flames of withering injustice' is an example of a  .

4. King uses the contrast between 'lonely island of poverty' and 'vast ocean of material prosperity' to highlight the   faced by African Americans.

5. Identify and explain one instance of pathos in the provided excerpt.

6. The statement 'It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity' utilizes an extended metaphor.

Match the rhetorical appeal to its definition.