Rhetorical Analysis Worksheet

Rhetorical Analysis Worksheet

Read the provided excerpt from Martin Luther King Jr.'s 'I Have a Dream' speech. Then, answer the questions that follow, analyzing the rhetorical strategies employed by the speaker.

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest — quest for freedom — left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive. Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed.

Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.'

1. Identify and explain one example of anaphora in the passage. How does this rhetorical device contribute to King's message?

2. Analyze King's use of pathos in the first paragraph. What specific words or phrases appeal to the audience's emotions?

3. The phrase 'veterans of creative suffering' is an example of a  .

4. King uses the rhetorical appeal of   when he references the 'American dream' and the nation's creed.

5. Which of the following best describes the primary purpose of this excerpt?

6. King's repetition of 'Go back to' is an example of alliteration.

7. Discuss how King balances an appeal to hope and a recognition of suffering in this excerpt. How do these two elements work together to strengthen his overall message?