我有一个梦想文稿英文简析

The evaluation of I have a dream

I have a dream by Martin Luther King is a famous speech for its succinct but eloquent language and the fervor of the crusader. The speech has lots of uses of language to make it accurate, clear and vivid.

A significant feature of the speech is that the speaker use imagery to make his ideas come alive and acceptable. Through using simile and metaphor effectively, abstract ideas become concrete and the speech can express feelings and emotions well. For example, “One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity.” And the speaker regards the promise that all men would be guaranteed the "unalienable Rights" of "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness" as a check, and hopes US can cash it. He uses the manacles and chains to symbolize the hurt of segregation and discrimination, the sunlit path and the bright day to describe the racial justice and righteousness. Another way to create imagery in the speech is choosing concrete words. For example, the words“I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood” create a picture to let us see the justice.

The rhythm of the speech language is an important part of its success. It is obvious that the speaker has a good choice and arrangement of words so that he can catch the attention of listeners and make speech convincing. There are many examples using parallelism and repetition: “one hundred years later…”, “Now is the time to…”“We can never be satisfied as long as…”“I have a dream that…”“Let freedom ring from…” In addition to building a strong cadence, it also emphasizes the ideas more than once and helps create a strong emotion effect. Besides, alliteration in the speech can enhance the rhythm and make listeners remember the ideas easily. For example, “rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation” and “on the high plane of digni ty and discipline” both use the alliteration.

The words of the speech are used accurately, and have the best effect on expressing the ideas. Meanwhile, the words chose by the speaker are very concrete, like “We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing f or which to vote.” It is so concrete that listeners are likely to be persuaded and inspired. In general, the speech is given appropriately and inclusively, and has a crescendo ending, which is helpful to the topic.