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Context: The circumstances in which an event
occurs; a setting
Knowing more about the context of something
helps the audience understand how it came
about, and what it is referring, or alluding, to.
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historical background
social/cultural biases, trends, traditions, etc.
political situation at the time
Any other relevant information (e.g.
biographical information about the author)
“I Have a Dream” by
Martin Luther King Jr. is
one of the most memorable
speeches of all time.
 We can all learn speechwriting skills from King’s
historic masterpiece.
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Much of the greatness of this speech is tied to its
historical context
We will focus on five key lessons in speechwriting
that we can extract from Martin Luther King’s
most famous speech.
Emphasize phrases by repeating at the beginning
of sentences
Repeat key “theme” words throughout your
speech
Utilize appropriate quotations or allusions
Use specific examples to “ground” your arguments
Use metaphors to highlight contrasting concepts
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Anaphora (repeating words at the beginning of
neighbouring clauses) is a commonly used
rhetorical device. Repeating the words twice
sets the pattern, and further repetitions
emphasize the pattern and increase the
rhetorical effect.
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“I have a dream” is repeated in eight successive
sentences, and is one of the most often cited examples
of anaphora in modern rhetoric. But this is just one of
eight occurrences of anaphora in this speech. By order
of introduction, here are the key phrases:
“One hundred years later…” [paragraph 3]
“Now is the time…” [paragraph 6]
“We must…” [paragraph 8]
“We can never (cannot) be satisfied…” [paragraph 13]
“Go back to…” [paragraph 14]
“I Have a Dream…” [paragraphs 16 through 24]
“With this faith, …” [paragraph 26]
“Let freedom ring (from) …” [paragraphs 27 through 41]
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Repetition in forms like anaphora is quite
obvious, but there are more subtle ways to use
repetition as well. One way is to repeat key
“theme” words throughout the body of your
speech
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If you count the frequency of words used in King’s “I
Have a Dream”, very interesting patterns emerge. The
most commonly used noun is freedom, which is used
twenty times in the speech. This makes sense, since
freedom is one of the primary themes of the speech.
Other key themes? Consider these commonly repeated
words:
freedom (20 times)
we (30 times), our (17 times), you (8 times)
nation (10 times), america (5 times), american (4 times)
justice (8 times) and injustice (3 times)
dream (11 times)
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“I Have a Dream” can be summarized in the
view below, which associates the size of the
word with its frequency.
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Evoking historic and literary references is a
powerful speechwriting technique which can
be executed explicitly (a direct quotation) or
implicitly (allusion).
You can improve the credibility of your
arguments by referring to the (appropriate)
words of credible speakers/writers in your
speech. Consider the allusions used by Martin
Luther King Jr.:
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“Five score years ago…” [paragraph 2] refers to Lincoln’s famous
Gettysburg Address speech which began “Four score and seven
years ago…” This allusion is particularly poignant given that King
was speaking in front of the Lincoln Memorial.
“Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness” [and the rest of
paragraph 4] is a reference to the United States Declaration of
Independence.
Numerous Biblical allusions provide the moral basis for King’s
arguments:
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“It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.”
[paragraph 2] alludes to Psalms 30:5 “For his anger is but for a moment; his
favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may linger for the night, but joy comes with the
morning.“
“Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of
bitterness and hatred.” [paragraph 8] evokes Jeremiah 2:13 “for my people have
committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and dug
out cisterns for themselves, cracked cisterns that can hold no water.“
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speech is greatly improved when you provide specific examples which illustrate your
logical (and perhaps theoretical) arguments.
One way that Martin Luther King Jr. accomplishes this is to make numerous geographic
references throughout the speech:
Mississippi, New York [paragraph 13]
Mississippi, Alabama, South Carolina, Georgia, Louisiana [14]
Georgia [18]
Mississippi [19]
Alabama [22]
New Hampshire [32], New York [33], Pennsylvania [34], Colorado [35], California [36],
Georgia [37], Tennessee [38], Mississippi [39]
Note that Mississippi is mentioned on four separate occasions. This is not accidental;
mentioning Mississippi would evoke some of the strongest emotions and images for his
audience.
Additionally, King uses relatively generic geographic references to make his message
more inclusive:
“slums and ghettos of our northern cities” [paragraph 14]
“the South” [25]
“From every mountainside” [40]
“from every village and every hamlet” [41]
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Metaphors allow you to associate your speech concepts with concrete
images and emotions.
To highlight the contrast between two abstract concepts, consider
associating them with contrasting concrete metaphors. For example, to
contrast segregation with racial justice, King evokes the contrasting
metaphors of dark and desolate valley (of segregation) and sunlit path (of
racial justice.)
“joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity” [paragraph 2]
“the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of
material prosperity” [3]
“rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of
racial justice” [6]
“This sweltering summer of the Negro’s legitimate discontent will not pass
until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality.” [7]
“sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of
freedom and justice.” [19]
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1] I am happy to join with you today in what will
go down in history as the greatest demonstration
for freedom in the history of our nation.
[2] 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.
In a sense we’ve come to our nation’s capital to cash a check. When the
architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution
and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to
which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men,
yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the “unalienable
Rights” of “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” It is obvious today
that America has defaulted on this promissory note, insofar as her citizens of
color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has
given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked
“insufficient funds.”
But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to
believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of
this nation. And so, we’ve come to cash this check, a check that will give us
upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.
President George W. Bush: Bullhorn Speech
President George W. Bush: Bullhorn
Speech to Emergency Rescue Workers at
9/11 Ground Zero, New York. Delivered
14 September 2001. Complete transcript
and audio mp3 at:
http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speec.
..
Speech at Ground Zero
George W. Bush
Thank you all. I want you all to know -- it [bullhorn] can't go any louder -- I want
you all to know that America today, America today is on bended knee, in prayer
for the people whose lives were lost here, for the workers who work here, for the
families who mourn. The nation stands with the good people of New York City
and New Jersey and Connecticut as we mourn the loss of thousands of our
citizens.
I can hear you! I can hear you! The rest of the world hears you! And the people -and the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon!
The nation -- The nation sends its love and compassion to everybody who is here.
Thank you for your hard work. Thank you for makin' the nation proud, and may
God bless America.
President Obama’s Address to the Nation
September 10, 2014
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2014/
09/10/tune-president-obama-addressesnation-isil-threat
“Our endless blessings bestow an enduring burden. But as Americans, we
welcome our responsibility to lead.”
When we helped prevent the massacre of civilians trapped on a distant
mountain, here’s what one of them said: “We owe our American friends
our lives. Our children will always remember that there was someone who
felt our struggle and made a long journey to protect innocent people.”
That is the difference we make in the world. And our own safety, our own
security, depends upon our willingness to do what it takes to defend this
nation and uphold the values that we stand for –- timeless ideals that will
endure long after those who offer only hate and destruction have been
vanquished from the Earth.
May God bless our troops, and may God bless the United States of America.
Read the following
quotations.
Discuss who the authors
were and the context from
which they originate.
“The world is too dangerous to live in – not because of the people who do evil,
but because of the people who sit and let it happen.”
– Albert Einstein
“There was no particular day on which I said, From henceforth I will devote
myself to the liberation on my people; instead I simply found myself doing so,
and could not do otherwise.”
– Nelson Mandela
“Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or
strikes out against an injustice, he send forth a tiny ripple of hope.”
– Robert F. Kennedy
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committee citizens can change
the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”
– Margaret Mead
“Not everything that is faced can be changed. But nothing can be changed until
it is faced.”
– James Baldwin
“Let us not forget, after all, that there is always a moment when a moral choice
is made.”
– Elie Wiesel
Let’s Review:The Importance of Context
Context: The circumstances in which an event occurs; a
setting
Knowing more about the context of something helps
the audience understand how it came about, and what
it is referring, or alluding, to.
What should you look for?
• historical background
• social/cultural biases, trends, traditions, etc.
• political situation at the time
• Any other relevant information (e.g. biographical
information about the author)
Dinner Guest: Me
I know I am
The Negro Problem
Being wined and dined,
Answering the usual questions
That come to white mind
Which seeks demurely
To Probe in polite way
The why and wherewithal
Of darkness U.S.A.-Wondering how things got this way
In current democratic night,
Murmuring gently
Over fraises du bois,
"I'm so ashamed of being white.“
The lobster is delicious,
The wine divine,
And center of attention
At the damask table, mine.
To be a Problem on
Park Avenue at eight
Is not so bad.
Solutions to the Problem,
Of course, wait.
Langston Hughes
Langston Hughes:
Published most of his work in the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s. He
reflected his social concerns in his writings about injustice,
war and race. He is widely acknowledged and praised all
over the world as one of the great American writers of the
20th century. "Dinner Guest: Me" was first published in
Negro Digest in September 1965 (the height of the black civil
rights movement).
Bitter Strawberries
All morning in the strawberry field
They talked about the Russians.
Squatted down between the rows
We listened.
We heard the head woman say,
‘Bomb them off the map.’
Horseflies buzzed, paused and stung.
And the taste of strawberries
Turned thick and sour.
Mary said slowly, ‘I’ve got a fella
Old enough to go.
If anything should happen…’
The sky was high and blue.
Two children laughed at tag
In the tall grass,
Leaping awkward and long-legged
Across the rutted road.
The fields were full of bronzed young men
Hoeing lettuce, weeding celery.
‘The draft is passed,’ the woman said.
‘We ought to have bombed them long ago.’
‘Don’t,’ pleaded the little girl
With blond braids.
Her blue eyes swam with vague terror.
She added petishly, ‘I can’t see why
You’re always talking this way…’
‘Oh, stop worrying, Nelda,’
Snapped the woman sharply.
She stood up, a thin commanding figure
In faded dungarees.
Businesslike she asked us, ‘How many quarts?’
She recorded the total in her notebook,
And we all turned back to picking.
Kneeling over the rows,
We reached among the leaves
With quick practiced hands,
Cupping the berry protectively before
Snapping off the stem
Between thumb and forefinger.
Gwendolyn Brooks
Gwendolyn Brooks
She was born in Jamaica Plain, a suburb of Boston, Massachusetts, on October 27,
1932. In early childhood, she lived in Winthrop on Massachusetts Bay. Left
fatherless at age 8, she lived with her mother's parents and attended school in
Winthrop and college at Wellesley. She later acknowledged uncertainty about
her father through bee imagery in "Stings," "The Swarm," "The Bee Meeting," and
other poems.
After publishing the story "And Summer Will Not Come Again" in Seventeen
magazine and the poem "Bitter Strawberries" in Christian Science Monitor in
1950
The poem was first published in 1950, when fear of Communist Russia was
rampant in American.)
The Bean Eaters
They eat beans mostly, this old yellow
pair.
Dinner is a casual affair.
Plain chipware on a plain and creaking
wood,
Tin flatware.
Two who are Mostly Good.
Two who have lived their day,
But keep on putting on their clothes
And putting things away.
And remembering . . .
Remembering, with twinklings and
twinges,
As they lean over the beans in their rented
back room that
is full of beads and receipts and dolls and
cloths,
tobacco crumbs, vases and fringes.
Gwendolyn Brooks
The Bean Eaters, Brooks’s third collection of
poetry, was published in 1960, after she
had already won the Pulitzer Prize and a
number of other awards. In her first two
collections, Brooks explored everyday
African American life through subjects like
home, family, war, racism, and poverty,
while melding colloquial speech with
formal diction.
In The Bean Eaters, Brooks continued to
investigate these same interests, drawing
heavily on Chicago’s south-side
neighborhood of Bronzeville. However,
the book was written during the early
years of the Civil Rights movement, during
which the Brooks's interest in social issues
deepened and found expression in her
work. In The Bean Eaters, she employs free
verse and refuses to shy away from topics
such as educational integration and
lynching.