What are the rhetorical or figurative devices used in Dr. Martin Luther King's speech, "I Have a Dream"?

In describing America’s treatment of blacks, King could
easily have stated the idea in a straightforward way, simply saying that the rights
guaranteed in the Declaration of Independence have not been granted to blacks. But, the
nature of King’s argument is to use words to give hope to the people fighting for their
rights, and to inspire them to continue in the battle. To do this, King uses vivid
language throughout. So, in the second and third paragraphs, he uses vivid metaphor of
checks and promissory notes to get his point across. The metaphor is easily understood
and takes the abstract idea of “inalienable rights” and puts it into concrete terms. The
metaphor is a powerful one, especially when King says that America has given blacks a
bad check stamped “insufficient funds.”This single image succinctly summarizes more than
200 years of injustice.

King says the black man has the
same dream and draws on language from the Emancipation Proclamation to reinforce his
audience’s emotional resolve to continue in their quest for equal rights. By this
analogyand through such techniques as incorporating the lyrics of “MyCountry ‘Tis of
Thee” (para.15) into his argument, King simply, butpowerfully, makes his
points.

King reminds his audience that the Civil Rights
Movement puts into action basic ideas contained in the Constitution. King reaffirms
minority rights as a way of renewing aspirations put forward by America’s founding
fathers:

“I
say to you today myfriends, 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 liveout the true meaning of its creed: ‘we
hold these truths to be selfevident,that all men are created equal’“ (para.11).

By connectingthe present to
the past, King shows that the struggle of blacks is akinto other great struggles of
American history, such as our struggle tobe free of Great Britain, and the expression of
this ideal in theDeclaration of Independence.

By using
language from the Proclamation, he emphasizes the irony that a hundred years had passed
with so little freedom for blacks. His listeners recognize the reference he is making,
and can readily respond to King’s words with renewed vigor to continue the struggle for
equality.

King uses figurative language and parallelism
that echoes the Bible to enhance the effectiveness of his speech. King instinctively
chooses the proper phrases to ignite firein his listeners. He uses language that echoes
the Bible, the holiest of books to a minister (which King was), to show how important
the cause is and to reinforce his audience’s emotional resolve with an eloquent, noble,
and impassioned plea that America might fulfill its original promise of freedom and
equality to all of its citizens.