I Have A Dream Analysis

The logical structure of the piece moves from the past, to the present, and into the future. Dr. King starts his speech very boldly with the line, “Five score years ago” (562), which should have reminded the audience of President Lincoln’s Gettysburg address. This first sentence already starts us off in the past, and also, by relating his own speech to one of such renown, Dr. King is saying his speech will also go down in history. He goes on to talk about the Emancipation Proclamation, which was the “great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice” (562). He admits that the proclamation was something that the slaves needed and praises it for what it had done in its own time.
But then he thrusts us one hundred years into the future to the present, and tells us the problems that we were facing. The many civil problems that were the reason he was giving this speech. He also repeats the phrase, “now is the time” many times in the paragraph with the bank metaphors. He is stating that they must focus on the present, not the past, to get to the future that they want to achieve.
And when he moves to the future, the famous line, “I have a dream” comes into play. He talks about the bright future that they all want, that people can live free together peacefully and dream together. In this section he gives us many sensory details about the future he sees.
The speech is directed mainly to the African-American audience. In the 5th paragraph he says, “for many of our white brothers…” (563). This shows that he is talking to the black audience, but acknowledges the presence of the white audience also. The purpose of the speech is to bring people from all backgrounds together and dream for one dream. He says about the white audience, “[they] have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny, and their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone” (563). This passage shows that he is trying to bring the blacks and the whites together by telling them that their paths are intertwined whether they like it or not. They are all links in a chain, and if one link fails, the whole chain falls apart.
Dr. King uses allusion right away in his speech by alluding to the Gettysburg Address and the Emancipation Proclamation. These allusions show that he is relating his own cause to that of President Lincoln’s. The audience will inevitably compare the two causes and see the similarities. Repetition is also used a fair amount of time throughout the speech. He repeats the phrases “now is the time,” and “we can never be satisfied” and, of course, “I have a dream.” These repetitions cement these ideas into the audience’s mind.