Vocabulary: Definitions
exalted
What is raised or elevated (as in rank or character)?
Frequent use of the same words to reinforce concepts
What is repetition?
"With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day."
What is the purpose of the speech?
Everyone should be treated equally under the American Dream
oppression
What is cruel or unjust treatment?
A figure of speech in which an opposition or contrast of ideas is expressed by parallelism of words that are the opposites of, or strongly contrasted with, each other
What is antithesis?
"In a sense we've come to our nation's capital to cash a check."
metaphor
What does King mean when he says to meet "physical force with soul force"?
Meeting violence with nonviolence?
(peaceful protesting)
prosperity
What is great fortune or success?
Repetition of a grammatical structure or arrangement of words to create rhythm and momentum
What is parallelism?
"Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation."
What is an allusion?
What does King mean when he refers to African Americans as an "exile in his own land"?
African Americans are not treated as citizens since they are discriminated against and excluded from American prosperity regardless of the DoI promise of "all men are created equal."
hallowed
What is holy or sacred?
An indirect or implied reference to a person, event, place, or thing, or to another text
What is an allusion?
"With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day."
What is anaphora?
What is King's purpose in using the song "My Country Tis of Thee?"
To represent the irony of the America promising liberty to all but not following through.
tribulations
great trouble or misery
Two types of repetition (one at the beginning of a sentence and one at the end)
What is anaphora and epistrophe?
"We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of Now."
What is kairos?
Explain the comparison King makes between the nation's founding documents and a promissory note.
The founding documents guarantee citizens' rights just as a promissory note guarantees payment of money.