Rhetoric I
Martin Luther King Jr.'s brilliant dissertation, 'Letter from Birmingham Jail', details injustice, segregation, and inequality in Birmingham, Alabama, 'probably the most thoroughly segregated city in the United States' (6.344). King's argumentative passages persuade the reader, and add credibility to his vehement and vivid discourse. Schemes and tropes are among the oratorical devices which King uses to communicate with his audience, and stir emotional response. The numerous figures of speech augment the clarity, liveliness, and passion of King's rhetoric.
…