The Stylistic Analysis of I HAVE A DREAM

對(duì)馬丁·路德·金《我有一個(gè)夢(mèng)想》的文體分析

摘 要：文章一開始給出了這篇演講的背景和文體論的定義，并且在此基礎(chǔ)上對(duì)美國(guó)著名的黑人領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人馬丁.路德.金的著名演講《我有一個(gè)夢(mèng)》中所運(yùn)用的文體手法及修辭進(jìn)行了詳細(xì)的分析，并且對(duì)演講的文體特征和修辭風(fēng)格進(jìn)行了論述。

Abstract： At the beginning of the thesis， it gives the background of the speech and the definition of stylistics. On the foundation of it， there is a detailed analysis of the stylistic devices and rhetoric which used in the famous speech I HAVE A DREAM， by the well-known leader of American Civil Rights Movement Martin Luther King， Jr.， then discuss the stylistic characteristics and the rhetoric of the speech.

關(guān)鍵詞：文體學(xué)；分析；特征；文體手法；修辭

Key words：stylistics；analysis；feature；stylistic devices； rhetoric

[中圖分類號(hào)]：H31 [文獻(xiàn)標(biāo)識(shí)碼]：A

[文章編號(hào)]：1002-2139（2012）-21--02

As a broad field of study， stylistics often used in literary criticism with effective techniques. It’s very useful in analysis of many kinds of styles. The thesis will discuss the stylistic in this speech， and analysis the rhetoric which is used in I HAVE A DREAM .

1.Introduction

Information about the author and his speech. This is a speech， it emerged during the war between North America and South America. It is moved deeply by others and air man’s views vehemently. About 250 thousand people listened the speech respectfully. We’ll focus on how King achieved his speech by stylistic devices.

2.Analysis in features and the definition of stylistics and stylistic analysis

2.1 The feature of the speech

This speech has it’s own feature， King has used many features in his speech， the following parts will discuss the special features which used in the speech.

2.1.1 Phonological features： Rhyme

“Battered and staggered” can be considered as pararhyme， the definition of pararhyme is two syllable have the same initials； persecution and police brutality can be regarded as reverserhyme， and the definition of it is syllables have the same initial consonant. All of this has a great help for readers to get the exact ideas of King in his speech， that is， struggle against the injustice.

2.1.2 Lexical features

King’s speech is very cautious and careful， because it’s very important to blacks and he’ll read it to all of the people in public. “You”， “I” and “We” in his speech， is the use of personal pronouns. By using this， King awoke the audience’s attention to accept his point. This is a apparent feature in the speech.

2.2 The definition of Stylistics and Stylistic Analysis

The definition of stylistics has many different study ways. Wales defines it simply as “the study of style”（1989：437）， while Widdowson gives the definition as “the study of literary discourse from a linguistic orientation” and “a view that what it is essentially a means of linking the two”（1975：3）， Leech’s opinion is as the same as it. His definition is “study of the use of language in literature”（1969：1）. It perceived that stylistics is an area of study， it perches two disciplines： literary criticism and linguistics.

Stylistically speaking， stylistic analysis is the selection of a periodic sentence for the embedding of a parenthesis. In terms of structure， the sentence is rather formal and complicated. Halliday points out， “The text may be seen as ‘this’ in contrast with ‘that’， with another poem or another novel； stylistics studies are essentially comparative in nature...”（1971：341）. In this part， Widdowson has the same opinion as Halliday. Therefore， we realize that stylistic analysis is a movement that is comparative in nature.

3.An analysis of the stylistic devices used in the speech

3.1 Usage of Repetition

King repeats words and sentences many times in the speech， this is a very conspicuous feature， it is called repetition. The use of it is emphasizing. There are three factors in repetition： 1. cognitive factors. 2. psychological factors. 3. social factors. Generally speaking， we also combine the three factors in the speaker’s elements. Otherwise， the use of them are to move forward and deepen the theme of speaker. The term repetition is restricted to mean the case of exact copying of a certain previous unit in a text such as a word， phrase or even a sentence （Leech， 1969）. Repetition in this speech， not only makes the audience to know what King said， but also gives a strong strength to the speech and audience， let them strengthen their position. As all the over-regular features in the literature are in some sense repetitious， audience will pay more attention to the speech. Take the paragraphs for example， from paragraph 8 to 16， the words “I have a dream” which King used， appeared nine times. This repetition helps to achieve the function of coherence in address and the function of reinforcement in feeling and emotion， expressing King’s strong emotion of thirsting for freedom， justice and righteousness. All the emotion in this speech expressed very vivid.

3.2 Usage of Contrast

These are the use of contrast. Contrast may to show differences when compared， also to point out a difference that can distinguish meaning. In speech， this use can have the function of making clear the ideas of the speaker. Here， contrast has been used effectively. In paragraph 1， “great beacon light of hope” is contrasted with “flames of withering injustice” and “joyous daybreak” is contrasted with “l(fā)ong night of captivity”. Therefore， it is easy for us to understand the use in this speech and easy to know why King uses so many contrasts in his speech.

3.3 Usage of Similes and Metaphors

The basic characteristics of simile：

1. The main body and the metaphoric meaning are both in the sentence， but they are different things.

2. The main body and the metaphoric meaning may have some same points.

In our territory of study， a simile is a figure of speech which makes a comparison between two unlike elements having at least one quality or characteristic in common. To make the comparison， words like as， as if， as though and like are used to transfer the quality we associate with one to the other. Simile has the overall functions of rhetoric， it can let person to familiarize the strange things. So King also use many similes in his speech.

A metaphor， like a simile， also makes a comparison between two unlike elements， but unlike a simile， this comparison is implied rather than stated. It always have the deeper sense than simile and more succinct， appropriate， lively and embody.

In speech， King makes much use of similes and metaphors. In paragraph 1， King compares The Emancipation Proclamation to two forms of brilliant light cutting through darkness； the first a joyous daybreak compares it to the sunshine. In paragraph 2， he uses “the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination，” compare to segregation and discrimination. In paragraph 7， he compares “justice rolls” to waters and compares “righteousness” to a mighty stream. In paragraph 14， he compares “l(fā)ittle black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with white boys and white girls and walk together” to sisters and brothers.

All the usage of similes and metaphors make the audience easy to understand the speech and King’s thinking.

4. Conclusion

The thesis has discussed the stylistic devices which are frequently used in the discourse of literary works especially in speech. This makes the speech easy to understand for audience. This thesis has discussed it from the feature of the speech， the definition of stylistics and stylistic analysis， the usage of repetition and parallelism， the usage of contrast， and the usage of similes and metaphors. It also gives some background of the speech and author Martin Luther King， Jr.. Only undering that background of period， then the speech reached public attention.

There are five main features in his speech：

1. Be adept in using parallelism. In paragraph 3， “One hundred years later…”， from paragraph 4 to 8 “ I have a dream…”， in paragraph 9， “Let freedom ring from…”. All the examples make the audience have the deep impression with the content of the speech， the sentences are full of energy， and also have the energy o

f persuading.

2. Full of confidence. From the beginning， King has emphasized the importance of the speech in the history， “go down in history”， “the greatest demonstration”， “in the history of our nation”. It attracts the audience with his confident wording and diction.

3. The concrete examples. Some people like using unrealistic words in their speech， that is not a good way. But King is different from them. He used many concrete place names， for example “Alabama” （Para.7）， “New Hampshire”， “New York”， “Pennsylvania” （Para.9）， and so forth. That makes the audience feel authentic.

First of all， it must be very persuasive， and the sentences are very well-organized， with the usage of repetitions， parallelism， contrasts， similes and metaphors and so forth. The second is that it must be emotional in order to be convincing， for the speaker should face the audience directly and his words must be correctly and orderly. The words not only be informative but also be expressive. So as to the speech may be full of influence. And finally， in many other conditions， written-conversational style is usually used without very formal diction and very complicated sentence

structure.

To sum it up， we can learn much from Martin Luther King’s speech. In addition to the stylistic devices， his ideology and deeds are worth for our reference.

Bibliography：

[1]、Martin Luther King， Jr. ， I HAVE A DREAM . August 28， 1963

[2]、Pan Shaozhang， English Rhetoric and Writing. Shanghai Transportation University Press， December， 1998

[3]、 新霖， 名人演講（Famous Speeches） （2—6）， 江西文化音像出

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