The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech is rife with parallelism, a literary technique that contains repetition (not redundancy). It is King's use of parallelism that makes his speech both easy to follow and memorable. There are mainly two different types of parallelism King uses: anaphora and antithesis.
(Other common types of parallelism not evident in King's speech are epiphora, zeugma, and antimetabole. Please scroll all the way down for definitions and popular examples of each type not used in King’s speech.)
Also, here is a copy of "I Have a Dream" to follow along with.
Anaphora
Anaphora is when the beginning phrase of a thought is repeated. A popular example is from the very beginning of author Charles Dickens' Tale of Two Cities: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..." Notice the repetition of "[i]t was," as it tells the reader of a time that has expired--that time has changed and the reader will soon find out how and why.
King brilliantly uses anaphora almost immediately, in order to grab his audience's attention by making what he says both easy to follow and easy to remember. He would have wanted his speech to be as easy to follow and remember as possible because he was fighting for civil change, and change cannot occur if what is needed is forgotten. Regardless, a mere five sentences into King's speech, we see the words, "But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free." These bold words are repeated (though varying slightly) in the next three sentences:
One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still badly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself in exile in his own land.
This use of anaphora creates a better understanding for King's audience, dramatizing what King concludes to be "a shameful condition": racial injustice in America.
Antithesis
Antithesis is when two contrasting concepts are combined into the same thought. A popular example is found in astronaut Neil Armstrong's saying, "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." Notice Armstrong's use of opposing concepts (i.e., "small"/"giant" and "step"/"leap") to help create one unified thought that humanity is now becoming interplanetary.
King creatively uses antithesis when he says one of his speech's most famous lines:
I have a dream that one day in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as brothers and sisters.
Here, the opposing concept is “black”/”white,” and the unified thought created is that blacks and whites can one day live in peace.
Aside from the obvious color contrast between black and white, King makes a much deeper statement, contrasting black Americans with white Americans, according to social norms at the time. Though King does not directly state that blacks and whites do not live equal lives, he indirectly states it with his dream of “hold[ing] hands.” In other words, the "little black boys and black girls" are the shame "little white boys and white girls" are conditioned to act unjustly towards, which is bad. Thus, King relates "black" and "white" to society's thought that black is bad and white is good, though King himself does not think this. He thinks they should “hold hands.” This overall notion also relates back to the speech's opening lines, where King mentions America's "shameful condition."
King is also drawing reference to another earlier line: "We [African Americans] can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their adulthood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating, 'For Whites Only.'"
Anaphora with antithesis
Now that both anaphora and antithesis have been explained, here is a part of King's speech that simultaneously uses both types of parallelism:
"Now is the time to make real the promise of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood."
In bold above is how King uses anaphora. Notice the repetition of the phrase "[n]ow is the time," which King uses to makes his words both easier to follow and easier to remember. In bold below is how King uses antithesis:
"Now is the time to make real the promise of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood."
Notice the repetition of opposites to create one unified thought that America needs racial equality. There are no opposites in the first sentence. The three opposites in the second sentence are "dark and desolate"/"sunlit"; "valley"/"path"; and "segregation"/racial justice." The two opposites in the third sentence are "quicksands"/"solid rock" and "racial injustice"/"brotherhood."
Types of parallelism not used in King's speech
Epiphora: Similar to anaphora, epiphora is when the end phrase of a thought is repeated. A popular example is from former President John F. Kennedy's "Strategy for Peace" speech: "The United States, as the world knows, will never start a war. We do not want a war. We do not now expect a war." Notice the repetition of "a war," which suggests the thought that, though war is not desired, it looms.
Zeugma: This is when a verb or adjective modifies two or more nouns that, in turn, convey two or more meanings. A popular example is found in author Mark Twain's Adventures of Tom Sawyer: "They tugged and tore at each other's hair and clothes, punched and scratched each other's nose, and covered themselves with dust and glory." Here, "dust" and "glory" differ in two different ways. While "dust" connotes both inactivity/failure and dirtiness, "glory" connotes success and cleanliness.
Antimetabole: This is when two phrases balance each other out with mirrored structure. A popular example is found in ancient philosopher Socrates' saying, "Bad men live that they may eat and drink, whereas good men eat and drink that they may live." In this instance, Socrates relates immorality with morality by reversing the order of his words.
Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous "I Have A Dream" speech utilizes numerous persuasive rhetorical techniques, among them parallelism and repetition. One good example of both is towards the end of the speech, beginning with "And so let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire." The section which follows sees King employing several rhetorical devices to convey his point: he uses a form of parallelism called anaphora (using the same initial set of words in several phrases consecutively), and meanwhile the use of enumeratio (listing, one by one, the various states and parts of the country in which freedom should ring) helps convey the span of what must be changed. King then uses repetition to further reinforce the appeal of this section: "and when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city."
The power of the final two lines of the speech relies heavily upon repetition, as well as another technique known as the "power of three," which orators often use to great effect: "Free at last, free at last, thank God Almighty, we are free at last."
Of course, King also uses parallelism and repetition throughout the section which gives the speech its name, as King repeats the refrain, "I have a dream" in between other examples of parallelism (anaphora) in which the phrase "I have a dream" precedes an example of that dream. The repetition of the refrain, in conjunction with this parallelism, serves to intensify this section to a climax.
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