How Does King Use Anaphora In Letter From Birmingham Jail

During a time of violence, segregation, and racism, few people had the courage to speak out against it. Few people had the bravery to go against what the masses believed, and fewer had the authority to do so. One of these few people was Martin Luther King Jr. and one of the ways in which he spoke out was through a letter written while imprisoned. King was imprisoned by Bull Connor, a police chief in Birmingham, Alabama in the 1960’s for not having a license to parade or protest. While in jail, King received a letter written by eight Alabama clergymen who pleaded for African Americans to stop protesting and wait for segregation to happen on its own. The letter accused MLK of being an extremist and said that the time for segregation is not now.

uses the device anaphora at many points in his letter to convey the importance of what he is repeating. Anaphora is a rhetorical device that repeats the same word or phrase at the beginning of sentences, and it is often used to imply importance or emphasis. King uses anaphora in paragraphs three and four. Paragraph three discusses the logic of the clergymen claiming that protests produce violence, saying “Isn’t this like condemning a robbed man, because his possession of money…Isn’t this like condemning Socrates because his unswerving commitment to truth… Isn’t this like condemning Jesus because his unique God-consciousness and never ceasing devotion to God’s will precipitated…” The use of repeating the phrase “isn’t this like” provides emphasis on the fact that this has happened many times before, and to people whom only wanted peace. Additionally, in paragraph four, King utilizes anaphora in explanation that now is the only time to stop segregation, saying, “Now is the time to make real the promise of democracy and transform our pending national elegy into a creative psalm of brotherhood. Now is the time to lift our national policy from the quicksand of racial injustice to the solid rock of human dignity”. By reiterating that the only time is now, King pokes holes into the argument of the clergy, in an effort to make them understand the importance of now. These uses of anaphora are also examples of pathos and logos. Pathos, an appeal to emotion, is

Martin Luther King Jr. promotes allusion in many different paragraphs of Letter from Birmingham Jail, but paragraph nine seems to encompass them all. He starts by referencing Amos, the prophet, Paul, the apostle, and Jesus, the man who sacrificed himself for their sins. This is used to immediately get the attention of the white moderates and clergymen by establishing pathos and their attachment to Jesus and his disciples. Later in the paragraph, King discusses how he is satisfied at being called an extremist, because of the past figures that had been accuses as extremists as well. “Was not Martin Luther an extremist: ‘Here I stand; I cannot do otherwise, so help me God.’ And John Bunyan: ‘I will stay in jail to the end of my days before I make a butchery of my conscience.’ And Abraham Lincoln: ‘This nation cannot survive half slave and half free.’ And Thomas Jefferson: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal…’”. Martin Luther and John Bunyan are historical figures who were philosophers and religious preachers, Thomas Jefferson wrote, “All men are created equal”, and Abraham Lincoln helped in the abolishment of slavery. These men are King’s way of expressing gratitude in being considered among their ranks, even if it means he is an extremist. He even adds that he was grateful to be accused as an extremist because Jesus was an extremist for love, and that if he