Robert F. Kennedy's Eulogy for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
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English with a size of 2.43 KB.
Background
Robert F. Kennedy was the younger brother of John F. Kennedy, who served as president from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. As Attorney General, Robert Kennedy was a strong supporter of the civil rights movement. In April 1968, while running his own campaign for president, he gave this eulogy on the evening of King's assassination. Just two months later, Robert Kennedy was himself killed by an assassin's bullet.
Standard Focus: Analyze Rhetorical Devices
Rhetorical devices are techniques that allow writers to communicate ideas more effectively. Rhetorical devices are commonly used in speeches because they help keep an audience's attention. By analyzing rhetorical devices, you can gain insight into what makes a speech powerful or memorable.
Repetition
Repetition is the use of a word, phrase, or sentence more than once for emphasis.
Parallelism
Parallelism is the use of similar grammatical constructions to express related ideas.
Repetition To say a prayer-line 38 To say a prayer-line 40 We will have difficult times-line 43 We will have difficult times-line 44 What we need in the United States-line 32 What we need in the United States-line 32 What we need in the United States-line 33 What kind of nation we are-line 8 What direction we want to move in-line 9 | Parallelism With bitterness- line 12 With hatred- line 12 Amongst black-line 14 Amongst white- line 15 In this difficult day- line 7 In this difficult time- line 7 It is not the end of violence-line 45 It is not the end of lawlessness- line 45 It is not the end of disorder- line 46 |
A eulogy for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
On April 4, 1968, hundreds of African Americans gathered for what they thought would be an exciting political event. Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy was coming to speak to them. Before he was to deliver his speech, however, Kennedy was informed that Martin Luther King Jr. had been assassinated earlier that day. He nevertheless went to the rally, where he found the people upbeat in anticipation of his appearance. Realizing that they were unaware of the tragic event, he began his speech with the following words.