Study and Discussion. 1. Speak on the extra-linguistic features of the text: the author’s personality, his views, and the years when the speech was delivered

1. Speak on the extra-linguistic features of the text: the author’s personality, his views, and the years when the speech was delivered.

2. The speech “I Have a Dream” was originally called “Normalcy, Never Again.” Explain your understanding of this title. Which of the titles do you consider more suitable and why?

3. Comment on the general tone of the speech. What means help creating this tone?

4. Why would the speech have made the crowd feel that their journey to Washington had been worthwhile?

5. In what ways does King show that his message is intended for people of all races?

6. “I Have a Dream” appeals to such iconic and widely respected sources as the Bible and invokes the United States Declaration of Independence, the Emancipation Proclamation, and the United States Constitution. Early in his speech King alludes to Abraham Lincoln‘s Gettysburg Address by saying “Five score years ago...” For what purpose does King mention these documents?

7. Explain the analogy that King develops between justice and a bank in the first part of his speech: identify the “funds” of the bank of justice, the bank’s “depositors”, and its “promissory note”. How has the bank “defaulted” on that note, according to King? Why is the bank not “bankrupt”?

8. Give examples of King’s mentioning nature. What impression does it make on the audience?

9. “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee” is an American patriotic song. Explain your understanding of King’s words this will be the day when all of God’s children will be able to sing with a new meaning.

10. Describe the effect of the final words of King’s speech. Explain the irony in the fact that these words, quoted from a song, are engraved on King’s tombstone.