Pathos In Inspirational Poetry

Martin Luther King Jr. uses pathos and parallelism frequently throughout “Letters from Birmingham Jail,” to persuade the clergyman to support his actions in the civil rights movement. One example of King’s use of pathos appeals to the audience’s emotions by showing King’s confidence in his endeavors. “I have no fear about the outcome of our struggle in Birmingham; even if our motives are presently misunderstood... Abused and scorned through we may be, our destiny is tied with the destiny of America.” (Page 9)

On April 3rd 1968 Former civil rights leader Martin Luther King jr. employs the appeal of ethos, pathos and logos effectively in his speech “I’ve been to the mountaintop”. to persuade the people to stand up for equality. Martin Luther king jr. use of pathos strengthens his ability to make an emotional connection with the audience because they must have went through the similar experience. “Thirteen Hundred of God’s children are suffering, sometimes are going hungry,going through dark and dreary nights”.

The Tale of Knowing Your Licked Before You Begin but Beginning Anyway Editorial by Suzan Sinjari Literature is living a thousand lives and a literature fair is living a thousand more. In a literature fair, you see the work of others your exploring the inside of their mind not yours. The work of a period 2 and 4 grade 10 English class was used in a literature fair where it changed the way the students saw the themes in books in the view of their class mates. While exploring a literature, fair I saw the work of a student named Lyric Eden Davis. Her work was on courage.

It’s a war on words, Martin Luther king’s speech I have a dream compared to Malcolm X speech on the chickens come home to roost. Martin Luther king would reach out to his audience through the means of his optimism and emotion within his dream of equality for all men and women between races. Malcom X speech would reach his audience using a firm tone with a sense of realism being radical in his beliefs as he was in his solutions. During the time through the nineteen fifties and sixties where inequality was the issue with the black and white races two men worked towards making and impact in the united states. Both wanted to fix the segregation issues though both their means to do so where very different.

Martin Luther King Jr. effectively crafted his counter-argument by first directly addressing his audience, the clergymen, and then using pathos, ethos, and logos to refute his opponent’s statements and present his own perspective. After stating the general purpose of his letter, King specifically addressed the clergymen to set up for his logical counterargument. King effectively makes use of pathos, or to appeal to the emotions of his audiences, throughout his letter. when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim; when you have seen hate filled policemen curse, kick and even kill your black brothers and sisters; when you see the vast majority of your twenty million brothers smothering in an airtight cage of poverty in the midst of an affluent society; when you suddenly find your tongue twisted and your speech stammering as you seek to explain to your six year old daughter why she can’t go to the public amusement park that has just been advertised on television, and see tears welling up in her eyes when she is told that Funtown is closed to colored children, and see ominous clouds of inferiority beginning to form in her little mental sky, and see her beginning to distort her personality by developing an unconscious bitterness toward white people; when you have to concoct an answer for a five-year-old son who is asking: “Daddy, why do white people treat colored people so mean? ”

During the late 1960’s, Birmingham was the most segregated city in the United States. Riddled with high racial tension throughout the city, it gained its name of “Bombingham.” This was due to the fact that there were 60 unsolved bombings. With the city of Birmingham in ruins Martin Luther king was quoted in his Letter from Birmingham Jail, “I cannot sit idly by in Atlanta and not be concerned about what happens in Birmingham.” Martin Luther king used the misfortune in birmingham in order bring out reform and revamp the civil rights movement.

Everyone faces some sort of personal strife throughout their life whether it is small or big is all that varies. It is because of this hardship that writers and philosophers across the centuries have theorized what is the best way to deal with adversity. Two late Victorian writers, William Ernest Henley and Rudyard Kipling, add their own philosophies to the mix through their poems. Henley argues in his poem “Invictus” that no matter what happens, a person must always remember that they are the master of their own fate and they must always stand tall. In contrast, Kipling in his poem “If” maintains that to face adversity a man must find the middle ground in everything he does.

Poetry can be used as a completely separate language on how someone can express him or herself, voice their opinions on issues, as well as create something a person can enjoy reading and writing. What makes poetry unique is that it takes ideas and puts them into simple language that the reader can understand and relate to through emotion and imagery. On the other hand, poetry in its form can also be a puzzle in how to interpret what the poem has to say or what the meaning behind or the subject of the poem. The construction, as well as the heart and soul that goes into the creation process of the poem, is what drives the poems to be as unique as the poet intends them to be. Two examples of this are Terrence Hayes and Harryette Mullen who are

Joseph Campbell, a famous mythologist and writer, was quoted during an interview by Moyers & Company saying, “A hero properly is someone who has given his life to something bigger than himself”(Joseph Campbell). Campbell’s quote describes why heroes throughout history were given their title. In ancient times, Beowulf was a hero because he fought for fame and glory, whereas Tim O’Brien was a hero because he fought for his country. In modern times, Jim Withers is considered to be a hero because of his healthcare work with the homeless. Each of these heroes devoted their lives to a different cause, and in turn made them heroes of their time.

Modern poetry is in open form and free verse. It is pessimistic in tone, portraying loss in faith and psychological struggle which is quite different from the fixed forms and meters of traditional poetry. Secondly, modern poetry is fragmented in nature, containing juxtaposition, inter-textuality and allusion. It has no proper beginning, middle or end. Thirdly, modern poetry is predominantly intellectual in its appeal, rather than emotive.