Martin Luther King (MLK) was an activist and minister who argued that the war on Vietnam was wrong. In front of over 3,000 people at Riverside Church in New York, King preaches to a room full of clergy and laypeople concerned about Vietnam. His main purpose was to try to persuade the public to end the war so he could provide resources to others in need such as the poor. To persuade his listeners, King used a variety of devices to convince them to look at the war in his perspective, using language loaded with powerful statements, images to allow us to create a mental image of how the war is causing pain and anaphora for emphasize his points. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay In early 1967, Martin Luther King wrote the “Beyond Vietnam” speech to try to change the way people view the war and see how it affects everyone. In front of over 3,000 people at the New York Riverside Church, MLK stated his claims about the war on Vietnam knowing the consequences the speech could impact his life. In his speech he talks about how the war in Vietnam is affecting both the United States and the Vietnamese people. King believes that the war is wasting resources that we should be using for poor black people in the United States and if we were to remain silent, we would accept the war. He then goes on to say what we should do to stop the war in a non-violent way so that we can do better than waste resources on something so futile. King uses several ways to try to persuade his audience to see the war from his eyes. perspective, one of the strategies used by the king are images. King uses imagery throughout the essay to make readers see the horrors of war. For example, “we are on the side of the rich and secure, while creating hell for the poor.” The use of imagery in this quote is very well explained by King, he is trying to make his audience feel the pain. and pain by creating this image in their head to interact with their emotions. Another example of imagery that King uses to try to convince his readers is when he says, "Black and white boys on television screens as they kill and die together for a nation that has not been able to seat them together in the same schools" using segregation. and the Vietnam War is bringing up more emotions in people listening to the speech because it's basically saying we've already caused black pain by separating ourselves from society but now we have to send them to die? The use of imagery helps King tap into the emotions of his audience to try to convince them to change their minds about the war. Throughout the speech King uses anaphora which helps the audience understand what he is trying to convey. For example, “We must… We must… We must…” when he continues to say the words “We must” makes the audience feel like it is more of a “let's do this together” than a command. It's so effective because it's not saying everyone has to do it, but it gives them the choice to do the right thing and end the war. Another example would be "For the good... For the good... For the good" the use of this anaphora is effective because he is trying to tell us for the good of the kids, the government and the hundreds of people who tremble under our violence who must speak out and speak for those who have no voice. Kings uses these rhetorical devices to show us his emphasis on the topic, the more he emphasizes it the more he entices the audience to listen and change their minds. Although there are more than three rhetorical devices that King uses to convince his audience to change.