The public letter as a rhetorical form: Structure, logic, and style in king's “letter from Birmingham jail”
- 1 April 1979
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Taylor & Francis in Quarterly Journal of Speech
- Vol. 65 (2) , 121-136
- https://doi.org/10.1080/00335637909383465
Abstract
The “Letter” is a superb instance of effective rhetoric. King adopted a debater's stance and used his refutative logic to address two audiences simultaneously: his limited clerical audience as opponents and a broader public audience as observers. The “Letter” is adapted to the audiences on structural, logical, and stylistic levels.Keywords
This publication has 1 reference indexed in Scilit:
- The Writer's Audience is Always a FictionPMLA/Publications of the Modern Language Association of America, 1975