SYNTAX--Parallel Structure--or Parallelism

From: Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer By Roy Peter Clark

Guiding principle 1: Order words for emphasis

Guiding question 1: What difference does order make?

When you write, keep in mind what readers do – they pay the most attention to openers and closers. So, put your information in those critical spots. Know your purpose for writing and you can control the reader’s experience more effectively.

Guiding principle 2: Use parallel structure -- matching verbs

Guiding question 2: How can we recognize and use parallel structure?

Activity: Read this excerpt from Martin Luther King, Jr.’s famous speech. As you read, you will see samples of strategic placement and samples of parallel structure. See how many more you can find. Then - read the questions at the end that loop back to Fences.

Listen to the speech here:

 

 

"Hear it ring" -- "Let Freedom Ring"  occur at 2:03

1. Circle the key words and examine their placement. Look at and mark repetition and imagery. (Mark each repeated word separately – i.e. box all instances of “dream” and mark other words in some other way.)

2. Circle verbs and examine how and where they match; look for parallel phrases

“I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

“I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.’

“I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners* will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood. [*Reading note: What is the effect of these phrases being in parallel form here?]

“I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

“I have a dream today.

“I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

“I have a dream today.

“I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

“This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

“This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring."

“And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!

“Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!

“Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California!

“But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!

“Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!

“Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

“And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, ‘Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!’”

After marking the speech, make sure you can answer the following questions:

• What is the effect of his diction and the placement of his words on his themes?  

• Where are most of the subjects and verbs?

• Underline the verbs – list 5-6 verbs? How are they connected with his theme?

• How does the choice of subject connect with the verb and what is the effect?

Rewind to Fences → did you notice the use of “Let freedom ring?” -- does that remind you of what you hear in the last scene of the play? Troy’s song about Blue - sang as a duet by Cory and Raynell -- seems to echo the song King alludes to. Now that Gabriel opens the gates to Heaven for Troy, perhaps Troy truly has freedom.

NEXT: Lesson 4 Language Study