Poulakos and MLK Response

Poulakos has undertaken an interesting task in attempting to formulate a Sophist's definition of rhetoric where one has not previously existed considering he can only rely on fragments. Still, he is effective in his attempt to draw ideological parallels between the Sophists he mentions. The key points are an interest in the crafted quality of rhetoric, the insistence that it's purpose is linked to realizing the potential form the actual, and a sense of proper timing for effective rhetoric. King adheres to much of what Poulakos attributes to the Sophists. There is clearly an aesthetically pleasing quality to the way he writes, and though the religious flavor of his speech is due largely to his being a preacher, it is also an acknowledgement of the specific group he is trying to sway. King's stated goal is to take the potential and transform it into the actual and to rouse people from the numbness of the present in order for them to see what lies on the horizon. The idea of rhetoric only being used when a situation has made it necessary is easily satisfied in the circumstances that led to the composition of Dr. King's letter. Urgency abounds. King even uses the proverbial rhetorical question of what is the world's actual state as Gorgias and Thrasymachus also did. The necessity of King's speech being written and, as the note mentions, revised is the only major point in which there seems to be break between the Sophist's ideas and King's use. Though it is a necessity, the Sophist's ideal of rhetoric being a temporally opportune act would seem to be violated by the act of writing, though and argument could be made for how the civil rights movement constituted an extended moment in time.