Inspirational

Saying that Martin Luther King, Jr. was inspirational is like saying that water is wet.

Dr. King himself was inspired by his "Dream" for a better America, by his religious vision for a new world, and by the many thousands of supporters who were ordinary people coming out for an extraordinary cause. He was, after all, a preacher, and preachers are largely measured by their ability to inspire. "Letter from Birmingham Jail" isn't just a criticism of complacent moderates. It's a call to action addressed to everybody who can hear the message.

For more than two centuries our forebears labored in this country without wages; they made cotton king; they built the homes of their masters while suffering gross injustice and shameful humiliation -and yet out of a bottomless vitality they continued to thrive and develop. If the inexpressible cruelties of slavery could not stop us, the opposition we now face will surely fail. We will win our freedom because the sacred heritage of our nation and the eternal will of God are embodied in our echoing demands. (34)

If there's anything more inspirational than rising out of slavery to claim freedom while backed by the "sacred heritage of our nation and the eternal will of God," we'd love to hear about it. This is the kind of line that would have gotten his congregation out of the pews yelling, "Preach!"

Incisive

"Incisive" means clear-thinking, accurate, or penetrating to the core of the issue. This was Dr. King's job, and he was good at it. He dismantled the arguments of the people yelling for "law and order," the people calling for "patience," and the people accusing the activists of being "extremists" with ease. As Dr. King points out, all of these arguments ignored the whole cause of the problems in the first place:

Actually, we who engage in nonviolent direct action are not the creators of tension. We merely bring to the surface the hidden tension that is already alive. We bring it out in the open, where it can be seen and dealt with. (20)

In one sentence, Dr. King succinctly rebuts the pretty flimsy argument that the protestors were causing trouble. In three sentences, he dismantles it.

Poetic

Finally, the poetry of Dr. King's writing and speaking almost goes without saying. If we were going to quote for you all the poetic language in the text, we'd be quoting the whole text. So, let's just pick something:

Where were their voices when the lips of Governor Barnett dripped with words of interposition and nullification? Where were they when Governor Wallace gave a clarion call for defiance and hatred? Where were their voices of support when bruised and weary Negro men and women decided to rise from the dark dungeons of complacency to the bright hills of creative protest? (30)

Unless they're eating a super melty ice cream cone, it's never good when someone's lips are dripping. The biggest associations are probably drool and blood. Dr. King has Governor Barnett's lips drip with "interposition and nullification," which is likely the most poetic treatment those two words will ever get.

There's also that strong rhyme between "lips" and "dripped" and the alliterative metaphor of "dark dungeons of complacency." And then there's the rhythm. Try reading that first sentence out loud to hear and feel it. Saying "nullification" has never been so satisfying.