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Lincoln's Speech Rhetorical Devices

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President Lincoln’s renowned, powerful speech is effective in empowering an audience through the use of pathos, parallelism, and expressive diction to emphasize his hopes of victory and peace in war made possible by the people’s choice in continuing to fight, while also wishing that the public view the souls lost in battle as heroes. In the beginning of his robust speech, Lincoln states the fact that “all men are created equal”. This helps build a connection between all of the audience, because it shows them that there is no lesser person among them, and that Lincoln and the government want that to be true. Also, Lincoln’s constant use of the word “we”, in reference to his nation helps the citizens who are listening to feel like a welcomed …show more content…

During the end of the first paragraph, the use of the alliteration, “our poor power” emphasizes the act of the soldiers dedication to fighting for their country. This is also an appeal to the soldiers themselves, who may be among the audience. When Lincoln uses antithesis towards the end of the middle paragraph, saying, “The world will little note, or long remember what we say here; while it can never forget what they did here”, he is strengthening the public’s view on their nation's actions. It gives the war a purpose, as well as showing that the losses were not for nothing. In the final paragraph of his speech, Lincoln uses many words with positive connotation, such as honor, birth, and freedom in order to instill hope into the citizens of the United States. The continued use of the words “we”, and “us”, as used throughout the speech keep the steady flow of ambitions to carry on as a group awaiting their survival. The tone used when Lincoln states, “that we here highly resolve these dead shall not have died in vain” fuels the audience to continue their fight with power, in order to one day resume normal life, even better than

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