Literary Devices In The Gettysburg Address

The Gettysburg Address by Abraham Lincoln signaled the ending of the Battle of Gettysburg and the American Civil War. The Gettysburg Address has dedicated to our nation the freedom that all men are equal. The brave soldiers who have risked their lives so that our new nation could be conceived in liberty will forever be remembered.
Abraham Lincoln used literary devices like alliteration, repetition, and personification to produce a special effect in his speech. He stated his speech off with an allusion. “Four score and seven years ago” (Lincoln 1). Lincoln refers to the American Revolution using an allusion to date 1776, the year the Declaration of Independence was signed. The Declaration of Independence was to remind Americans of what they were fighting for, which is freedom. Lincoln also used a commonly used concept in his speech to make it

“These dead shall not have died in vain-that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom-and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish on earth” (Lincoln 19). Lincoln uses repetition to emphasize how the new type of freedom is for the people of the United States. When writers use repetition like this it is called the rule of three. The rule of three allows you to express concepts or ideas in threes to make it more momentous and captivating towards audience. The rule of three is a widely known technique used in many speeches. The famous saying “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness” from the Declaration of Independence is an example of the rule of three. Many people have used the rule of three in speeches to emphasize their points and spark emotion inside of their audiences. Another literary device Lincoln used was personification, to created a more memorable speech. “That these dead shall not have