ipl-logo

Metaphors In The Gettysburg Address

808 Words4 Pages

On November 19, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln gave a speech that, unbeknownst to him, would become one of the most recognized speeches in the history of the United States. The empowering speech was given in the midst of the gruesome civil war that began between the north and the south over the long-conflicted morality of slavery. Through one of the most highly remembered speeches of our history, The Gettysburg Address, Lincoln commemorates the dead and wounded soldiers at the site of the battle in Gettysburg through references to history, unificating diction and metaphors of life and death to unite the nation in a time of separation and provide a direction for the future of the country. Lincoln begins his essay utilizing historical references in order to illustrate to the public the basis of what the nation was founded upon. Through this, he reminds Americans the morals and ideals that the people are willing to spill blood for. The iconic first sentence of the speech states “ Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty” (Lincoln, # ). The event Lincoln is referring to in the …show more content…

Throughout the speech, Lincoln seldom utilizes dividing diction such as “you”, “I” or “them” that implies that the people, and even the speaker, are separate from one another. Instead, he utilizes unifying terms, such as in “We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live”(Lincoln, #). Numerous times throughout this section the term “we” can be seen, which Lincoln used specifically as it is a unifying term. The term brings together the speaker and the audience as one, leaving no room for

Show More
Related
464 Words | 2 Pages

President Abraham Lincoln, in his inaugural address, addresses the topic of the civil war and its effects on the nation and argues that America could be unified once more. He supports his claim by using massive amounts of parallel structure and strong word choice. Lincoln ‘s purpose is to contemplate the effects of the civil war in order to unite the broken America once again. He adopts a very hopeful tone for his audience, the readers of the inaugural address and others interested in the topic of American history and the civil war.

Read More
611 Words | 3 Pages

Four years prior to his second Inaugural Address, President Lincoln had given a speech about war, “an impending civil war.” Now, after four years of such conflict, the President is issuing a speech of reconciliation, trying to convince his people to come back together with their Southern brethren, and try and heal the grievously wounded nation. A gifted rhetorician, the President used three primary literary tool s to make his point: parallel structure to illustrate similarities between Northerner and Southerner, allusions to the Bible to highlight the Christian values so important to both, and personification to paint the war as an evil enemy, and the nation as a wounded friend. In the second paragraph, Lincoln concludes with the parallel statements “one… would make war rather than let the nation survive… the other would accept war rather than let it parish, and the war came.”

Read More
642 Words | 3 Pages

Lincoln urges the people to “strive on to finish the work we are in,” “to bind up the nation's wounds,” he is trying to get the United Sate Citizens to become one again to unite and be one strong country, showing that even after a huge war that the country can remain strong and unified and that this war will allow for a strong brotherhood in the US. Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address is significant because Lincoln offered and objective point of view. Lincoln did not speak of the unloyalty of the South nor did he praise the North. Rather, Lincoln used multiple points to show that the Unification should be the main focus of his speech not that the states should be divided because of

Read More
605 Words | 3 Pages

It was given after the Civil War almost as a way to retsore the nation. In the speech Abraham starts off by saying “ Four score and seven years ago” which is significant because that was when the Declaration of Independence was signed and when the colonies gained their freedom fromGreat Britain. He then goes on to say that the founding fathers bulit the nation on liberty and equality for all men, but years later they are fighting to see if its true. He uses atlleration to honor the fallen soliders by saying, “The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract.” To conclude, Abraham Lincoln was a hero to many people but to others he was a man with a questionable motive.

Read More
645 Words | 3 Pages

Specifically, 1776 the year we gained our independence from Great Britain. He reminds us where we came from and how we as people joined together in the past to defeat a common enemy. Abraham Lincoln reminds us that we came from a king that showed no mercy towards us Americans. President Lincoln takes time to show honor for all of those who fought in battle and got wounded or killed. “The Gettysburg Address” is specifically made up to this point in time in our nation’s gruesome history.

Read More
272 Words | 2 Pages

In "The Gettysburg Address," Abraham Lincoln brings his point across of dedicating the cemetery at Gettysburg by using repetition, antithesis, and parallelism. Abraham Lincoln uses repetition in his speech to bring a point across and to grab the audience attention. For example, President Lincoln states, "We can not dedicate--we can not consecrate-- we can not hallow-- this ground." Abraham Lincoln is saying the Gettysburg cannot be a holy land since the ones that fought there will still be remembered, and Lincoln is assuming that the dead and brave that fought would still want Gettysburg to improve on more.

Read More
799 Words | 4 Pages

It is seen clearly in his word choice that Lincoln calls for a lasting and fair peace, but not only between the North and South. He also calls the American people to apply this concept of peace with other countries and in foreign policy. Throughout his Second Inaugural Address, President Abraham Lincoln employs a variety of rhetorical strategies to promote unity between Americans. As Lincoln once said, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.”

Read More
1263 Words | 6 Pages

To speak to both the literary and emotional sensibility at the same time, he employs these classical appeals from the beginning of the speech— first shown when he speaks to the America “conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.” By doing this, he fully engages the audience and connects to them not only as their president but as a man who too had experienced loss because of this war. By acknowledging the painful and emotional experience felt by Americans, he can effectively close on how America will survive such as he has already won the audiences’ trust through the ethos. Lincoln claims, regardless of what is said that day, that “it is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that 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 from the earth.” Full of pathos and simplistic but passionate diction, he motivates the American people to commit to a secure, safe, and unified America.

Read More
591 Words | 3 Pages

One of the most famous speeches in the history of the United States is the Gettysburg Address, delivered by Abraham Lincoln on November 19, 1863, in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The speech is directed to the American citizens and the soldiers to gain their support; Lincoln also wanted to lead the people to peace and prosperity. The main focus of the speech was to honor the soldiers that fought in the Battle of Gettysburg and to emphasize the importance of liberty. The tone of the speech is extremely hopeful in such a way that he hopes the audience will live a peaceful life.

Read More
585 Words | 3 Pages

“Four score and seven years ago our fathers...”, (464) Lincoln was asking his audience to go back and discover that the country's foundation was not the constitution nor the election of the first president, George Washington, but the signing of the Declaration of Independance in 1776 by our founding fathers was the starting point of the nation.tg The rhetorical device repetition is also used in Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. We already know that his speech is being delivered at the memorial with thousands of people in attendance. When Lincoln says, “.. of the people, by the people, for the people…” (465), we can conclude that his is referring to the people that are in attendance of listening to his momentous speech. Lincoln is telling his fellow citizens that freedom is coming and “the people” will be granted all rights of it.

Read More
821 Words | 4 Pages

President Lincoln being well known as “Honest Abe” to countless individuals and being the President of the United States surely give him the credibility of having ethos in his speech. "Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth upon this continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal."(Lincoln). This quote from President Lincoln shows another ethos approach to his speech by saying when the country was initially

Read More
286 Words | 2 Pages

In “The Gettysburg Address”,Abraham LIncoln implements alliteration, parallelism, and repetition throughout his writing to remember the men that died at Gettysburg, and to motivate the people of the United States to continue the work of the dead, and to give the dead meaning. In his speech, Abraham Lincoln utilizes alliteration, in his first sentence, “Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth”, he uses the same sound in “Four score”, “fathers”, and “forth”, he does this to reinforce the meaning, it unifies his ideas, and helps him introduce the topic he is going to talk about. He talks about what the country was founded on, which is equality.

Read More
454 Words | 2 Pages

Gettysburg Speech In 2000 at Gettysburg, Coach Herman Boone presented his football team with a heartwarming, pathos speech about a historical war event to cause his players to fathom the importance of acting as a team. Coach Boone’s Gettysburg speech was a mesmeric allusion to President Lincoln’s famous dedication, and provoked a comparison between one of the hardest fought battles of the civil war and the need for teamwork. His morning practice speech is meant to inspire by arousing images, to appeal to their emotions, on the consecrated field of one of the most difficult times in American History. “Anybody know what this place is?”

Read More
492 Words | 2 Pages

The first is his opening statement “Fellow Countrymen”. Lincoln is initially stating that he is as much a part of the working class as any other man. That he is speaking to friends rather than “his people”. When the President says he sees the common people as equals it draws a lot of attention and gives off a good feeling to anyone listening. Another is his constant praise of the Union.

Read More
502 Words | 3 Pages

Lincoln makes a reference to our founding fathers at the start of his speech to remind his audience of how our nation started. Giving a description of the origin of our country depicts the purpose of America's existence. A place that was once united against one cause has become a place that is divided and against each other. Lincoln also states, "that all men are created equal" in the same area he mentions the founding fathers to position his opinion on

Read More

More about Metaphors In The Gettysburg Address

Open Document