ipl-logo

Rhetorical Devices In The Gettysburg Address

756 Words4 Pages

“What a cruel thing is war: to separate and destroy families and friends, and mar the purest joys and happiness God has granted us in this world; to fill our hearts with hatred instead of love for our neighbors, and to devastate the fair face of this beautiful world” (Lee qtd. by Glum). The U.S. Civil War was not a proud moment in our history. This quote by General Robert E. Lee presents how war discloses the ugly sides of all parties involved. One of the ugliest events in the Civil War that even turned brothers against each other was the Battle of Gettysburg; being the “bloodiest battle of the Civil War”, Gettysburg “left nearly 52,000 men killed, wounded or missing in action”. (Civil War Trust fact 7) If anyone or anything was going to help to stop this devastation, it was going to be the president at the time, Abraham Lincoln. What better way to do it than to write one of the most influential speeches of all time, “The Gettysburg Address”. Lincoln creates three main goals in his speech: to unite, to teach, and to give goals. He achieves these goals by using patriotic language, diction, and syntax. One of Lincoln’s main points in his speech is to unite both opposing sides of the nation to make a better country that was originally intended to be one of freedom and equality for everyone but didn’t work out …show more content…

He makes very specific word choices and phrases like using “conceived in liberty”, “dedicated”, and “proposition” (Lincoln Abraham Lincoln Online). He uses these words as very powerful and much more deeply meant than what someone would first think. He also uses “consecrate” and “final resting place” to illustrate how this site of the battle wasn’t going to be remembered as where he made his speech, “nor remember what we say here”, but as where so many men lost there lives for something that they believed in (Lincoln Abraham Lincoln

Show More
Related
165 Words | 1 Pages

In the speech “Gettysburg Address,” Abraham Lincoln uses repetition to make an emotional appeal to the audience. He underscore to the people to maintain the nation in freedom and to preserve the soldiers who died at the war to fought for independence. For instance, Lincoln said, “We are met on a great battle-field of that war.” and “...we can not dedicate--we can not consecrate--we can not hallow--this ground.” In his speech he repeated the words “we” and “we can not” multiple times.

Read More
630 Words | 3 Pages

The Civil War rid the United States of peace and solidarity. Abraham Lincoln, in his Second Inaugural Address, expands on the country’s war motives and fight to restore the values that it stands for. With his usage of syntax, diction, and religious allusion, Lincoln seeks to mend the divided nation. President Lincoln’s careful use of inclusive words and phrases strengthen the feeling of unity throughout his address. The word choice highlights his attempts to remain impartial concerning his views on the war.

Read More
218 Words | 1 Pages

In the Gettysburg Address delievered by Abraham Lincoln he shows a strcit tone of how the Civil War was a lesson especially the Battle of Gettysburg showing them how they will remember the fight and they will live on. He uses repetition and anthesis. Lincoln used repetition to get his message from the speech implimited into the audience head. Such as repeating "...of the people, by the people, for the people... " This repetition stresses the point on how a new birth of freedom and government will all be decided by the people and only the people.

Read More
1093 Words | 5 Pages

President Abraham Lincoln observed this, while the Union stood by waiting for his next move. The amount of lives spent on the war was not worth the temporary glory. No longer was the matter of restoring the Union strived for. Instead, transforming the United States of America into what it ought to be meant so much more to the people. The war represented freedom, while its aftermath represented growth.

Read More
1297 Words | 6 Pages

In a war of this kind, the effectiveness of political leadership, the ability to mobilize economic resources, and a society’s willingness to keep up the fight despite setbacks are as crucial to the outcome as success or failure on individual battlefields” (Foner 521). This summary of the war shows that conflict was the only factor in the Civil War. the north and south would not agree on anything, and it created a major upset. Brothers would fight against brothers, houses would be divided, and America was at a sense of loss. If it wasn’t for the brave efforts of Abraham Lincoln and the Union, the

Read More
834 Words | 4 Pages

Gettysburg was the battlefield that had the largest number of casualties in which Lincoln wanted to dedicate as a “final resting place” to all the fallen soldiers. In his speech, Lincoln explained why the Civil War was necessary and that the country was made so that all men were created equal. This, however, is not how the country was being governed and it must change. Lincoln expressed that the soldiers should be given great honor for all they have fought. He continues to say that the real dedication is to the people who still remain.

Read More
623 Words | 3 Pages

He starts off by saying,”Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth, on this continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.(Transcript of Cornell University).” Lincoln reminds everyone of the importance of the battle and what it stands for. Being the president it is important to have a clear viewpoint of the nation you are the leader of. This builds trust from the citizens and they want to hear what you have to say. It never hurts to mention the forefathers that the citizens already respect and agree with their ideas.

Read More
1992 Words | 8 Pages

Some of these include phrases such as “great battle field”/”great civil war”, “so dedicated”/”come to dedicate”, “we cannot”, “we are”, and “to be dedicated”/”to be here dedicated”. The use of the repeated phrases “great battle field”/”great civil war” and “so dedicated”/”come to dedicate” are used for political purposes. The phrases beginning with “we cannot” is Lincoln’s way of starting with the negative first in order to get the audience to agree with him when he brought in the positive phrase “we can”. And finally, “to be dedicated”/”to be here dedicated” is a repetition similar to the first, however this time he uses the phrases of dedication to reiterate his

Read More
645 Words | 3 Pages

The Great Speech Abraham Lincoln on November 19, 1863 delivered one of the most iconic speeches in American History. His delivery infuses us with such raw power and emotions that poured out from the bottom of his heart will change the hearts and minds of Americans for ages to come. Abraham Lincoln did not just write one speech he made five different copies with different sentence structure and paragraph structure, to show how important the layout of the message and how it needed to be simple and to the point. Dissecting “The Gettysburg Address” we begin to understand Abraham Lincoln’s heart lies, he reminds everyone about our past and that we should honor those who fought for our freedom; he tells us “All men are created equal” only to show us what we need to work on as people in the present, he spreads hope for the future and encourages us to grow together

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
562 Words | 3 Pages

He appeals to the audiences emotions in this speech by paying homage for the soldiers in the civil war, implying “that from these honored dead we take increased devotion … that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain” (Lincoln, 1863). Lincoln does this to emphasize the greatness of these soldiers, dying so that everyone can be equal, ending slavery and uniting the country. By saying this, it hit the audiences emotionally, making them feel mournful and sympathy towards the soldiers, especially those who had a family member fighting in that war. Moving to the last sentence in the last paragraph, Lincoln’s tone changes from a mournful tone to a more enthusiastic and hopeful tone suggesting, “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.” (Lincoln, 1863).

Read More
498 Words | 2 Pages

Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address is one of the most practical yet inspiring speeches in the history of the United States. As Morrison points out in his article, Lincoln’s refusal to encapsulate the somber tragedies of Gettysburg in his speech is an effective method that fairly portrays just how indescribable the gruesome events of Gettysburg were. Furthermore, Wills argues that Lincoln's subtle and simple words are powerful enough to describe the situation at Gettysburg as a proof of the winning ideology. Essentially, Lincoln calculates his words tactfully to express that the ideological fight of the war is more important than the wars military importance. But as Kaplan points out, Lincoln’s address also serves as a monologue of advice and unity for the public to swallow during a period of gruesome

Read More
149 Words | 1 Pages

The “Gettysburg Address”, written by Abraham Lincoln, was a speech delivered at the dedication of the cemetery at Gettysburg. Lincoln is communicating with the people to pay a tribute to the dead soldiers while trying to bring the people and country together and to brighten their futures. Lincoln uses a hopeful, yet serious tone to accomplish this. Lincoln uses strong diction and syntax, along with other rhetorical strategies to convey his message. Lincoln’s serious diction urges the reader to take action.

Read More
502 Words | 3 Pages

Abraham Lincoln in the speech, The Gettysburg Address, constructs a point of achieving a "just and lasting peace" between the North and South without retribution. Lincoln supports his assertion by justifying his beliefs of unity between the states. Lincoln's purpose is to influence the people to not allow what has been done to go to waste. He wants his audience to realize that this division will only persist if no one settles the current issues in society. Lincoln speaks in a sympathizing, determined tone to address the Americans who are mourning the loss of their loved ones and to the rest of Americans who he wants to see a change from.

Read More
808 Words | 4 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.

Read More

More about Rhetorical Devices In The Gettysburg Address

Open Document