Abraham Lincoln, the president of the United States, believes the rightly famous Gettysburg Address at the dedication of the Soldiers National Cemetery at the battle site in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania in 1863. Abraham Lincoln develops a persuasive tone to his audience, the Americans, throughout the speech in order to unite the nation and fight for a new birth of freedom by using syntax. Lincoln’s usage of syntax begins with long cumulative sentences, shift to parallel structure and finally finishes with punctuation. First, Lincoln utilizes long cumulative sentences to display America is a country of Liberty. He declares,”...on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated...all men are created equal” to imply that “fathers”
He did not use complex words to confuse them, he used small words in a further attempt to relate to the audience. He incorporates pathos in his speech through phrases like, “rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced”. This reminds the audience of the sacrifice of the soldiers and evokes compassion for the men. Using phrases like, “great task” and “brave men, living and dead” also establishes pathos because it adds passion and emotion to Lincoln’s words.
Abraham Lincoln wrote “The Gettysburg Address” to remind the audience that they’re fighting the war to unite the nation and give equality to everyone. He uses rhetorical appeals to develop and support his purpose. Throughout his speech, he uses ethos by alluding to the Declaration of Independence, an example being in the first paragraph when he states, “all men are created equal”. By using ethos, he establishes that he is credible by referencing a trusted document that supports his purpose of equality. Another way he develops his purpose is by using logos when he claims that it’s “fitting and proper” that they should dedicate part of the battlefield to the people who died fighting (2).
Fighting for equality was a relevant theme in early America; however, fighting was only half the struggle, once you won what happened next was up to the leaders of the new system. In Abraham Lincoln’s speech “ The Second Inaugural Address”, America is nearing the end of the civil war and Lincoln explains what should happen next as their victory approaches. Through the use of rhetorical strategies such as diction, allusion, and syntax the audience connects to Lincoln and his statements while understanding the great capability of America. Throughout Lincolns Speech he often times alludes to references the general population knows about so they can connect to him and his statements while receiving a greater knowledge of his purpose.
In "The Gettysburg Address," Abraham Lincoln masterfully employs several rhetorical devices to argue for a continued war to preserve the Union and ensure that the sacrifices made at Gettysburg were not in vain. One of the devices he uses is parallelism. Lincoln emphasizes the importance of continuing the fight for the Union and completing the work that has been started by those who have sacrificed their lives by stating "It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced." This repetition of the phrase "for us the living" highlights the significance of the Union and the sacrifices made to preserve it.
What makes a speech effective? Using rhetoric, a person can appeal to others emotion and logic to persuade a person into doing a desired action. They can encourage a person into success or they can discourage a person into wanting to prove others wrong. The two speeches that will be discussed in this paper will be from Remember the Titans Gettysburg Speech and Glory Road Final game speech. The Gettysburg speech was made in the middle of movie.
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
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.
The Gettysburg Address was intended to be an argument to persuade. Abraham Lincoln was inspiring his troops because morale was low after the Battle of Gettysburg. They need motivation to keep fighting. Lincoln used logos by explaining that because people gave their lives defending what they believed in, the living should finish the job the dead started. By talking about the fellow soldiers who died at Gettysburg, Lincoln appeals to the pathos of his listeners.
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
Gettysburg Address Rhetorical Devices In Lincoln’s “Gettysburg Address” he is speaking to the very emotional nation after many people had just died during the Civil War, he needed to speak to nation to remind them that the sacrifices made by those in the Civil War will not be forgotten and that they must continue with what the war was fought for. He first starts off by referring to how the nation was started then continues to discuss the losses that have occurred from the Civil War and why they should move on while still remembering what the war was fought for. His strong use of rhetorical devices emphasises the goals they must aim for and reassures the nation that they are together in reconstruction by referring to events from the war to
Referring to such a defining moment in history were just one of the reasons why President Lincoln’s speech was so successful. The Gettysburg Address, one of the shortest, most quoted, and successful speeches in U.S. history was all due to the way President Lincoln was able to use ethos, logos, and pathos while presenting his speech to the audience at the Soldiers’ National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Firstly, of the three modes of persuasion President Lincoln used his first was ethos. Ethos, are used to convince the audience with the author’s reliability or ethics.
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.
Rhetorically analyzing the speech, Lincoln uses many literary tactics to engage the audience in taking action in restoring America's unity. He utilizes shifts, comparisons, and repetition to create a speech that connects with the
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.