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Title: An Analysis of Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address

The Gettysburg Address is the most iconic speech in the history of the US by Abraham Lincoln. It was conveyed at the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery in Gettysburg during the American Civil War on Thursday, November 19, 1863. This speech holds a high significance in American history due to many reasons. Instead of showing the rage against the Confederacy, Lincoln emphasized the goal of American independence. The main idea spins around dedicating oneself to democracy, and the notion of ideal America declared in the Declaration of Independence. It powerfully and undeniably redefined American Democracy declaring America as a united nation. It is impossible to think otherwise after reading the speech. Besides that, it took place at Gettysburg, that place now holds immense importance in the American history and in the US, it added special meaning to that terrible war and a number of soldiers sacrificed for the nation making it a turning point of the Civil War. The Gettysburg Address is a short, beautifully written, alliterative, and quietly powerful speech that delivers its a message of unity by effective rhetorical usage of repetition, and parallelism, and juxtaposition.

The speech was not very long, unlike the usual prudential speeches; it hardly comprised ten sentences and lasted few minutes, but the mode of delivery with the employment of rhetorical techniques was an example of excellent communication ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"vQyxEojw","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(LINCOLN)","plainCitation":"(LINCOLN)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":1580,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/orkqtrjP/items/Y3XAFYQ3"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/orkqtrjP/items/Y3XAFYQ3"],"itemData":{"id":1580,"type":"webpage","title":"November 19, 1863: Gettysburg Address","container-title":"Miller Center","URL":"https://millercenter.org/the-presidency/presidential-speeches/november-19-1863-gettysburg-address","title-short":"November 19, 1863","language":"en","author":[{"family":"LINCOLN","given":"ABRAHAM"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2016",10,20]]},"accessed":{"date-parts":[["2019",11,20]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (LINCOLN). The speech emphasized the significance of retaining democracy while fighting a civil war, a situation in recent history when other democracies had smashed. The idea that we could go on as a democratic nation (someone threatened by Lincoln as to the Supreme Court, etc.) when the north was separated by hostile sections. In just a few minutes, Lincoln summarized an unprecedented war and gave it a strong moral foundation. Besides, he put across the reasons Union had to be preserved. While doing this, he managed to evoke mental images and strong emotions in beautiful language, and it was a feat to which few poets can aspire. Very rarely has a single-speed encompassed practical politics, morality, and poetry in such an impressive bundle. Quite simply, it articulated with poetic vigor the reasons for fighting the Civil War. To live up to our creed that all men are created equal, and that a democracy cannot survive if the minority can leave because they disagree with the majority.

The Gettysburg Address served as the tribute to the fallen Union soldiers by Lincoln at the Battle of Gettysburg. In less than 300 words, he utilized the Aristotelian appeals combined with the venerating tone. In addition to Aristotelian appeals, syntactical proficiency has been used during the Gettysburg Address. First of all, he uses the appeal of logic and solidity of arguments when he begins using the biblical reference to refer to the event of independence in 1776, “Four score and seven years ago.” He put forth on the most significant beliefs of audience, the Bible and Declaration of independence, followed by an affirmation that “all men are created equal”. In this way, he is building trust in the audience that if they trust those two documents, they ought to trust his words as well, since he is also the believer and devotee of those documents. Moreover, he sets the direction that his speech ahead will be in accordance with the right political direction set by these worthy documents.

The next line also makes a strong argument by making some historical illusions to manifest his realization of the sacrifices of Union soldiers’. Furthermore, to pay tribute to the land, he said, “It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.” In addition, he keeps on praising and venerating the dead in this saying, explicitly stating that their sacrifices will always reminisce and whatever they have done in order to save America from collapsing. By affirming that “the world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here," he is able to commemorate those soldiers as the protectors of the land and rights of equality of mankind. He describes them as “brave” and “honored” men with the aim to convince them to continue their efforts, and those deceased were admirable who died in pursuit of a worthy goal. Moreover, he continues to use the technique of sound logic to pay tribute to the martyrs that fallen soldiers gave their lives to preserve the US, "gave their lives that the nation might live." Through these words, he was able to convince the audience that the demise of these soldiers is abhorrent for the entire nation

His manipulation of logos effectively serves to indicate the degree for the departed soldiers. “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 sentence transfers the burden of fulfilling the dream of fallen soldiers to the audience. This sentence is also an example of the effective use of pathos, inciting the audience towards action.

Moreover, he has used the rhetorical appeal of parallelism in his speech, harboring his aim, "But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate—we cannot consecrate—we cannot hallow—this ground." He declared that neither he nor anybody else has the ability to sanctify the land, but only the soldiers striving on the battlefield can do it. The repetition of this phrase also adequately reinforces the meaning and ability of soldiers to canonize the land. The tremendous example of parallelism is also found at the end of speech. The special message about how soldiers died preserving American fortitude and democracy, was aimed at building new hopes among audience. In this way he guaranteed that their efforts will have a reward in the form of a nation, fallen soldiers dreamt of having. He exploits the sacrifices of martyred to prompt the rest of the soldiers into supporting the war effort. He used the words "nobly," “dedicated,” and "devotion" to symbolize the admiration he has for the fallen soldiers and for those fighting for America’s unity. Furthermore, he chooses to use a very simple outline, past, present, and future, regarded as one of the best approaches to utilizing the content.

It deserves to be said that it's not just what Lincoln said; it's how beautiful it sounded. Lincoln's writing often sounded as much like poetry as it did like prose. There's a rhythm in it, it flows. It's not just the ideas in the speech; it's how they sound. Alliteration is a writing device - it's a repetition of sounds that gives the writing the 'feel' of poetry. “Fourscore and seven years ago our forefathers brought forth," that's four fs. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting place for those - three more 'f's. And there are more - the repetition of a pleasing sound - the letter f is a soft sound and as it repeats over and over again - the speech falls softly, poetically, on the ear. “We cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow." Again, there's pleasing repetition there

The beautiful rhythm of the Gettysburg Address in its last paragraph as he gave is beautiful in its sounds as well as its point. In the last eleven lines, "that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth," Lincoln provided the greatest metric of government yet devised. A government must be presentative and proportional in its treatment of all of the citizens, even those at loggerheads; all must receive proportional benefits. The second government must be of the people that are not just a ruling class; there must be a real opportunity for all citizens to participate in the government. And third, it must provide essential service to the people. By making such a statement, Lincoln assures soldieries that the government is very well aware of their sacrifices, their rights, and their own accountabilities in this regard. So they can put their trust in government

In a nutshell, his speech is one of the excellent examples of effective rhetoric, according to the context of speech. That does not mean that there have been other speeches like it. US Presidents did not begin to offer up short speeches after it. Its impact on literature is not particularly strong, but - Martin Luther King used it as a partial model for his great I Have A Dream speech, and in that way, the Gettysburg Address was influential. He was successful in attaining his objective of remembering the deceased and calling his audience towards an action-driven from the powerful appeals of logos ethos, pathos. Throughout the speech, he keeps on esteeming martyred with an aim to provoke soldiers to attain this valuable status they are enjoying; and will continue to enjoy. His accomplishment or purpose can be dedicated to his choice of words and tone. In addition, his masterful use of employing historical allusions and making other effective choices in the diction.

Works Cited

ADDIN ZOTERO_BIBL {"uncited":[],"omitted":[],"custom":[]} CSL_BIBLIOGRAPHY LINCOLN, ABRAHAM. “November 19, 1863: Gettysburg Address.” Miller Center, 20 Oct. 2016, https://millercenter.org/the-presidency/presidential-speeches/november-19-1863-gettysburg-address.