Rhetorical Devices In Abraham Lincoln's The Gettysburg Address

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Former 15th U.S. President and one of the best-known in American history, Abraham Lincoln in his speech, The Gettysburg Address, a speech delivered by Abraham Lincoln on November 19, 1863, at the dedication of the Soldier’s National Cemetery, a cemetery for Union soldiers killed at the Battle of Gettysburg during the great Civil War. The audience is people attending the ceremony, supporters of the union, and those who are wavering in the war. The purpose of the speech is to honor the fallen the fallen soldiers that fought in the Civil War and to emphasize equality, freedom and unity. The tone of the speech is noble, reverent, honorable, and respectful. Lincoln employed many rhetorical devices in his artistry with words, but his mature speeches are especially characterized by: antithesis, alliteration and repetition. The voice in the Gettysburg Address is not a first-person singular individual. The address is filled with first-person references, but everyone is plural. Lincoln uses the plural “we” ten times and “us” three times. The “speaker” is for Americans and Unionists, not the president. In the first paragraph of the Gettysburg address just sets a time and place to establish the set and is referenced to the …show more content…

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 here gave the last full measure of devotion - that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; that this nation shall have a new birth of freedom; and that this government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth (Lincoln).” The first line of the paragraph empowers the audience to take inspiration from the deeds of the dead and continue the struggle for

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