Lincoln's Gettysburg Address
Stylistic Language of Gettysburg Address
Lincoln’s Gettysburg address has a great rhetorical significance partly achieved by its style. Some stylistic devices used in the speech are persuasive definitions; clarity, rhythm, and vividness of the language; and a combination of various elements within the speech. In this essay, I will elaborate the use of these aspects and how they affect Gettysburg address when the speech is read aloud, read silently, and read in paraphrased version.
Persuasive definitions play a critical role in shaping Gettysburg address. They are used to define the nation, the war, and the goal for the future. In defining the nation, the speech used the sentence “conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal” to lead audience to think that a nation is supposed to operate in the way Lincoln described, To define the war, the speech …show more content…
These choices include clarity, rhythm, and vividness.
Gettysburg address achieved clarity though concrete words, lack of jargon, and active voice. Although the language style of the speech is different from the way today’s public speakers speak, concrete words and lack of technical terms make the speech accessible for audience in general. In the meantime, with “We are met on a great battlefield of that war” as the only passive voice, the use of active voice throughout the whole speech make it even easier to understand. Together, these aspects build a speech with decent clarity.
To build rhythm, the speech used parallel wording and antithesis. As an example of parallel wording, Lincoln spoke, “we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground”. Along with parallel wording, the speech also used antithesis as its source of rhythm in “The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did
Lincoln’s Gettysburg address has a great rhetorical significance partly achieved by its style. Some stylistic devices used in the speech are persuasive definitions; clarity, rhythm, and vividness of the language; and a combination of various elements within the speech. In this essay, I will elaborate the use of these aspects and how they affect Gettysburg address when the speech is read aloud, read silently, and read in paraphrased version.
Persuasive definitions play a critical role in shaping Gettysburg address. They are used to define the nation, the war, and the goal for the future. In defining the nation, the speech used the sentence “conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal” to lead audience to think that a nation is supposed to operate in the way Lincoln described, To define the war, the speech …show more content…
These choices include clarity, rhythm, and vividness.
Gettysburg address achieved clarity though concrete words, lack of jargon, and active voice. Although the language style of the speech is different from the way today’s public speakers speak, concrete words and lack of technical terms make the speech accessible for audience in general. In the meantime, with “We are met on a great battlefield of that war” as the only passive voice, the use of active voice throughout the whole speech make it even easier to understand. Together, these aspects build a speech with decent clarity.
To build rhythm, the speech used parallel wording and antithesis. As an example of parallel wording, Lincoln spoke, “we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground”. Along with parallel wording, the speech also used antithesis as its source of rhythm in “The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did