Rhetorical Techniques Used In Abraham Lincoln's 'Gettysburg Address'

Although many remember him as the President who ended slavery and preserved the Union, Abraham Lincoln was also a very gifted political prose writer. Lincoln wrote many powerful and memorable speeches, but arguably his most famous speech is the 272-word “Gettysburg Address,” which he delivered at a dedication ceremony for the first national cemetery at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Throughout the entire speech, Lincoln masterfully utilizes several rhetorical techniques, especially the use of repetition. He repeats two separate patterns of grammar in his address. For example, to start his third paragraph Lincoln writes, “But in a larger sense, we can not dedicate—we can not consecrate—we can not hallow—this ground,” and to finish that same paragraph,