Ms. Hobbs

“The Gettysburg Address”
Interdisciplinary Lesson
Ms. Hobbs—English

What does Lincoln achieve in the structure (introduction, body, and conclusion) of the speech? Do you detect an archetype in the structure?

Can you find examples of the following rhetorical devices? Look at all the repetition and parallelism! What is the impact of these devices on the audience?

	Alliteration: repetition of beginning sounds of words
	Anaphora: repetition of beginning words or phrases
	Epiphora: repetition of last words or phrases
	Tricolon: three clauses or groups of words in parallel series
	Tetracolon: four groups of parallel words
	Polyptoton: two or more variants from the same root word in the same sentence (e.g. leaf, leaves)
	Antithesis: the balance of two opposites in a two part parallelism
	Chiasmus: the crossing pattern of repeating words in reverse order
	Klimax: going from lesser to greater
	Diminutio: going from greater to lesser
	Metaphor: a trope that makes a comparison between two things which are basically dissimilar

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought

forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in

liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men

```
are created equal.  
```

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether

that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated

can long endure.  We are met on a great battlefield of

that war.  We have come to dedicate a portion of that

field as a final resting-place for those who here gave

their lives that that nation might live.  It is altogether

fitting and proper that we should do this.

But in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot

consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground.  The brave

men, living and dead who struggled here have consecrated

it far above our poor power to add or detract.  The world

will little note nor long remember what we say here, but

it can never forget what they did here.  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.

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 gave

the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly

resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that

this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom,

and that government of the people, by the people, for the

people shall not perish from the earth.

	Alliteration: repetition of beginning sounds of words
	Anaphora: repetition of beginning words or phrases
	Epiphora: repetition of last words or phrases
	Tricolon: three clauses or groups of words in parallel series
	Tetracolon: four groups of parallel words
	Polyptoton: two or more variants from the same root word in the same sentence (e.g. leaf, leaves)
	Antithesis: the balance of two opposites in a two part parallelism
	Chiasmus: the crossing pattern of repeating words in reverse order
	Klimax: going from lesser to greater
	Diminutio: going from greater to lesser
	Metaphor: a trope that makes a comparison between two things which are basically dissimilar

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought

forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in

liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men

```
are created equal.  
```

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether

that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated

can long endure.  We are met on a great battlefield of

that war.  We have come to dedicate a portion of that

field as a final resting-place for those who here gave

their lives that that nation might live.  It is altogether

fitting and proper that we should do this.

But in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot

consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground.  The brave

men, living and dead who struggled here have consecrated

it far above our poor power to add or detract.  The world

will little note nor long remember what we say here, but

it can never forget what they did here.  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.

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 gave

the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly

resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that

this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom,

and that government of the people, by the people, for the

people shall not perish from the earth.

Example of chiasmus:

It is for us, the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work

It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining

Underline the elements repeated, inverted, or changed.

Draw arrows between related words.

What are the effects created by these patterns? The anaphora? Chiasmus? Antithesis?

Questions

What is the tone of the speech? Is this speech in the vernacular or in elevated language? What is the effect of the diction?

What emotion does this speech stir within you? How does the speech evoke this feeling? Does the inclusive language (“we”) affect your response?

What is the effect of the brevity of the speech? What is the effect of mentioning so few particulars?

In nature writing we are studying how Native Americans felt that sacred spirit creates and inhabits all of nature, including human beings. How can a place drenched with the blood of war, such as the battlefield at Gettysburg, be consecrated?

Writing Response

Employ at least three of the rhetorical devices Lincoln used in an original remembrance of no more than 267 words in honor of any historical figure, known or unknown.

Example #1 | Example #2 | Example #3 | Example #4 | Example #5

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