Gettysburg Address Rhetorical Devices

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A hundred and fifty four years ago, we heard a powerful speech by one of the greatest persons, and very well known throughout history; Abraham Lincoln, the sixteenth president of the united states wrote The Gettysburg Address,to familiarize us with the idea that a new nation had been born, and that it was our legacy to follow the path of the ones that came before us. To do this, throughout his speech, Lincoln uses several rhetorical devices like allusion and parallel structure. His tone of reverence and humbleness gives him a good posture where he stands. Overall, this supports his idea of “..a new nation, conceived in Liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.” In the beginning of his essay, Lincoln says, “Four score and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth on this continent…” With this small clause, he has already established a connection with two things- His …show more content…

If I am not wrong, this was caused because of a some friction between the northern and southern states over people’s rights. This is where the comparison, or acknowledgement of the fourth of July really does its job because it is relating on how back then people had already gone through war to give liberty to all -meaning equality. “We have come to dedicate a portion of that field [‘battlefield of war’] as a final resting place for those who here face their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. [and]... that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain…” Lincoln clearly wants unison of the people, and so he is saying that these men fought for something, and that that something shouldn’t just be thrown away in some fight, therefore instead they should work together to achieve that, on what “our fathers” really tried to

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