Rhetorical Analysis Of The Gettysburg Address

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Contexts: Abraham Lincoln was President of the United States during the American Civil War that began in 1861. He gave his address during the Battle of Gettysburg in November 1863. In 1968, Robert Kennedy wanted to be President of the USA. He was on the campaign trail when he was informed that the Civil Rights leader MLK, Jr had been shot and killed. Kennedy gave his speech during the Civil Rights protests in April 1968. Purpose and Audience: The purpose of Lincoln’s eulogy was to dedicate a new cemetery at Gettysburg, in memory of the 23,049 Union soldiers who had died on the battlefield. He wanted to persuade his audience of his other goal - which was to win the war and abolish slavery - to ensure the freedom of all people. Lincoln …show more content…

He spoke to the crowd as if he were one of them. He didn’t patronise them. The use of language forms and features: At the beginning of his address Lincoln used the words: “Four score and seven years ago our fathers…” to create a solemn tone. By using biblical phrasing, he knew his audience would be familiar with and comforted by this style of language. He used parallelism by repeating words in the first and second paragraphs: ‘we are engaged…’, ‘we are met…’, ‘we have come’, this technique creates a persuasive rhythm and flow. Kennedy used the three rhetorical appeals: Ethos or ethical appeal, Pathos or emotional appeal, and Logos or logical appeal, to persuade the people to support his ideas. Kennedy used allusion to touch his audience, when he quoted the ancient Greek poet Aeschylus: ‘Even in our sleep, pain which cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart…’ to help soothe his listeners. Kennedy’s was calm, he showed no anger in the delivery of his speech. Even though Lincoln’s two-minute speech and Kennedy’s five-minute speech were short in length, their words of compassion, insight and wisdom are continuing to resonate with people around the world

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