Response To Lincoln's Gettysburg Address

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In 1863, Abraham Lincoln made a historical speech at the military cemetery in Gettysburg. It was the time of the Civil War and many soldiers had died while fighting in the battlefield, and there were the issues of slavery and the union of American Nation. In such a hard time, Lincoln made an influential speech for the public.
In terms of the style Lincoln used in his address, David Zarefsky mentions the Lincoln’s speech as:
“Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg address is often cited as an example of a plain speech that is remembered far better than the highly stylistic two-hour address delivered on the same day by Edward Everett. The mistake is to think that Lincoln’s speech was pure, distilled content while Everett’s had a great deal of added style. …show more content…
When the first sentence is analyzed, It can easily be seen the importance of the usage of language and word preferences; “Fourscore and seven years ago”(instead of “In 1776”), and “our fathers”(instead of “our ancestors”). The former example of phrase made the entrance of speech more charismatic and extraordinary, and the letter one made feel people more closer to their nation. In the Gettysburg address, Lincoln’s solemn and dignified way of refocusing on the historical times and struggles they were facing brought the value of independence and unity at the forefront of people’s attention. However, his dispassionate and poetic style may have made his speech irrelevant to the common men in terms of the hardships in that period and tension which was rouse among the …show more content…
It is more simple, repetitive, informal and reflexive than written style. When It is read out loud, making intonations make the speech more meaningful and understandable. Also, It was not written in the light of the rules of written style. He emphasizes on the deaths of the soldiers, the nation’s importance, and the idea of “what we must do” several times. As I mentioned above he uses some words repetitively. Also, in a written piece, a pronoun like “we” should be limited . These makes the speech quite far away from the written style. Effectiveness of the speech be released when it is read out loud, because there are so many rhythmic, and vivid elements in the speech. Therefore, The Gettysburg address is a successful example for an oral style. Also, The paraphrased version of the speech would be a good example for the speech’s written style
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