Look at the Gettysburg Address:1
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 battle-field 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 can not dedicate – we can not consecrate – we can not hallow – this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here have hallowed 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 rather 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.
Abraham Lincoln
November 19, 1863
Who is the speaker? (Lincoln.) To whom was he speaking? (The American people generally, those in attendance specifically.) What was the purpose of his message? (To persuade the Union to keep fighting.) What was the context? (To dedicate the battlefield as a cemetery, at a turning point in the Civil War, as the general population was becoming more impatient with the duration of the war.) And lastly, what was the message? This is the part where we think about the observed, concrete patterns and what abstract conclusions those patterns lead us to.
We’ll talk more about the different appeals of rhetoric, as well as the rhetorical tools used, but right now, using the T-chart, what are some observations you can make about the concrete aspects of this speech?
| What do you see? (concrete) | What does it mean? (abstract) |
|---|---|
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Examples of what you see might include the following:
What do these things mean? This is the part that I think is often the hardest for students. They want there to be a right or wrong answer, when really, if you can support your assertion, that is what matters. Maybe you believe that the repetition of the word nation illustrates a focus on his desire to keep the nation united? Perhaps the contrast of life and death is done to really focus the audience’s attention on the purpose for the loss of life.
Working the other direction, you might come away from reading this speech feeling solemn or inspired. Go back and find concrete details (words, phrases, organization) that make you feel this way. The use of the now classic phrase “Four score and seven years ago . . .” feels much more formal than “87 years ago” and gives the speech a more formal tone.
You will have lots of opportunities throughout this course to practice analysis. You will be analyzing paintings, pictures, cartoons, poems, literary excerpts, and lyrics. Your ability to come to conclusions about what the author is trying to communicate and accomplish, and to articulate those conclusions, will strengthen as you practice. Your capacity to more critically (not in a bad way, just in a thoughtful way) observe the world will increase as a result. You will see patterns in people’s behavior and actions, in advertisements, in the news and other media, and will be better prepared to make assertions about what is being communicated beyond the concrete details.
1.“The Gettysburg Address by Abraham Lincoln.” Bliss copy. Abraham Lincoln Online,
2. Alexander Gardner, ”Abraham Lincoln half length seated, April 10, 1865.” Photograph, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. Wikimedia Commons.