I have always found it to be the most mesmerizing speech I’ve ever read. You can find analysis of it easy enough, but it surprises me that the analysis misses some obvious things – Lincoln’s love of groups of 3 as a rhetorical device and his transforming use of visceral Christian imagery and theology in support of his goals.
The 3’s have always jumped out at me, since they give a consistent rhythm both to his ideas and his speech. They are what give the speech it’s musical, poetic quality. It’s also the structure which he hangs all of his ideas from. I’ve emphasized them in the following breakdown since they have always felt so fundamental to me.
When it was quoted above, I was reminded of how I have always diagrammed/understood the Address in my own head. This is my own take on it, and is a rough portrayal of how I understand it’s ebb and flow, and it’s meanings.
1st paragraph summary: Our history.
Our fathers:
1)brought forth a new nation
2)concieved in libery
3)dedicated to equality
2nd paragraph summary: Why we have come here.
We are:
1)engaged in a civil war
2)met on a battlefield of that war
3)come to dedicate a part of that battlefield.
“It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.”
(Not only echoes Pericles, but also echoes a well known line from Protestant liturgy of the day, “It is truly right, meet, and salutory that we do this. Causes what follows to become more of an intercessory prayer than a speech)
3rd paragraph summary: We are unworthy of the task we have come to do, but we have now been sanctified by the blood which has been shed for us. We must therefore dedicate ourselves to the cause of those who willingly gave up their lives for us.
1) we can not dedicate
2) we can not consecrate
3) we can not hallow
(true sanctification of this ground is something we have not the power to do, because we are not worthy)
The brave men
1) living and dead,
2) who struggled here,
3 have consecrated it.
(true sanctification only comes from blood that was shed voluntarily)
(note that this includes those on both sides of the battle)
The world will
1) little note us
2) nor long remember us
3) but will never forget them
(We are not worthy of memory, but those who shed their blood have earned eternal devotion through their sacrifice.)
“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.”
(We are not here to dedicate this ground, rather we are here to BE Dedicated BY this ground and the Blood which was shed upon it)
“It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us”
(Our salvation will only come through our personal dedication to the cause of those who willingly shed their own blood for us)
“for which they gave the last full measure of devotion”
(No greater Love hath a man, than he lay his life down for his friends)
Climax: We here Highly Resolve that:
1) These dead shall not die in vain
2) This Nation, under God, shall have a new birth of Freedom
3) That Government
……….1) of the people
……….2) by the people
……….3) for the people
shall not perish from the Earth.
(The Government, the People, the Secular,the Religious, even Life and Death itself are all mystically fused in a glorious summation)
I don’t know of a Pope that has ever given a speech that is both this eloquent and yet so theologically powerful. Of course, he is twisting the theology into something new,to meet his own ends. But you don’t have to agree with what he’s done here to recognize both the beautiful artistry and the sheer power of his rhetoric – and with so few words!!!
His soldiers didn’t call him “Father Abraham” for nothing.
