Transcript 幻灯片 1

The sound recording
Background
Script
Political Importance
Abraham Lincoln
analyses
Extra Information
From July 1–3, 1863, more than 160,000
American soldiers clashed in the Battle of
Gettysburg , in what would prove to be a
turning point of the Civil War. The battle also
had a major impact on the town of Gettysburg,
Pennsylvania, which numbered only 2,400
inhabitants. The battlefield contained the
bodies of more than 7,500 dead soldiers and
several thousand horses of the Army of the
Potomac and the Confederacy’s Army of
Northern Virginia, and the stench of rotting
bodies in the humid July air was overpowering.
Initially, the town planned to buy land for a
cemetery and then ask the families of the dead to
pay for their burial. However, David Wills, a
wealthy 32-year-old attorney, objected to this idea
and wrote to the Governor of Pennsylvania,
suggesting instead a National Cemetery to be
funded by the states.
President Lincoln was invited to participate in
the ceremony and there he delivered his famous
speech
-------The Gettysburg Address
Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865)
was the 16th President of the United States, serving from
March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He
successfully led his country through its greatest internal
crisis, the American Civil War, preserving the Union and
ending slavery. Before his election in 1860 as the first
Republican president, Lincoln had been a country lawyer, an
Illinois state legislator, a member of the United States House
of Representatives, and twice an unsuccessful candidate for
election to the U.S. Senate. As an outspoken opponent of
the expansion of slavery in the United States,[1][2] Lincoln
won the
Republican Party nomination in 1860
and was elected president later that year.
Six days after the largescale surrender of
Confederate forces under
General Robert E. Lee,
Lincoln became the first
American president to be
assassinated.
He is still regarded as
one of the best presidents in
the US history and a
presentative of freedom and
equality. He contributed a lot
to the rapid development of
America.
By August 1863, the casualty lists
from Civil War battles included a
quarter of a million names. As a result,
anti-war and anti-Lincoln sentiments
grew in the North. Peace Democrats
known as Copperheads were eager to
oust Lincoln in the 1864 election in
order to end the war through
concessions to the Confederacy, and
Lincoln's 1863 drafts were highly
unpopular. Hatred for Lincoln's draft
climaxed just ten days after the Battle
of Gettysburg with the New York Draft
Riots. In September 1863, Governor
Curtin warned Lincoln that political
sentiments were turning against the
war effort.
The following year the Presidential election
would be held, and Lincoln was quite
concerned that the Copperheads might
prevail. Well into the summer of 1864,
Lincoln remained convinced that the
opposition would oust him. In the fall of 1863,
one of Lincoln's principal concerns was to
sustain the Union's spirits toward the war
effort. That goal was the chief aim of
Lincoln's Address at Gettysburg.
Analysis
Four score and seven years
ago
This is a biblical reference
analogous to “three score year
and ten” which was the "allotted
span" of a human life.
This nation has outlived the
life of one human, but is still
young...at the end of the speech
we will see the rebirth, or
regeneration of the country.
our fathers brought forth on this continent
a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and
dedicated to the proposition that all man
are created equal.
the preceding metaphors depict the founding
of the nation in terms of a birth, with the framers
of the constitution the fathers, and liberty the
mother. This implies that the nation is
alive...and a child, still growing and learning,
and in need of protection. Thus, the further
implication is that the secession of the southern
states is tantamount to child murder!
we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we
cannot hallow this ground.
Here, the religious
terminology is fitting for
the occasion, which is
indeed a
dedication/consecration;
but it also identifies the
deaths as a sacrifice
(note the same root as
sacred!) given to ensure
the safety of the
nation/child.
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.
It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the
great task remaining before us
Also note the repetition with reversal
above, the second phrase gaining strength
from repetition and also from association of
incremental proportions: (first) with
unfinished work, (second) from great task
-that from these honored dead we take
increased devotion to that cause for which
they gave the last full measure of devotion
Make a comparison by
using “we take” and
“they gave“ to show the
great sacrifice and
services the soldiers
had rendered. Thus
stimulating people to
fight bravely.
that government of the people, by the
people, for the people shall not perish
from the earth.
Parallel Sentence is used to
create a powerful effect. The use
of the three prepositions (of, by,
for) is not only brief, but also
precise to state the concept of an
ideal government.
This sentence also becomes
a classical one and famous
worldwide.
Comment
This speech has been called ‘‘ the treasure in
the history of speech”, which renowned for its
concise, precise and forceful. In no more than 300
words, Lincoln wrote an excellent speech which
contains the four steps in the composition of an
essay: opening, developing, changing and
concluding.
Sincere emotion and the
stimulating words made this
speech to be a brief and
encoring epic poem, which
will be remembered by
generations.