Gettysburg Address Questions

1. Lincoln's Gettysburg Address is incredibly brief, he does not waste time beating around the bush, but rather, he is very straight forward. However, at the time of his speech, people probably expected him to say more. He hardly talked about the battle itself or about much of the actual war and such. Instead he explained the importance of the battles going on and what we were fighting about. He felt the need to address this and place emphasis on it in hopes that his words might effect people.

2. The final sentence of the speech is a long run-on sentence. However, in this case, a run-on sentence is completely appropriate. In fact, in most speeches, run-on sentences can be a nice tool to help the tension build up until an eventual climax is hit. This technique has a huge impact on the reader in many ways. One thing it does is get the reader "pumped up". It also puts more emphasis on this sentence and makes it sound more important so it catches the reader's attention.

3. The Declaration of Independence and The Gettysburg Address, though very different, have some similarities. Both pieces were written, to some degree, to inspire people, and Lincoln even refers to the Declaration, however, that is where the similarities end. It ends there because their overall purposes differ from each other. The Declaration was written in order to share with the rest of the world why America was seeking Independence from England, while Lincoln's Address was written to make Americans stop and think and realize what they were fighting for. These two pieces were written in different ways which is reflected by their difference in purposes. The Gettysburg Address was written on a train ride on the back of a napkin. It was a spur of the moment kind of thing and it was his thoughts at that moment. Therefore it probably had more passionate words behind it in comparison to the Declaration which was clearly thought through in order to not be a simple act of passion. Since the king was going to read it it was imperative that it did not come across as a simple childish act of rebellion spurred by emotion.

4. The Gettysburg is not like any speech I have heard. When I think of speeches I think of long drawn out dramatic readings. Also, most of the speeches I am used to have a lot of information and background information about the information and a ridiculous amount of unnecessary detail. Therefore, I greatly admire Lincoln's speech because it was short and to the point, however, it still had all the effect and all the importance that a longer speech by other people would have. He was very concise and specific in his word choice. More power to him for making less mean more.