In the previous section, you heard an actor read some of Abraham Lincoln’s most famous parallel structures (borrowed from the Declaration of Independence): “government of the people, by the people, and for the people.” In this section, you will examine Lincoln’s purposeful use of parallel structure throughout the entire Gettysburg Address. Lincoln delivered the speech at the dedication of the Soldiers’ National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, four and a half months after the Union’s defeat of Confederate forces there.
Click on the link “Gettysburg Address (parallelism).” On this website, you will be able to see some of (but not all) the various patterns of parallelism within the Gettysburg Address. The address has also been reproduced for you in the box below. When you click on the link, a brief message will appear first. Once you have read the instructions, click “OK,” and then scroll down to the bottom of the screen to click on the slide show icon.
Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address
(Gettysburg, PA, November 19, 1863)
Source: Abraham Lincoln head on shoulders photo portrait, Alexander Gardner, Wikimedia
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 cannot dedicate—we cannot consecrate—we cannot hallow—this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated 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 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.
Lincoln carefully crafted this brief (approximately two-minute) speech. What do some of his parallel constructions outlined above accomplish? Each question below presents one of those constructions. Choose the answer that describes the purpose of each parallel construction.
In writing and revising your own essays, try to include purposeful parallel structure just as Abraham Lincoln did in what is considered one of the greatest speeches in American history. Also, don’t forget the rules you have learned for proper parallelism, reviewed below.
The following are hints for “super” parallelism adapted from the University of Nevada at Las Vegas online writing center:
- Remember to repeat necessary lead-in or function words (often prepositions). The example below is awkward and incorrect because Superman did not appear on comic books or on movies. He appeared in the pages of comic books and in movies.
- Follow the advice above unless the lead-in is the same for all the items in your list, as the example below illustrates.
- Pay attention to where your list begins. In the example above, the list began with lift.
- Therefore, the remaining items in the example list must be verbs. Knowing where your lead-in (to) ends and your list begins (lift) will help you maintain parallel structure.
Superman has appeared on television, comic books, and movies.
A revision of the sentence reads as follows:
Superman has appeared on television, in comic books, and in movies.
Superman’s powers allowed him to lift a car over his head, run at amazing speeds, and leap one-eighth of a mile.
Source: Superman, jcsizmadi, Flickr
It is not necessary to repeat to in this sentence because the same lead-in word works with all three phrases (to lift, to run, and to leap)