lost their lives there in the service of the country. And he uses the word to call for continued dedication to finish the war so that the dead will not have died in vain.

And lastly, Lincoln used tricolon, three parallel verbs in succession, with "dedicate, consecrate, and hallow" to pay tribute to the men whose final resting place will be the battlefield where nearly 3,200 men died.

Lincoln begins his famous speech by using archaic language. He doesn't say "Eighty-seven years ago," but "Four score and seven years ago," using the kind of construction you'd expect to find in the Bible. This is a deliberate rhetorical strategy on Lincoln's part. By using archaic language right at the outset of his speech, he's putting down a marker for his audience, letting them know that the rest of his remarks will be serious and solemn. This will be no ordinary speech; it will utilize elevated language, just like the Bible.

Just after this, Lincoln uses a metaphor, which is where a word or phrase is applied to an object to which it isn't literally applicable. He speaks of the founding fathers as having conceived a new nation in liberty. This is a biological metaphor which applies the act of giving birth to the business of founding a nation.

Lincoln repeats the metaphor later on in the Address when he talks of a "new birth of freedom." This provides a structural unity to the speech by balancing the first use of the birthing metaphor right at the beginning. Just as the founding fathers gave birth to the United States of America, so the present generation of Americans should strive to rebuild a shattered nation by committing themselves to a new birth of freedom.

Repetition:

Lincoln repeats certain key words for emphasis.  "We have come to dedicate a portion of that field. . ." "But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate. . ." "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."

Read the speech for repetition of words "consecrate," and "devotion."

Parallel structure:

Parallelism has to do with sentence structure.  It is the use of the same grammatical form in a series of two or more ideas to call attention to those ideas, to create a balance in the sentence, and to create a pleasing rhythm to the sound of the sentences.

For example:

"and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

In this case, the repeated grammatical element in the series of three phrases is a prepositional phrase because each phrase begins with a preposition, "of," "by," and "for" followed by the object of the preposition "the people". Certainly the effect would have been different had he said "and that a democracy shall not perish form the earth."

Take a look at parallelism here:

"The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here."

There is a nice balance in this two part sentence with almost identical two pieces "what we say here" and "what they did here." This is parallel structure because the same exact word order is repeated in a series of two ideas, and thanks to doing that, Lincoln establishes the desired effect--to contrast words with actions, and to also leave the most important idea for the end of the sentence, thus leaving a more lasting impression on the audience.

There are some powerful rhetorical speaking devices that Lincoln uses in his speech.  One such device is the use of repetition that is employed to punctuate the purpose of the end of clauses or sentences. This can be seen in his  concluding thought to the address:  "that government of the people, by the people, and for the people shall not perish from the Earth."  The repetition of preposition followed by "the people" punctuates the end of the sentence with the repeating of the components or a democratic republic.  Another tool employed in the speech is the use of antithesis, where one idea is contrasted with its opposite force in the same sentence or clause.  In bringing out its contrast, the antithesis illuminates the purpose or meaning of the thesis.  This is seen in the phrase, "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 her to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus so far nobly advanced."  Contrasting the meaning of the actions of the soldiers to the lightness of words brings to light the notion of sacrifice.  It also creates the image of motivating those who survive to commit themselves to a goal of those who sacrificed their lives.  In using the antithesis of death as survival, Lincoln is able to create focus and purpose within the hearts and minds of those who stood in support of the Union and its soldiers.

One key rhetorical device used throughout Lincoln's speech is the repetition of the collective pronoun "we." For example, "We are met on a great battle-field" and "We have come for those who here gave their lives." Altogether, the word "we" is used ten times in the speech. This has the effect of encouraging the audience to see themselves as one powerful, collective unit, working together, fighting for the same cause, and strengthening because of their unity.

Another rhetorical feature of the speech is the accumulation of successive subordinate clauses. Take, for example, the lines with which Lincoln concludes the speech:

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.

In this quotation there are a succession of subordinate clauses, and the effect is the sense that the speech is building climactically to some sort of dramatic, energizing crescendo.

A third rhetorical feature of the speech is the semantic field of language connoting heroism and virtue. Lincoln talks about "brave men" who fought "nobly," about the "honored dead," and of "devotion." These words appeal to the patriotic fervor of the crowd and to their sense of duty and morality.

Lincoln begins the speech with an allusion.  The speech was given in 1863, and so when Lincoln begins "fourscore and seven years ago," he is indirectly referring to 1776, the year America declared its independence. Lincoln does this because one of the central issues of the Civil War was the reunification of the country, and he wanted to remind his audience of the work our forefathers did to create the nation that was now divided.

Lincoln chooses diction that elevates the reunification of the country to a sacred undertaking when he uses words like "dedicate," "consecrate," and "hallow."  He is not only dedicating a military cemetery on this day; he is arguing that to end the war before reunification would dishonor the men who had given their lives.

Lincoln also uses repetition of key words to emphasize the importance of the reunification of the United States.  The word "nation" is used five times in this very short address.  Lincoln does this to remind his listeners that we are a nation, not a Union and a Confederacy.  Lincoln also uses the pronoun "we" ten times to underscore that the country needs to be united. 

Of the many devices used by Lincoln in his address, there are some strong examples that stick out in my mind.  I would say that his use of repetition in "of the people, by the people, and for the people" is quite a deliberate use of repeating the term of "the people."  It helps to create the reminder in the listener that Lincoln's honoring of those who gave "the ultimate sacrifice" did so for us, "the people" of whom our government derives.  It was very clever of him to conclude his speech on this note of repetition.  Additionally, I think another powerful rhetorical device was employing the use of opposites.  Lincoln helps contrast the dead soldiers, ones who gave their lives, to the listener who is amongst the living.  In the process, Lincoln helps to create a sense of scope within the listener who follows his lead by contrasting the reality of the dead with that of the living.  This compels the listener/ reader to be galvanized into action, accepting the premises Lincoln has offered.  The use of contrast and opposing visions helps to allow the reader to better understand Lincoln's scope and goals.

The most obvious rhetorical device in this short speech is the anaphora that Lincoln uses at the start of the last paragraph.  He says "we cannot dedicate—we cannot consecrate—we cannot hallow."  When you use the same word or words at the start of a bunch of consecutive clauses, that's anaphora.

In this case, Lincoln is using this device to emphasize that the people gathered there were not the important ones.  He was drawing attention to the sacrifices made by the soldiers.

Later on in that paragraph, Lincoln tries to make the same poin when he uses antithesis.  This is where a speaker contrasts ideas by putting them close together.  He says, for example,

The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.

Abraham Lincoln was one of the great orators in the history of American politics. When writing the Gettysburg Address, Lincoln utilized a number of literary devices to draw the attention of his audiences.  Hopefully, this will get you moving in the right direction:

"Fourscore 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."

The opening statement is an example of the use of allusion.  Allusions are references to things from the past, whether they be famous people, literary works, or events.  In this case, it is a reference to the Declaration of Independence and the Revolution.  The phrase ".and that government of the people, by the people, for the people" could also be an allusion to the United States Constitutions which states "We the People."  That statement is also an example of repetition.  

 "We are met on a great battlefield of that war."

Imagery is used to illicit mental pictures from the audience and often appeals to the senses.  This short sentence is very powerful in that it conjures up images of bravery and valor in battle.  It would have an even more dramatic response as it was being delivered on a battlefield where many soldiers perished.

"we cannot dedicate—we cannot consecrate—we cannot hallow."

Anaphora is the deliberate use of repetition in order to make speech or text more interesting or artistic. This was an interesting transition to the part of the speech that speaks of the ultimate sacrifice paid to protect liberty.

"The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here."

This is an example of antithesis, in which two opposing ideas are joined to achieve a contrasting effect.  Lincoln uses this sentence to describe how insignificant he is to history when compared to the soldiers that died in the Civil War.  

"that this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom"

This is an example of allegory in that it compares an abstract idea like "freedom," to the more concrete notion of being born.  In this case, he discusses the rebirth of the United States should the Union win the United States.  

Lincoln had the ability, shown especially in the Gettysburg Address and the Second Inaugural Address, to imbue his words with a gravity unique in American political speechmaking. Much of his phraseology is influenced by the King James version of the Bible, which he often quotes directly. But even in the simplest statements, his wording is striking and unique, and this is a major reason his words are rhetorically so alive and vibrant. We can start with:

Four score and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth on this continent . . .

He uses the elevated expression "four score and seven" instead of simply saying "Eighty-seven" or "In 1776 . . ." Then he says "our fathers" rather than "our forefathers" or (as we do today) "the founding fathers." The unilateral, metaphorical use of the word "father" conveys an intimacy and weight to the idea, to our conception of the founders, which would otherwise be absent. In saying "brought forth" rather than "founded," and in adding "on this continent," we get an impression of grandiosity. All of this sets up the main message to follow by appealing to the emotions of Americans and their sense of the greatness of their history, brief though it was at the time.

The other significant thing about the first sentence, though it might escape us at first, is that he refers to America as "a nation." In its original (and still most precise) sense, a "nation" is really an ethnicity, a people unified by ancestry rather than simply by living in the same geographic area, country, or political entity. In other words, Lincoln sees all Americans, whatever their background or ethnic origin, as having formed a new nation or nationality. And this, he says, is one "conceived in liberty." Again, there is a weightiness in the choice of those words. The cumulative effect of each of these elements in the single, opening sentence is to make the auditor immediately willing to be persuaded by whatever should follow.

We can find similar techniques line by line through the address, which is so eloquent that one almost wishes Lincoln could have extended it further; it seems almost too brief. But brevity—the concise way he puts forth his basic idea—is another element of his rhetorical technique. We do not need to analyze sentence by sentence, but we can move forward to the famous closing and see that there is paradoxically both brevity and the effectiveness of repetition in the phrases "of the people, by the people, for people" and that even the simple choice to omit the word "and" before the final phrase adds gravity to the whole statement. In the final clause, Lincoln states that these things "shall not perish from the earth." The conception is, of course, of America as a living thing, "conceived" as he stated in the opening and not permitted to "perish." It is a being tied to the "earth." The word choice suggests the atmosphere of legend, perhaps even of the personification of Earth as Mother in Greco-Roman mythology.

Some would say I am pointing out elements of style that were typical of the nineteenth century as a whole, in which all writing, not only Lincoln's, tends to sound nobler and more elevated than our present-day, plainer, and more scaled-down language. This is partly true. But if we compare the Gettysburg Address with even other writings of Lincoln or other statesmen of his time, we can see that there is something special, an extra gravity, in this address. It is a movingly emotional and convincing edifice of words which Lincoln would equal one more time, a year and a half later, in his Second Inaugural—delivered just over a month before he was to be assassinated.

One of the rhetorical devices used in Lincoln's Gettysburg Address is the repetition of important words in order to get a deeper message across to the listeners. Some words that are repeated throughout the address are: dedicate, consecrate, and conceived. The word dedicate can be used to separate a place or idea of significance to become something sacred and more than just ordinary. "Dedicate" can also mean that a person recommits himself/herself to an idea. By using this word repetitively, Lincoln can impress upon the minds of his listeners the importance of both meanings of the word. Consider the dual meanings of the other words that are repeated in the speech, and analyze how they are used in each sentence structure, and a clearer meaning of any implied ideas can be understood in greater depth. It is rhetorically sound to make the audience work a little for meaning in order for the message to embed more deeply into their minds. Another device that should be looked into is the use of negatives like "cannot."