THE LEGAL WRITER A Study of Style Language at Gettysburg By Suzanne E. Rowe loves words, and I’ve found a lot to love in these. iStock The Address I n seventh grade, I memorized the Get- tysburg Address to recite in a social studies class, for reasons that I can- not remember. For the past few months, I’ve been reciting the Gettysburg Address daily, for reasons that barely warrant ex- planation in a footnote. 1 I’ve found that, like the art professor who spent three hours with one familiar painting and discovered nuances she’d never considered, 2 repeating Abraham Lincoln’s words daily has revealed subtle uses of language that I missed back in sev- enth grade. Its poetry, repetition, word choice, parallelism and brevity make the address a striking speech and a model of good writing. Before I share what I’ve gleaned, let’s be clear on what I haven’t done: I haven’t reviewed the countless Ph.D. disserta- tions on the Gettysburg Address, and I haven’t read it through a lens of erudite literary criticism. I’m just a lawyer who Because the address is so short, it’s easy to include here in its entirety. I en- courage you to read it two or three times. You might even read it aloud. Then come back to it and look for the style points dis- cussed below. Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this conti- nent, a new nation, conceived in Lib- erty, 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 dedi- cated, 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 na- tion might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate — we can not consecrate — we can not 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. Poetry Four score and seven years ago… The famous beginning of the address signals immediately the dignity of the occasion. In 1863, in the midst of the Civil War, leaders gathered to create a cemetery for soldiers. Contrast the elegance of four score and seven years ago with the utilitar- ian 87 years ago and the too casual about 90 years back. Repetition President Lincoln made his remarks at the site of a bloody battlefield of a war that was threatening the nation’s existence. He repeats the word nation five times. He begins with a new nation, proceeds through that nation and any nation, and ends with this nation. The repetition emphasizes the entity far better than elegant variation might have; he could have alternated among nation, country, state and homeland. But those alternatives might have diluted the emphasis on a single, precious nation that was worth saving. Similarly, Lincoln repeats a form of the word dedicate six times. About the 87th time I recited the address, I noted that dedicate shows what the living have done or are attempting to do. Our forefa- thers dedicated their new nation to equal- ity. The crowd gathered in 1863 was there to dedicate a portion of a battlefield as a cemetery. Lincoln exhorts his audience to be dedicated to the great, unfinished work of saving the nation. Lincoln breaks with repetition to JUNE 2016 • OREGON STATE BAR BULLETIN 13