Analyzing Great Speeches - How To Write Your Own Gettysburg Address

Do you know the name Edward Everett? Neither did I until recently. He was the principle speaker at the dedication of the Gettysburg cemetery dedication. Before President Lincoln gave the Gettysburg Address, Everett spoke for two hours. His speech was 13,607 words long. Abraham Lincoln's was only 271. Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address is one of the most quoted speeches in U.S. history (see "Introduction to Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, published by the U.S. State Department). Edward Everett's is nearly forgotten.

What made the difference? Why did one speech succeed and the other fail? Whoever can discover the answer to this elusive question will have the key to writing their own great speeches. So without further ado, let's examine how one could go about analyzing a great speech to find the answer.nn

1. Determine the purpose of the speech.
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2. Read through the speech, noting elements that aid in that purpose.
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3. Note elements that hinder that purpose.
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4. Consider the audience and historical context.
• What is the historical context that motivated the speaker's purpose?
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• What does the audience think the purpose is?

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5. Finally, consider how to use those elements and ideas to your advantage.

Answer: One that accomplishes its purpose.

Understanding this principle is central to being able to analyze speeches. To paraphrase Aristotle, a good hammer hammers well. A good light lights well. A good bomb explodes well. A good speech accomplishes it's purpose. The Gettysburg Address memorialized both the soldiers who fought and the nation they fought for. It did so in such an exceedingly spectacular way that schoolchildren in the United States routinely have to memorize the whole discourse. Now we have a direction to move in as we analyze the speech.

The next step is to read through the speech, noting elements that aid in accomplishing it's purpose. For the Gettysburg Address, one might note the first line. "Four score and seven years ago our forefathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal." If you live in the United States and can't quote the whole thing, you can probably quote the first line. If you can't quote the first line, you can the first six words. Why? Because Lincoln took a normal phrase ("87 years ago") and made it into something new and interesting ("Four score and seven years ago"). Next he appealed to tradition, to a shared history with the phrase "our forefathers." Next he mentioned the principles upon which the nation was founded - for the audience, this must have rung with especial poignancy, because they had just fought a war over the very equality that Lincoln spoke of. The whole speech continues in this manner: there's something new to learn with every line.

Next, note any items that hinder the purpose of the speech. In the Gettysburg Address, these items are few. That's one of the things that makes it a great speech! But one can learn much from worse speeches, by looking also at what doesn't work.

After that, consider the audience and the historical context. You'll already have done this somewhat during the steps above, but take a moment to look at things in context as a whole. The audience at Gettysburg probably responded very enthusiastically to Lincoln's short speech because they had just sat through a two-hour oration!

Finally, consider how to use these elements to your advantage. In this case, think of creative (but not ostentatious) ways to say normal things. Appeal to common histories. Reference situationally ironic ideals. Speak to universal values and truths.

And above all, when you follow a 2-hour oration, remember to keep it short.