Seven score and three years ago...
Foxwell
Posts: 142
Happy Gettysburg Address Day!!!
Believe it or not, it's that time of year again.
Where does the time go?
As I stated in a previous thread, Abe was one of my favorite
Commanders-in-Chief. And it goes without saying that, in my opinion, this declaration was one of the greatest collections of words an English speaking person has ever uttered (Bob Newhart's "Bus Driver's School" routine is a close second).
So powerful are these words to me that, whenever I speak in front of a group of strangers, I've found myself drawn to re-read what he said on that battlefield: A reminder that, no matter how important I may think my little presentation may be, my worries are a mere snowflake compared to the blizzard Abe was facing. When confronted with the fear of public speaking, I find his words soothing, in that, not only were they harbingers of hope, faith, and comfort during a time of intolerable turbulence, he was an amazingly efficient and succinct wordsmith.
As you may have assumed, Lincoln wasn't the only leader to address the crowd that autumn day. Both the Governor of Pennsylvania and a minister named Edward Everett spoke before Abe took the stage, sort of a presidential opening act. The Reverend Everett rambled on for just over two hours. Two hours??!!?? That's longer than the running time of the movie Glory, which comes in at two hours and two minutes.
The lesson I try to pass on to my students (Strunk and White will back me up on this): There is elegance to be found in brevity.
No one recalls a single word uttered by the good reverend (I believe it was a lot of --"Who here's from out of town?"--improvisation concluding with 15 minutes of smashing melons with an over-sized mallet).
Lincoln strolls out there...266 words and he's done.
Elegance through simplicity.
Here it is, in all its glory...
THE GETTYSBURG ADDRESS:
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 battlefield 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.
Believe it or not, it's that time of year again.
Where does the time go?
As I stated in a previous thread, Abe was one of my favorite
Commanders-in-Chief. And it goes without saying that, in my opinion, this declaration was one of the greatest collections of words an English speaking person has ever uttered (Bob Newhart's "Bus Driver's School" routine is a close second).
So powerful are these words to me that, whenever I speak in front of a group of strangers, I've found myself drawn to re-read what he said on that battlefield: A reminder that, no matter how important I may think my little presentation may be, my worries are a mere snowflake compared to the blizzard Abe was facing. When confronted with the fear of public speaking, I find his words soothing, in that, not only were they harbingers of hope, faith, and comfort during a time of intolerable turbulence, he was an amazingly efficient and succinct wordsmith.
As you may have assumed, Lincoln wasn't the only leader to address the crowd that autumn day. Both the Governor of Pennsylvania and a minister named Edward Everett spoke before Abe took the stage, sort of a presidential opening act. The Reverend Everett rambled on for just over two hours. Two hours??!!?? That's longer than the running time of the movie Glory, which comes in at two hours and two minutes.
The lesson I try to pass on to my students (Strunk and White will back me up on this): There is elegance to be found in brevity.
No one recalls a single word uttered by the good reverend (I believe it was a lot of --"Who here's from out of town?"--improvisation concluding with 15 minutes of smashing melons with an over-sized mallet).
Lincoln strolls out there...266 words and he's done.
Elegance through simplicity.
Here it is, in all its glory...
THE GETTYSBURG ADDRESS:
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 battlefield 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.
"In the depths of winter, I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer." -- Albert Camus
"He who knows only his own side of the case, knows little of that." -- John Stuart Mill
"Mongo just a pawn in game of life." -- Mongo
"He who knows only his own side of the case, knows little of that." -- John Stuart Mill
"Mongo just a pawn in game of life." -- Mongo
Post edited by Unknown User on
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Comments
no, all of what you wrote is complete bullshit.
O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!
O beautiful for pilgrim feet
Whose stern, impassioned stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America!
God mend thine every flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control,
Thy liberty in law!
O beautiful for heroes proved In liberating strife.
Who more than self the country loved
And mercy more than life!
America! America!
May God thy gold refine
Till all success be nobleness
And every gain divine!
O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!
I can say the same about everything you've ever written on this message board.
no you cant. have a nice day
Perhaps someone on the board who actually knows soemthing about the subject would care to corroborate or dispute my above comments, as opposed to someone who knows nothing about the subject and who merely comes on the M.T to spout crap.
Is this the title of your poem?
To be honest, what you say may be true (although I would contend that "NOBODY regarded the speech as anything special" smacks of hyperbole), however I'm struggling a bit to understand your response as it relates to my post.
My intent was merely to honor Lincoln's ability contextualize a moment in time and make it eternal. If the acoustics were poor that day or some folks wanted more Abe for their buck, that seems irrelevant to the bigger picture.
If your intent was to add detail to the historical picture, then fine, I love historical minutia as much as the next guy. However, if your intent was to belittle the man and his place in history, then we have some issues to discuss.
I don't believe it's my job to beatify or demonize my fellow humans, but if it were my job... Saint Abe sounds pretty good to me.
"He who knows only his own side of the case, knows little of that." -- John Stuart Mill
"Mongo just a pawn in game of life." -- Mongo
the only calrification you need is that you are talking to byrnzie. you'll notice a pattern to his posts
there.
O.k. I made it up. Nothing that I said in the above post really happened. I just said it to belittle Lincoln and criticise America.
I was merely explaining what I learnt from watching the Ken Burns documentary on the civil war. My post doesn't belittle Lincoln. I was merely pointing out that at the time the speech was delivered it went down like a lead balloon. However, as time went by and more and more people became aware of his speech through newspaper articles e.t.c, it began to gain recognition and respect amongst the population to the point where it is now regarded as a major event in American history.
Your point is well taken; it is intriguing how history changes in relationship to how we change.
For the most part, the facts remain stagnant; it's the interpretation that meanders.
"He who knows only his own side of the case, knows little of that." -- John Stuart Mill
"Mongo just a pawn in game of life." -- Mongo
Thanks. I personally believe that the situation which Ken Burns described adds, rather than takes away from, something to the occasion. It's hard to explain, but if, as he points out, the majority of spectators at Lincolns address thought little of what they were witnessing and of what they were hearing, - unaware that they were partaking in something that would live on in history - it gives the occasion a kind of pathos, and intrigue which - for example - Martin Luther King J.R's speech lacked due to it's dramatic and grandiose nature.