Blog Task: Abraham Lincoln Speech

The following speech by Abraham Lincoln is famous for its brevity and effect. The speech was delivered from the back of a train as Lincoln was about to leave his home town to take up the presidency in Washington, DC in 1861. Many people have noticed the rhetoric (the art of effective or persuasive speaking or writing, especially the exploitation of figures of speech and other compositional techniques) employed in the speech including ANTITHESIS (two opposites are introduced in the same sentence, for contrasting effect), PARALLEL STRUCTURE (use of the same pattern of words to show that two or more ideas have the same level of importance, using coordinating conjunctions such as “and” or “or”), and ANAPHORA (repetition of a sequence of words at the beginning of clauses). 

Read the speech  and consider the purposeful use of syntax (the way in which words are put together). Why would Lincoln have made the choices he did? Use PEE structure in your answer.

“My friends: No one, not in my situation, can appreciate my feeling of sadness at this parting. To this place, and the kindness of these people, I owe everything. Here I have lived a quarter of  a century, and have passed from a young to an old man. Here my children have been born, and one is buried. I now leave, not knowing when or whether ever I may return, with a task before me greater than that which rested upon Washington. Without the assistance of that Divine Being who ever attended him, I canot succeed. With that assistance, I cannot fail. Trusting in Him who can go with me, and remain with you, and be everywhere for good, let us confidently hope that all will yet be well. To His care commending you, as I hope in your prayers you will commend me, I bid you an affectionate farewell.”

This is a goodbye speech from Abraham Lincoln, so the literary devices should be directed to create an emotional scene. Lincoln is trying to make the point that he is loyal to his town by showing feelings of sadness, this is proved when he repeats the word "Here".

Preparing Paper 1: Idioms and Ambiguity

Meaning can often be complicated through the use of metaphors, idioms, or simply through ambiguous relationships between words. What are the actual meanings of the first two idioms below? What are the possible meanings of the next ambiguous sentences?

• Bite your tongue: This is an expression said to someone who has just stated an unpleasant supposition that unfortunately maybe true.
• Pull my leg: When you say, "Are you pulling my leg?", it means "Are you kidding with me?"
• He is my English teacher: The problem here is that you can't tell if the persons that says this is saying that his teacher is from England or if he is a teacher of English.
• I saw the person with a telescope: Here there is another ambiguity where you don't know if the person had a telescope, or if he saw the person using a telescope.
• She doesn’t like short men or women: Here the ambiguity is that you don't know if the adjective short is used for men and women, or just for men.

Preparing Paper 1: Truth Assumptions

The use of  certain verbs can imply the actual or probable status of events in a statement. In the sentence “I know the dog died”, the verb “know” is FACTIVE as it assigns the death of the dog as true. In “I believe the dog died”, the verb “believe” is NON-FACTIVE as the clausal object (the dog died) may not be a true fact.

Are the following statements factive or non-factive?

• I thought that today was your birthday.                                                                          (Non Factive)
• I forgot that today was your birthday.                                                                                    (Factive)
• The teacher scolded me for not studying hard enough.                                                         (Factive)
• The teacher acknowledged that I hadn’t really studied.                                                        (Factive)
• The teacher realized the student had cheated.                                                                     (Factive)
• The teacher assumed that the student had cheated.                                                      (Non Factive)

Register: Classroom task

How would you describe the register of the following statements?

• “Honoured guests, members of the board, Superintendent Johnson, and most importantly, graduates of the class of 2012, it is an honour to speak to you on this ocassion.” (Formal Register)
• “While I was pleasantly surprised by the menu selections for dinner service, I was disheartened by the lukewarm eggs at breakfast.” (Consultative)
• “Yeah, right” (Casual)
• “I doubt it” (Consultative)
• “I’m tired of your rubbish” (Intimate)
• “I’m tired” (Casual)

Paper 2 Essay

How can a literary text's style and structure reflect the context in which it was written?

The style and structure that the author uses, is how he decides to present the text to make an effect on the reader. The style is the most important part, because it is the only thing that distinguish the author's writing from any other, so, in that case, the style is the feature of writing that demonstrates the most the context of production. A book's plot, which is part of the structure, may also show the roots of the author or his own experiences.

The book "To Kill a Mockingbird", written by Nelle Harper Lee, is an argument for equality, justice and against racism, and it narrates the life in the author's town during the years of the Great Depression. Harper Lee was born in 1926, so, the plot of the book, is very related with the author's childhood. The Narrator of the book is a child, and the Great Depression was a part of the author's childhood, so the narrator and the author are very related with each other, however, the author does not try to limit the child's vocabulary or power of expression, because writing with a childish view or voice to argue for justice, equality and against racism is very hard.

In the book "Fatelessness", written by Imre Kertész, is an autobiographical novel, so the style and structure of the book is easy to relate with the context of production. Just like the author's life, the main character of the book is affected by the Holocaust as a child, making the plot of the novel a product from Kertész own experiences.

To conclude, I think that the structure and style that a writer uses in a book is a reflection of his own personality, experiences, and ideas. I realized that after linking the characters and the plots of different books with their author's past, showing incredible coincidences.