The Gettysburg Address/
O Captain! My Captain!
Abraham Lincoln
Notes
The Gettysburg Address
• How do you think the relatives of the
deceased soldiers feel at this moment?
• Emotions?
Author’s Purpose
• Despite the fact that his purpose is to
dedicate a cemetery, Lincoln begins his
speech with an image of birth, not death.
Lincoln refers to the birth of our nation.
• How does this affect the tone?
Author’s Craft
• Allusion - a reference, usually brief, often
casual, occasionally indirect, to a person , event,
or condition thought to be familiar (but
sometimes actually obscure or unknown) to the
reader. This holds true especially for the
characters and events of mythology, legends,
and history. Association is an essential part of
allusion. The purpose of allusion is to bring a
world of experience outside the limitations of a
statement to the reader.
• The term comes from Latin alludere, which
means “to play with,” “jest,” or “refer to.”
• What allusion is Lincoln referring to?
• Why is this reference fitting!
• Why, in your opinion, does Lincoln choose
to emphasize that he cannot really
consecrate the cemetery?
• Why has Lincoln’s speech been so well
remembered?
O Captain! My Captain!
Walt Whitman
Notes
Literary Elements
• Elegy - a mournful, melancholy poem, especially a funeral song or
lament for the dead or a personal, reflective poem.
• The word comes from the Greek elegeia derived from elegos,
meaning “mournful poem.”
• Elegies originated in Greek and Roman literature where they were
used for various subjects such as death, war, or love and were
distinguished for having a specific meter, rather than for their subject
matter. Since the Sixteenth Century, modern poets characterized
elegies not by the form, but by the content, which was invariably
melancholy and centered on death.
•
"Guide to Literary Terms: Elegy." eNotes: Guide to Literary Terms. Ed. Penny Satoris. Seattle: Enotes.com Inc,
October 2002. 7 December 2007. <http://www.enotes.com/literary-terms/elegy>.
• Metaphor - a figure of speech in which a word or phrase is applied
to a person, idea, or object to which it is not literally applicable. It is
an implied analogy or unstated comparison which imaginatively
identifies one thing with another. This device is used by an author to
turn or twist the meaning of a word. Metaphors are the most often
used figure of speech. While not required in poetry, they are
universally used there. A “dead metaphor” is a former metaphor now
accepted as common usage, such as table leg or car hood.
• The term is from the Greek metaphora, meaning “transference”
which was formed by combining meta, meaning “over” and pherein,
meaning “to carry.”
• John Donne makes use of metaphor when he writes in Twickenham
Garden:
• And take my tears, which are love’s wine.
•
"Guide to Literary Terms: Metaphor." eNotes: Guide to Literary Terms. Ed. Penny Satoris. Seattle:
Enotes.com Inc, October 2002. 7 December 2007. <http://www.enotes.com/literaryterms/metaphor>.
Vocabulary
• Rack—storm or jolt
• Exulting—rejoicing greatly
• Keel—the main timber that runs the length
of a boat’s bottom; so, a steady keel is a
straight, even course.
Vocabulary: The Latin Root Tract
• The word detract comes from the Latin
prefix de-, meaning “down,” and the root
tract, meaning “to drag, draw, or pull.”
Lincoln said that the soldiers of Gettysburg
had accomplished something beyound our
powers to detract—drag down, or lessen—
what they had done.
• Practice: Match each word with its
meaning. Use these prefixes to help you.
•
•
•
•
•
Ex- “out”
In- “not”
Re- “back”
Pro- “forward”
Con- “together”
Match each word with its definition.
1. Contraction( n)
2. Extraction (n)
3. Intractable (adj)
4. Retraction (n)
5. Protracted (adj)
a. Long and drawn out
b. Something pulled out
of something else
c. A withdrawal, as of a
promise or statement
d. Something shortened or
made smaller
e. Unable to be guided or
led; stubborn
Analyzing Literature
• Recall
– What does Lincoln say will be most
remembered about Gettysburg? What
will be forgotten?
– In Whitman’s poem, at what stage in the
ship’s journey does its captain die?
Interpret
• What irony do you find in Lincoln’s
comments about what the world will forget
and remember?
• Why does the speaker in the poem find
the time of the captain’s death to be ironic
and particularly sad?
Evaluate
• What feelings about death do these selections
convey?
• What does Lincoln say in his address that you
find relevant to your life? Explain.
• Whitman uses the terms Captain and father to
refer to Lincoln. What terms, in your opinion,
might a modern writer use in mourning a great
leader? Explain your choices.
• The Term “ship of state” was often used in
earlier times to represent a nation.
Contrast and compare a ship and the
United States. How are they alike/
different?
• Would you care if a leader you respect
were a great or a poor speaker? Explain.
Theme Connection
• What have these selections added to your
understanding of the theme “Free to Be”?