Handout Three: Close Reading of President Abraham Lincoln's First Inaugural Address
I am loath to close. We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion
may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory,
stretching from every battlefield, and patriot grave, to every living heart and hearth-stone, all
over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they
will be, by the better angels of our nature.
1. List the subject pronouns in the first three sentences.
What shifts in meaning?
__________ __________ __________
2. Reread the first three sentences. Every word has one syllable except for ______________________.
How might these three sentences sound in a speech? What is the right voice? Say them to a partner.
3. "Loath" means unwilling. Lincoln is unwilling to stop speaking and to stop trying to reach everyone.
4. How many sentences remain? ___________ How many phrases are in the last sentence?_________
5. "It" is the subject of the next sentence. What does "it" represent? To find the subject of the next
sentence, replace "it" with a word from the proceeding phrase, "Though passion may have strained."
What will not break our bonds of affection?
_____________________________________
6. "Mystic chords" could mean a series of musical notes, like a chord on a harp or guitar; it could mean to
agree, to be in accord, it could be a line segment joining two points on a curve, or it could be an
emotional feeling. All somewhat work. One works best. Underline the one you think works best.
7. Complete the chart:
mystic chords of memory stretch
from every _______________________,
_____________________________________
and patriot _________________,
_____________________________________
to every living _________and__________________,
_____________________________________
all over this broad ________________,
_____________________________________
will yet swell the ______________ of the Union,
_____________________________________
_____________________________________
when again touched, as surely they will be,
by the __________________________________.