Gettysburg Address: Repetition, Repetition, Repetition

    Gettysburg Address: Repetition, Repetition, Repetition

      For such a short speech, Abraham Lincoln used an awful lot of the same words. Why? Hint: it's not for lack of vocabulary.

      His repetitive phrasing was intentional as it emphasized the points he made. For example:

      [...] we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. (6)

      Lincoln had a big enough vocabulary to not repeat himself, but using "we cannot" lent the sentence a more poetic structure and tapped into humanity's subconscious appreciation of the rule of three.

      And this repetition demonstrated his message almost as well as High School Musical's"We're All in This Together."