Lincoln at Gettysburg: Ithaca High School  Tags: art_architecture history ithaca_high_school  

Reading of the Gettysburg Address from the Ken Burns film, The Civil War.

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Lincoln at Gettysburg

By Garry Wills

Cornell Freshman Read/ Community Read/ Ithaca High School Combined Class Read

 In his book Lincoln at Gettysburg Garry Wills examines the significance of the Gettysburg Address, presenting the Greek roots of the oration, placing the famous words in the context of the nineteenth century, and reflecting upon the long term rhetorical influence of the speech.

 We will  read this work to illustrate the pervasive influence of the Ancient Greeks upon American culture and to examine current issues in this presidential election year.

 Do not worry about taking notes on every page. Instead, read the selected portions and use the questions below  to guide your reading and your thinking. We will use these responses during class discussion.

 We think you will enjoy reading this Pulitzer Prize winner.

I Prologue. Read the entire Prologue.

1. Gary Wills sets the stage for the significance of the speech  in this opening chapter. Choose two lines that you believe represent the main ideas of the chapter.

Write each of the lines as a direct quotation and then explain, using your own words, the meaning of that line.

 2.  Briefly summarize what you think is Gary Wills’ thesis.

 II. Vocabulary

Define the following vocabulary terms:

Polis

Arête

Transcendentalists

Republic

Democracy

Romanticism

Epitaph

III. Chapter 1 – The Oratory of the Greek Revival  (entire chapter)

 1. Explain this analogy using examples from Wills’ book

18^th century American leaders:  Ancient Rome =  19^th century American leaders: Ancient Greece.

2. Read Pericles’ Funeral Oration (pp. 249-256) and the Gettysburg Address on p. 263.

            a. Explain the line “It was the challenge of the moment that both Pericles and Lincoln addressed” (52).

            b. Cite three parallels you see in these documents.

            c. Hypothesize why Lincoln might have used the style and form of the epitaphos.

3. Examine the eleven polarities presented in this chapter. Choose two of these polarities and explain how these are also examined in Antigone.

4. Briefly explain how the theme of life and death is also seen in the choice  either Achilles or Hector  face in  the Iliad.

IV. Chapter 2 – Gettysburg and the Culture of Death

(Selections. Begin at the beginning on p. 63 and read until the last line on p. 65; start on p. 71 with “The dedication of Gettysburg…” and read until p. 79 ending with “ ...maternal Nature”; begin on p. 88 with “A nation born…” and read until the end).

1. Describe how the rural cemetery movement changed the nature of cemeteries.

2. What was the relationship of Transcendentalism to this movement?

3. How does the Gettysburg cemetery fit into this context?

4. Give examples of at least two other cemeteries or burial sites

 that are important sites today.

5. Do we have a “culture of death” in the United States today? Is there a “culture of death” in any other society today? Support your answer to either question  by discussing one example in detail.

6. Think about what Wills means when he says “The Declaration of Independence has replaced the Gospel as an instrument of spiritual rebirth”?

V. Chapter 3 – The Transcendental Declaration

(Selections. Begin reading on p. 101 at the top of the page with “Moreover, the Constituion…”and read until p. 104 “to Theodore Parker’s views”; read from p. 119 with “Government by the people” until the end of the chapter on p. 120).

1. Discuss how Plato’s views might have influenced the concepts in the first selection you read.

2. Go back and reread Pericles’ Funeral Oration.

Explain three specific examples in this speech where Pericles might have idealized his society.

3. Think question: What is a social contract? How did Socrates provide the rationale for a social contract? (This is not part of the text).

 VI. Chapter 4 – Revolution in Thought

(Selections. Begin on p. 130 with “According to Lincoln…” and read until p. 133 with created by the Declaration”).

 1. What was Lincoln’s dilemma?

2. What issues kept the Ancient Greeks from uniting permanently? Give a specific example when they do unite and a specific example  when do they do divide.

3. After we read the Melian Debate we will discuss how Athens dealt with unity and disunity.

4. Discuss at least two issues that you believe cause division in the United States today. How do we deal with this divisiveness?

VII. Chapter 5- The Revolution in Style

(Selections. Begin with the first paragraph on p. 148 ; skip to p. 157, begin with “It would be wrong…” and read until p. 158 “density and scope; begin on p. 169 with “The language…” and read until  the end of the chapter).

1. Choose a speech given by a political candidate during this election year. Choose five paragraphs to discuss whether it does or does not prove Wills’ point that “All modern political prose descends from the Gettysburg Address”.