Question

Read the passage below, looking for rhetorical devices.

With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.

What rhetorical device does Lincoln use in this passage?

Answer 1

The passage uses anaphora — the repetition of the word "with" at the start of successive phrases ("With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness..."). This creates a parallel structure (parallelism) that emphasizes balance and moral resolve. You can also note a mild antithesis in "malice toward none" vs. "charity for all," which sharpens the contrast.