Audiobook · read by volunteers
Gettysburg Address
Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865)
Read by Shurtagal · 1 chapter · 1 min
About the book
It was a cloudy November day in 1863, and thousands of people had gathered at a field in Pennsylvania to dedicate a national cemetery where a great battle had been fought that summer. The main speaker was the famous orator Edward Everett, who spoke for a long time. Then the President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln, rose to say a few appropriate remarks. In barely two minutes he delivered one of the most famous speeches in the English language, honouring the dead and calling the living to the unfinished work before them. Shurtagal reads these few paragraphs in a single track that lasts only a couple of minutes. Brief, solemn and unforgettable, it rewards repeated listening.
Introduction
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) was the sixteenth President of the United States, leading the country through the Civil War. The Gettysburg Address was delivered in November 1863, at the dedication of a national cemetery at the site of a pivotal battle fought in early July of that year. Lincoln was invited to give a few appropriate remarks, following a long oration by Edward Everett, and his speech lasted only a couple of minutes.
The text is very short, only a few paragraphs, and it has become a model of concision. It begins by placing the nation's founding in 1776 and in the principle that all men are created equal, goes on to honour those who died there, and ends with a call for the living to continue the work and ensure a new birth of freedom. Several versions of the text exist, in slightly different wordings, and scholars have long compared them.
This recording is a single short track, read by a LibriVox volunteer called Shurtagal.
Why listen now? Because it is among the most quoted political texts in American history, and hearing it in full, at its natural pace, shows how much can be said in so few words. It takes only a couple of minutes, and it is worth listening to more than once. It is also an ideal text for learning how pacing works in a speech. Lincoln's sentences are short and carefully balanced, with pauses that invite reflection, and a good voice lets those pauses do their work. Many people know the opening words, but fewer have heard the whole text, which is the best reason to listen.
Public domain
Abraham Lincoln died in 1865: the work is in the public domain in Switzerland, more than 70 years after the author’s death.
The LibriVox volunteers dedicated this recording to the public domain.
Sources : LibriVox page · Files at the Internet Archive · Original text