Wes Kelley

Again, I’m posting a brief assignment from my graduate studies. We were asked to comment on the Gettysburg Address. I hadn’t read it in some time. Its beauty really struck me. I thought I would post both the speech and my comments below.

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate — we can not consecrate — we can not hallow — this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

The Gettysburg Address is oratorical poetry. It is simultaneously a beautiful expression of English prose and a seminal statement of American governance. We are one country, made hallowed and significant by the sacrifices of the men who died to defend its principles.

Obviously, you cannot separate the speech’s content from its context. This speech was given as the tide of the war was turning. It was becoming apparent that the Union would stand. Therefore, Lincoln’s brief statement was an eloquent sigh; one that signified that the war would be won and the sacrifices of its brave soldiers were the reason for the Union’s survival.

It is beautiful because of its brevity and focus. Much like the old prayers written in prayer books used years ago. Each word was chosen carefully. Each word has a job to do. Like a piece of colored glass being placed in a stain-glass window. Each lovely on its own, but forming a composite of glory. Okay, maybe my oratory is getting a little too rich, but we are rarely given an opportunity to wax on about the beauty of language.

What is interesting is that a speech like this could still be delivered today. Its style is not bound to its time. Churchill could have given this speech, maybe even Reagan or Obama. You could not deliver a speech like this on the campaign trail, but standing at the gravesite of fallen soldiers, or at another suitably somber and substantial event, it would still blow our socks off. We need “plain talk” but we also need a little nobility of thought AND language every once in awhile.

My personal librarian has alerted me to the fact that you can now browse the private book collection of one of the 20th century’s best novelist at this creative website.  Walker Percy was a modern, Southern, Catholic, existential writer whose books were diagnostic experiments exploring the condition of man in our present age.  It is a treat (for me anyway) to survey the books that great writers thought good enough to place on their shelves.

I would especially recommend this “author cloud” that highlights the most common authors in the collection.

Jack Shed recently shared his attraction to DailyLit.  This imaginative service delivers literature in installments, via RSS.  Apparently you pick the book and it breaks it down into bite-size pieces and serves it up each day in your RSS feed.  I guess they’re applying the “read the Bible in 365 days” approach to fine literature.  Some books are free and some will cost you a few dollars.  

Maybe I’ll finally get around to reading Pride and Prejudice in just 146 easy to read installments.

Not surprisingly, the writers I enjoy most have something in common: their lead characters observe and explore the plight of the everyman trying to understand his place in the world. While this is not exactly a novel (excuse the pun) approach to literature, doing it well is what I believe separates great thinkers from mere writers. My favorite pre-twentieth century author, Dostoevsky, allowed us to know his three Karamazov brothers; each of whom adopted a different worldview and wrestled with themselves and each other. Richard Russo, my favorite living author, has a keen ability to explore the depths of everyday people dealing with not so big issues in small towns. There is a familiarity in his writing that makes it comfortable, yet the characters resonate with the sound of significance. My favorite author of all time, Walker Percy, had an amazing awareness that the hardest thing we have to overcome in life is making it through a typical Tuesday afternoon.

Each of these men operates within an existential mode of thinking that is based on exploring and understanding the world we easily observe. Whether Christian or indifferent, all of us must reconcile our lives with the characters and plot lines that surround us on a daily basis. Staring into our own eyes, and finding an inner-gem that helps us find significance and peace is no easy task. Great authors have the courage, and a God-given gift, that enables them to do so. I thank them, and all chroniclers of the everyman, for their efforts to bring insight into our ordinary human condition.