Rhetoric Review Oct 2014

Refined vs. Middling Styles in the Lincoln Reminiscence: Comparing the Rhetoric of Formality and Familiarity

David S. Kaufer Carnegie Mellon University ; Shawn J. Parry-Giles

Abstract

This essay discusses the competing rhetorical styles of two volumes that appeared in the 1880s to remember Abraham Lincoln. One volume, edited by Alan Thorndike Rice, remembered Lincoln in a refined-official style. A second volume, by William Herndon and Jesse Weik, captured Lincoln in a middling-vernacular style. Using automatic coding and close reading, the authors show that Herndon-Weik’s middling-vernacular style put a focus on the “personal” Lincoln. Rice’s essayists, instead, featured an “official” Lincoln set apart from the everyday man. The authors argue that these contrasts were a contributing factor to the different critical reception they received.

Journal
Rhetoric Review
Published
2014-10-02
DOI
10.1080/07350198.2014.946867
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Open Access
Closed
Topics
rhetorical criticism voice and style
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