Question

Read the excerpt from “Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address.”

Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman’s two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said “the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.”

Which rhetorical feature does Lincoln use in the excerpt?
a. irony
b. antithesis
c. understatement
d. allusion

Answer 1

The rhetorical feature that Lincoln uses in this excerpt is:

d. allusion

Step-by-step explanation:

Allusion is a figure of speech that can be used as a rhetorical feature to help the speaker make his point. It can be defined as a reference to something or someone that has a type of significance concerning the topic that is being addressed. When an author or a speaker alludes to a place, an event, or a person, he does not offer much explanation about them, since it is assumed that they are important or famous enough to be known by the audience. In the excerpt we are studying here, Lincoln is alluding to God and the Bible in a way that helps him present his beliefs and arguments to the audience.