Powerful Writing.

I believe we only rarely glimpse the potential power of words, and experience the difference they make in our lives.

Three examples:

1. The Gettysburg Address by Abraham Lincoln.

On the night of March seventh, 2013, I found myself in a near blizzard in downtown Boston where I was attending AWP, a writer's conference. I was on the Commons, looking up at a partly snow-covered statue of Edward Everett realizing (to my amazement) that I actually knew something about him.

William Everett was president of Harvard and a leader of the Greek Revival Movement in the 1860s, but, much more importantly, he was the principal speaker at Gettysburg, PA, on the same day that Abraham Lincoln delivered his historic Gettysburg Address.

That's right. Edward Everett was the principal speaker. Abraham Lincoln, the President of the United States, played a secondary role.

I happen to know this because I'd recently read parts of Garry Wills's Lincoln at Gettysburg: The Words That Remade America.

It is Wills's thesis that by delivering his 272-word address, Abraham Lincoln remade America. He focused the American people's spirit on creating a ''new birth of freedom.'' Lincoln set America on a new course that helped the nation accept the tremendous price it had already paid in lost lives from the Civil War.

(Lincoln's speech, delivered on November 19, 1863, dedicated a cemetery that was located on the site where The Battle of Gettysburg had been fought on July 1-3, 1863, about four months earlier.)

How did Lincoln change the course of history with a 272-word address? Wills writes that, ''In the crucible of the occasion, Lincoln distilled the meaning of the war, of the nation's purpose, of the remaining task, in a statement that is straightforward yet magical.''

The genius of Lincoln's rhetorical approach: He refused to describe the particulars of the battle. In fact, he never once calls it a battle; he calls it a ''struggle.'' Lincoln spoke in extremely general terms. For example, by never mentioning ''slavery'' or ''union'' or exactly what happened at The Battle of Gettysburg his words take on universal meaning. By never specifying exactly what is ''the great task remaining before us,'' the speech becomes a work of genius; it lets each person interpret it as he or she sees fit. One could call this democracy in rhetoric.

Gary Wills makes the point that Lincoln's speech captures the tone of funeral dirges by the Greek poet Pericles. When one reads Pericles' rhetoric (The author gives plenty of examples.) it becomes easy to appreciate the similarity in tone.

By the time we reach the climax of the speech (''…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…'') Lincoln's words invite each of us to bring his or her own understanding to define what ''a new birth of freedom'' means.

By contrast, Edward Everett's speech, delivered from the same podium on the same day was more than an hour long. It included a blow-by-blow description of the battle. Today no one quotes from Everett's speech. Lincoln's speech is routinely committed to memory by many students.

2. Nigerian author Chinua Achebe in his classic novel Things Fall Apart.

Chinua Achebe, famous for his 1958 novel Things Fall Apart, published when he was twenty-eight, passed away last Thursday at 82 years of age.

According to a New York Times article Achebe was a ''towering man of letters whose internationally acclaimed fiction helped to revive African literature and to rewrite the story of a continent.''

So here we have a mere 209-page novel whose accomplishments are nothing less than astounding. Achebe's little book changed the course of history. How did the author accomplish so much in so few words? He chose to write in a mythical style that allows readers plenty of room to fill in their own meanings.

The following passage gives deeper insight into Achebe's writing style. It appears on smoop.com: ''Although Achebe writes in English, he captures the cadence of the Ibo people (his Nigerian tribe), which is particularly noticeable in the book's dialogue. In the narration, Achebe keeps his language simple, direct, and centered on nature. His goal is to use language to depict how the Ibo people view their world. You will notice Ibo words and phrases popping up here and there. In addition to the cadence and content choices, Achebe also uses proverbs, which are indicative of the Ibo's oral tradition. Achebe uses many tiny stories shared by people and well known in certain villages to discuss events. These stories are the method people use to communicate with one another; they use them to explain acts of nature, traditions, history, and why people behave the way they do.

''Keeping all that in mind, let's take a look at an interaction that happens a few paragraphs into chapter twelve: Some of the women cooked the yams and the cassava, and the others prepared vegetable soup. 'Young men pounded the foo-foo or split firewood. The children made endless trips to the stream. […]


''The market in Umuike is a wonderful place,'' said the young man who had been sent by Obierika to buy the giant goat. 'There are so many people in it that if you throw up a grain of sand it would not find a way to fall to earth again.'

'It is the result of great medicine,' said Obierika. 'The people of Umuike wanted their market to grow and swallow up their market and their neighbors. So they made a powerful medicine […]



'And so everybody comes,' said another man, 'honest men and thieves. They can steal your cloth from off your waist in the market.'


''We've got sparse description, an Ibo word (foo-foo), some cadenced dialogue, a mini-story about medicine to explain why the Umuike market is so crowded; we've got men finishing each other's thoughts and explanations. Achebe does an amazing job of capturing the spirit of his native language in his second language, English.''

3. Prime Minister Winston Churchill's speeches during 1940-41.

The darkest days of the Battle of Britain came directly after Hitler and his German war machine forced the English to flee the European Continent at Dunkirk. Everyone believed that Germany could easily beat England. Everyone but Winston Churchill. When Churchill began rallying the British people with his stirring speeches, a miracle occurred. It was no less a miracle than when David slew Goliath. The English people stood up to Hitler. Notice Churchill's pugilistic writing style. Can't you just imagine him spitting out the words in his power-packed sentences:

''Victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory however long and hard the road may be; for without victory there is no survival.

(Notice that Churchill sets out in plain terms for the British people what is at stake, their survival.)

''We shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields, and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.'' (Speech on Dunkirk, House of Commons, October 8, 1940)

In one short paragraph he uses the word ''fight'' five times. He uses two sound-alike words (''flag and fail'') to point out what the British will NOT do. The energy, strength and determination in the Churchill's rhetoric ignited a public fervor to resist the Nazi war machine with every sinew of its being.

In much the same way as Achebe's style of writing helped to revive African literature, Churchill's speeches in the House of Commons and his radio addresses were widely credited with giving the British the will to fight Hitler. Churchill's rhetoric became Britain's rallying cry and its first line of defense.

I believe Churchill's writing style is nearly the opposite of Abraham Lincoln's; Churchill is in your face, painting clear pictures with short sentences. Punch. Punch. Punch. Fight. Fight. Fight. Lincoln is laid back with poetic lyricism that allows the listener to fill in his own meanings. For example, ''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.''

All three authors used their rhetoric to create new realities, write a new history. Each time we write, let's not forget the possibilities. Let's not forget what is at stake. Words when used properly can be just as powerful, or even more powerful, than our actions. To write a word, after all, is to take action.