The Passage of Time Theme Analysis

Over the course of his Farewell Address, Abraham Lincoln reflects on the passage of time, both looking back and looking ahead. In addition to having been his home for “a quarter of a century,” the Illinois capital has served as the backdrop of his transformation from “a young to an old man.” Using the ideas of duration and growth to corroborate the strength of his attachment, Lincoln seems to perceive a direct relationship between the number of years he has spent in Springfield and his indebtedness to the city and its people.

After discussing the passage of time up until the current moment, he shifts his focus to the months and years to come. This corresponds with his use of tense. In the first half of the speech, he speaks in a mix of the past and present tenses. About halfway through, he begins to instead speak in a mix of the present and future tenses. For Lincoln, the future is closely associated with the unforeseeable. He acknowledges the possibility that he might never return to Springfield and claims that the task before him is “greater” than that which was before George Washington when he became the nation’s first president. Due to the air of uncertainty Lincoln casts over the future, the safe mood that accompanies the first half of the speech about what has been mostly dissipates in the second half as he confronts what may come—a detail that is especially noteworthy when readers consider the fact that the Civil War began just two months after this speech.