LITTLE GIFFEN
By Francis O. Ticknor
This poem is based on an actual occurrence. A lad, nursed back to life, rejoins the hard-pressed Southern troops and is killed in the first battle. Ticknor (1822-1874) was a Georgian. By profession a physician, his love of poetry led to the production of some of the finest lyrics of the South. Among these the best known are "Little Giffen" and "The Virginians of the Valley."
Out of the focal and foremost fire—
Out of the hospital walls as dire—
Smitten of grapeshot and gangrene—
Eighteenth battle and he sixteen—
Specter such as you seldom see, 5
Little Giffen of Tennessee.
"Take him and welcome," the surgeon said;
"Little the doctor can help the dead!"
So we took him and brought him where
The balm was sweet in our summer air; 10
And we laid him down on a wholesome bed—
Utter Lazarus, heel to head!
And we watched the war with bated breath—
Skeleton boy against skeleton death!
Months of torture, how many such! 15
Weary weeks of the stick and crutch;
And still a glint in the steel-blue eye
Told of a spirit that wouldn't die,
And didn't! Nay, more! in death's despite
The crippled skeleton learned to write.
"Dear Mother," at first, of course; and then,
"Dear Captain," inquiring about the men.
Captain's answer: "Of eighty and five, 5
Giffen and I are left alive."
Word of gloom from the war, one day:
"Johnston's pressed at the front, they say!"
Little Giffen was up and away;
A tear—his first—as he bade good-by, 10
Dimmed the glint of his steel-blue eye.
"I'll write, if spared." There was news of fight,
But none of Giffen.—He did not write.
I sometimes fancy that were I king
Of the courtly knights of Arthur's Ring, 15
With the voice of the minstrel in mine ear
And the tender legend that trembles here,
I'd give the best on his bended knee—
The whitest soul of my chivalry—
For Little Giffen of Tennessee. 20
1. In what war did the incidents described occur? When and between whom did this war take place? Name some of its great battles; its great commanders.
2 On which side was Little Giffen? Prove your answer from the poem. Who was Johnston, line 8, page 321? How old was Giffen? How much service had he seen?
3. Explain the meaning of: Utter Lazarus (see Luke xvi: 20); specter; gangrene; line 14, page 320; line 15, page 321.
4. Name some other writers of the South.
(Used by permission of the Neale Publishing Company.)