LOVE OF COUNTRY

THE FLOWER OF LIBERTY

OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES

What flower is this that greets the morn,

Its hues from Heaven so [freshly born]?

With burning star and [flaming band]

It kindles all the sunset land;

O tell us what its name may be—

Is this the Flower of Liberty?

It is the banner of the free,

The starry Flower of Liberty.

In savage Nature’s [far abode]

Its tender seed our fathers sowed;

The storm-winds rocked its [swelling bud],

Its opening leaves were streaked with blood,

Till lo! earth’s tyrants shook to see

The full-blown Flower of Liberty!

Then hail the banner of the free,

The starry Flower of Liberty.

Behold its [streaming rays unite],

One mingling flood of [braided light]—

The red that fires the Southern rose,

With spotless white from Northern snows,

And, spangled o’er its azure, see

The sister Stars of Liberty!

Then hail the banner of the free,

The starry Flower of Liberty!

The blades of heroes fence it round,

Where’er it springs is holy ground;

From tower and dome its glories spread;

It waves where lonely sentries tread;

It makes the land as ocean free,

And plants an empire on the sea!

Then hail the banner of the free,

The starry Flower of Liberty.

Thy sacred leaves, fair Freedom’s flower,

Shall ever float on dome and tower,

To all their heavenly colors true,

In blackening frost or crimson dew—

And God love us as we love thee,

Thrice holy Flower of Liberty!

Then hail the banner of the free,

The starry Flower of Liberty.

NOTES AND QUESTIONS

For Biography, [see page 539].

Discussion. 1. Read the line in the first stanza answering the question with which the poem opens. 2. Explain the metaphor of the “burning star” and the “flaming band,” etc. 3. How many “burning stars” does our flag contain? How many “flaming bands”? 4. Why does the poet call America the “sunset land”? 5. How far back in history must we go to find the seed time of the Flower of Liberty? 6. Did the Flower of Liberty come to full-bloom in a time of strife or a time of peace? 7. What were the “storm-winds”? What blood streaked its opening leaves? 8. How does the poet show that the North and South unite as one in the flag? 9. How do the “blades of heroes fence” the flag? 10. In the fourth stanza the poet says that the flag makes our land as free as the ocean; what do you know about a recent struggle over the freedom of the seas? 11. Why is the Flower of Liberty thrice holy?

Phrases

OLD IRONSIDES

OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES

Ay, tear her [tattered ensign] down!

Long has it waved on high,

And many an eye has danced to see

That banner in the sky.

Beneath it rung the battle shout,

And burst the cannon’s roar;

The [meteor of the ocean air]

Shall sweep the clouds no more!

Her deck, once red with heroes’ blood,

Where knelt the vanquished foe,

When winds were hurrying o’er the flood,

And waves were white below,

No more shall feel the victor’s tread,

Or know the conquered knee;

The [harpies of the shore] shall pluck

The eagle of the sea!

O better that her [shattered hulk]

Should sink beneath the wave;

Her thunders shook the mighty deep,

And there should be her grave.

Nail to the mast her holy flag,

Set every threadbare sail,

And give her to the god of storms,

The lightning and the gale!

NOTES AND QUESTIONS

For Biography, [see page 539].

Historical Note. Old Ironsides was the popular name given the U. S. frigate Constitution. It was proposed by the Secretary of the Navy to dispose of the ship, as it had become unfit for service. Popular sentiment did not approve of this; it was felt that a ship which had been the pride of the nation should continue to be the property of the Navy and that it should be rebuilt for service when needed. Holmes wrote this poem at the time when the matter was being widely discussed.

Discussion. 1. In what spirit was this poem written? 2. What was the motive which inspired it? 3. Do you think the poet really means it when he cries, “Ay, tear her tattered ensign down!”? Can you give some other instance of irony? 4. As you read this poem, do you think of the frigate as an inanimate object or does it seem personified? 5. What is meant by “meteor of the ocean wave”? 6. Who are the “harpies of the shore”? The “eagle of the sea”? 7. What does the poet say would be better than to have the ship dismantled? 8. Do you think this a fitting end for a ship of war? 9. Read the story of the fight between the Constitution and the Guerriére given in your history and be prepared to tell it in class. Why did the nation have particular pride in this achievement? 10. Pronounce the following: ensign; beneath.

Phrases

THE AMERICAN FLAG

HENRY WARD BEECHER

A thoughtful mind, when it sees a nation’s flag, sees not the flag only, but the nation itself; and whatever may be its symbols, its insignia, he reads chiefly in the flag the government, the principles, the truths, the history, which belong to the nation which sets it forth.

When the French tricolor rolls out to the wind, we see France. When the new-found Italian flag is unfurled, we see [resurrected Italy]. When the other three-cornered Hungarian flag shall be lifted to the wind, we shall see in it the long buried but never dead principles of Hungarian liberty. When the united crosses of St. Andrew and St. George on a fiery ground set forth the banner of Old England, we see not the cloth merely; there rises up before the mind the noble aspect of that monarchy, which, more than any other on the globe, has advanced its banner for liberty, law, and national prosperity.

This nation has a banner, too; and wherever it streamed abroad, men saw daybreak bursting on their eyes, for the American flag has been the symbol of liberty, and men rejoiced in it. Not another flag on the globe had such an errand, or went forth upon the sea, carrying everywhere, the world around, such hope for the captive, and such [glorious tidings]. The stars upon it were to the pining nations like the morning stars of God, and the stripes upon it were beams of morning light.

As at early dawn the stars stand first, and then it grows light, and then as the sun advances, that light breaks into banks and streaming lines of color, the glowing red and intense white striving together and [ribbing the horizon] with [bars effulgent], so on the American flag, stars and beams of many-colored light shine out together. And wherever the flag comes, and men behold it, they see in its [sacred emblazonry] no rampant lion and fierce eagle, but only LIGHT, and every fold significant of liberty.

The history of this banner is all on one side. Under it rode Washington and his armies; before it Burgoyne laid down his arms. It waved on the highlands at West Point; it floated over old Fort Montgomery. When Arnold would have surrendered these valuable fortresses and [precious legacies], his night was turned into day, and his treachery was driven away by the beams of light from this starry banner.

It cheered our army, driven from New York, in their solitary pilgrimage through New Jersey. It streamed in light over Valley Forge and Morristown. It crossed the waters rolling with ice at Trenton; and when its stars gleamed in the cold morning with victory, a new day of hope dawned on the despondency of the nation. And when, at length, the long years of war were drawing to a close, underneath the folds of this immortal banner sat Washington while Yorktown surrendered its hosts, and our Revolutionary struggles ended with victory.

Let us then twine each thread of the [glorious tissue] of our country’s flag about our heartstrings; and looking upon our homes and catching the spirit that breathes upon us from the battlefields of our fathers, let us resolve, come [weal or woe], we will, in life and in death, now and forever, stand by the Stars and Stripes. They have been unfurled from the snows of Canada to the plains of New Orleans, in the halls of the Montezumas and amid the solitude of every sea; and everywhere, as the [luminous symbol] of resistless and [beneficent power], they have led the brave to victory and to glory. They have floated over our cradles; let it be our prayer and our struggle that they shall float over our graves.

NOTES AND QUESTIONS

Biography. Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1887) was a native of Connecticut and a son of the famous Lyman Beecher. He was a graduate of Amherst College and of Lane Theological Seminary. For forty years Beecher was the pastor of Plymouth Church, Brooklyn, discussing from the pulpit the issues of the time and championing the rights of men everywhere, particularly the rights of oppressed men. His lectures and sermons breathed a spirit of intense patriotism.

Discussion. 1. What may be seen in a nation’s flag by a thoughtful mind? 2. Of what is the American flag a symbol? 3. What are the stars of the flag compared to? The stripes? 4. What do people see in the “sacred emblazonry” of the flag? 5. Tell something of the history of this banner. 6. What is it to “stand by the stars and stripes”? 7. Do you think the men who fought for us in the Great War lived up to the ideals given to us in this poem? 8. Pronounce the following: insignia; horizon; rampant.

Phrases

THE AMERICAN FLAG

JOSEPH RODMAN DRAKE

When Freedom, from her mountain height,

[Unfurled her standard] to the air,

She tore the [azure robe] of night,

And set the stars of glory there;

She mingled with its gorgeous dyes

The [milky baldric] of the skies,

And striped its pure [celestial white]

With streakings of the morning light;

Then, from his mansion in the sun,

She called her eagle-bearer down,

And gave into his mighty hand

The symbol of her chosen land!

[Majestic monarch] of the cloud,

Who rear’st aloft thy [regal form],

To hear the [tempest-trumpings] loud,

And see the lightning lances driven,

When strive the warriors of the storm,

And rolls the thunder-drum of heaven—

Child of the sun! to thee ’tis given

To guard the banner of the free,

To hover in the [sulphur smoke],

To ward away the battle-stroke,

And bid its blendings shine afar,

Like rainbows on the cloud of war,

The [harbingers of victory]!

Flag of the brave! thy folds shall fly,

The sign of hope and triumph high,

When speaks the signal trumpet tone,

And the long line comes gleaming on,

Ere yet the life-blood, warm and wet,

Has dimmed the glistening bayonet,

Each soldier’s eye shall brightly turn

To where thy [sky-born glories] burn;

And as his springing steps advance,

Catch war and vengeance from the glance.

And when the [cannon’s mouthings loud],

Heave in wild wreaths the battle shroud,

And gory sabers rise and fall,

Like shoots of flame on midnight’s pall;

Then shall thy meteor glances glow,

And cowering foes shall sink below

Each gallant arm that strikes beneath

That awful messenger of death.

Flag of the seas! on ocean’s wave

Thy stars shall glitter o’er the brave;

When death, careering on the gale,

Sweeps darkly round the bellied sail,

And frighted waves rush wildly back

Before the broadside’s reeling rack,

Each dying wanderer of the sea

Shall look at once to heaven and thee,

And smile to see thy splendors fly

In triumph o’er his closing eye.

Flag of the free heart’s hope and home!

By angel hands to valor given;

Thy stars have lit the [welkin dome],

And all thy hues were born in heaven.

Forever float that standard sheet!

Where breathes the foe but falls before us,

With Freedom’s soil beneath our feet,

And Freedom’s banner streaming o’er us?

NOTES AND QUESTIONS

Biography. Joseph Rodman Drake (1795-1820), whose name is inseparably associated with that of his friend, Fitz-Greene Halleck, was an American poet. These two able poets together contributed a series of forty poems to the New York Evening Post. Among these was “The American Flag,” the last four lines of which were written by Halleck, to replace those written by Drake:

“As fixed as yonder orb divine,

That saw thy bannered blaze unfurled,

Shall thy proud stars resplendent shine,

The guard and glory of the world.”

Drake was a youth of many graces of both mind and body, who wrote verses as a bird sings—for the pure joy of it. His career was cut short by death when he was only twenty-five years old. Of him Halleck wrote:

“None knew thee but to love thee,

Nor named thee but to praise.”

Discussion. 1. Who is represented as making a flag? 2. How is it made? 3. What flag is it? 4. What reasons can you see for choosing the eagle as bearer of this flag? 5. What events are pictured in which the flag has a part? 6. Note all the names the poet gives to the flag; which of these do you like best? 7. Can you give other names that are applied to our flag? 8. What feeling caused this poem to be written? 9. What lines are the most stirring? 10. Which stanza do you like best?

Phrases

THE FLAG GOES BY

HENRY H. BENNETT

Hats off!

Along the street there comes

A blare of bugles, a [ruffle of drums],

A flash of color beneath the sky.

Hats off!

The flag is passing by!

Blue and crimson and white it shines,

Over the [steel-tipped, ordered lines].

Hats off!

The colors before us fly;

But more than the flag is passing by.

Sea fights and land fights, grim and great,

Fought to make and to save the State;

Weary marches and sinking ships;

Cheers of victory on dying lips;

Days of plenty and years of peace;

March of a [strong land’s swift increase];

Equal justice, right and law,

Stately honor and [reverend awe];

Sign of a nation, great and strong

To ward her people from foreign wrong;

Pride and glory and honor—all

Live in the colors to stand or fall.

Hats off!

Along the street there comes

A blare of bugles, a ruffle of drums;

And loyal hearts are beating high:

Hats off!

The flag is passing by!

NOTES AND QUESTIONS

Biography. 1. Henry Holcomb Bennett (1863-⸺), an American newspaper writer, was born in Chillicothe, Ohio. He is not only a journalist, but also a magazine writer and a landscape painter. He has been a frequent contributor to the Youth’s Companion, and to the New York Independent. “The Flag Goes By” is his most popular poem.

Discussion. 1. What feeling inspires the cry “Hats off!”? 2. What does the poet mean by “more than a flag is passing”? 3. Name historical events which illustrate the different references in the third stanza. 4. Explain the meaning of “march of a strong land’s swift increase.” 5. How could the flag “ward her people from foreign wrong”? 6. How many of the things mentioned by the poet do you see when the flag goes by? 7. Do you think the poem will help you to see more?

Phrases

THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER

FRANCIS SCOTT KEY

O say, can you see, by the dawn’s early light,

What so proudly we hailed, at the twilight’s last gleaming?

Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the [perilous fight],

[O’er the ramparts] we watched, were so gallantly streaming;

And the rocket’s red glare, the bombs bursting in air,

Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.

O say, does that Star-Spangled Banner yet wave

O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On that shore, dimly seen through the [mist of the deep],

Where the foe’s haughty host in [dread silence reposes],

What is that which the breeze, o’er the [towering steep],

As it fitfully blows, now conceals, now discloses?

Now it catches the gleam of the morning’s first beam,

In full glory reflected now shines in the stream;

’Tis the Star-Spangled Banner; O long may it wave

O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

And where are the foes who so [vauntingly swore]

That the havoc of war, and the battle’s confusion,

A home and a country should leave us no more?

Their blood has washed out their [foul footsteps’ pollution].

No refuge could save the hireling and slave

From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave;

And the Star-Spangled Banner in triumph doth wave

O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

O thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand

Between their loved homes and the [war’s desolation]!

Blest with victory and peace, may the heaven-rescued land

Praise the power that hath made and preserved us a nation.

Then conquer we must, for our cause it is just,

And this be our motto—“In God is our trust.”

And the Star-Spangled Banner in triumph shall wave

O’er the land of the free, and the home of the brave.

NOTES AND QUESTIONS

Biographical and Historical Note. Francis Scott Key (1780-1843), an American lawyer and poet, was a native of Maryland. “The Star-Spangled Banner” made him famous.

The incidents referred to in this poem occurred during the war of 1812. In August, 1814, a strong force of British entered Washington and burned the Capitol, the White House, and many other public buildings. On September 13 the British admiral moved his fleet into position to attack Fort McHenry, near Baltimore. The bombardment lasted all night, but the fort was so bravely defended that the flag was still floating over it when morning came. Just before the bombardment began, Francis Scott Key was sent to the admiral’s frigate to arrange for an exchange of prisoners and was told to wait until the bombardment was over. All night he watched the fort and by the first rays of morning light he saw the Stars and Stripes still waving. Then, in his joy and pride, he wrote the stirring words of the song which is now known and loved by all Americans—“The Star-Spangled Banner.”

Discussion. 1. Relate the incident that called forth the poem. 2. What “perilous fight” had taken place? 3. Where was the author during the fight? 4. What had he seen at the “twilight’s last gleaming”? 5. Over what ramparts was the flag streaming? 6. Which lines suggest why the poet could not be sure that the flag was still there? 7. What sometimes “gave proof” to him? 8. What finally disclosed the flag “in full glory”? 9. What feelings do you think this certainty aroused in the watcher? 10. Who made up “the foe’s haughty host”? 11. Find words that tell where the foe was and that he had ceased firing. 12. What “war’s desolation” is named in the third stanza? 13. What other war songs do you know? 14. What other country’s national hymn do you know? 15. What purposes does such a song serve?

Phrases

CITIZENSHIP

WILLIAM P. FRYE

Citizenship! What is citizenship? It has a [broader signification] than you and I are apt to give it. Citizenship does not mean alone that the man who possesses it shall be obedient to the law, shall be kindly to his neighbors, shall regard the rights of others, shall perform his [duties as juror], shall, if the hour of peril come, yield his time, his property, and his life to his country. It means more than that. It means that his country shall protect him in every right which the Constitution gives him. What right has the Republic to demand his life, his property, in the hour of peril, if, when his hour of peril comes, it fails him? A man died in England a few years ago, Lord Napier of Magdala, whose death reminded me of an [incident which illustrates] this, an incident which gave that great lord his name. A few years ago King Theodore of Abyssinia seized Captain Cameron, a British citizen, and [incarcerated him] in a dungeon on the top of a mountain nine thousand feet high. England demanded his release, and King Theodore refused. England fitted out and sent on five thousand English soldiers, and ten thousand Sepoys, debarked them on the coast, marched them more than four hundred miles through swamp and morass under a burning sun. Then they marched up the mountain height, they scaled the walls, they broke down the iron gates, they reached down into the dungeon, they took that one British citizen like a [brand from the burning] and carried him down the mountain side, [across the morass], put him on board the white-winged ship, and bore him away to England to safety. That cost Great Britain millions of dollars, and it made General Napier Lord Napier of Magdala.

Was not that a magnificent thing for a great country to do? Only think of it! A country that has an eye sharp enough to see away across the ocean, away across the morass, away up into the mountain top, away down into the dungeon, one citizen, one of her thirty millions, and then has an arm strong enough to reach away across the ocean, away across the morass, away up the mountain height and down into the dungeon and take that one and bear him home in safety. Who would not live and die, too, for the country that can do that? This country of ours is worth our thought, our care, our labor, our lives. What a magnificent country it is! What a Republic for the people, where all are kings! Men of great wealth, of great rank, of great influence can live without difficulty under [despotic power]; but how can you and I, how can the average man endure the burdens it imposes? Oh, this blessed Republic of ours stretches its hand down to men, and lifts them up, while despotism puts its heavy hand on their heads and presses them down! This blessed Republic of ours speaks to every boy in the land, black or white, rich or poor, and asks him to come up higher and higher. You remember that boy out here on the prairie, the son of a widowed mother, poor, neglected perhaps by all except the dear old mother. But the Republic did not neglect him. The Republic said to that boy: “Boy, there is a ladder: its foot is on the earth, its top is in the sky. Boy, go up.” And the boy mounted that ladder rung by rung; by the rung of the free schools, by the rung of the academy, by the rung of the college, by the rung of splendid service in the United States Army, by the rung of the United States House of Representatives, by the rung of the United States Senate, by the rung of the Presidency of the Great Republic, by the rung of a patient sickness and a heroic death; until James A. Garfield is a name to be forever honored in the history of our country.

Now, is not a Republic like that worth the [tribute of our conscience]? Is it not entitled to our best thought, to our holiest purpose?

Let us pledge ourselves to give it our loyal service and support until every man in this Republic, black or white, shall be protected in all the rights which the Constitution of the United States bestows upon him.

NOTES AND QUESTIONS

Biographical and Historical Note. William Pierce Frye (1831-1911), an eminent lawyer and statesman, was born at Lewiston, Maine. He was graduated from Bowdoin College in 1850, and was a member of Congress from 1871 to 1881, and United States senator for Maine from 1881 to 1911. After the death of Vice-President Hobart, and also after the death of President McKinley, he acted as president pro tempore of the senate.

The Magdala affair is a striking example of what a country will do to protect its citizens. Magdala, more properly Makdala, is a natural stronghold in Abyssinia. The emperor Theodore of Abyssinia chose it as a fortress and a prison. Having taken offense because a request that English workmen and machinery be sent him was not promptly complied with, Theodore seized the British consul, Captain C. D. Cameron, his suite, and two other men, and imprisoned them at Magdala. Lieutenant-General Robert Napier was sent to rescue the prisoners. For his services in this expedition Napier received the thanks of Parliament, a pension, and a peerage, with the title First Baron Napier of Magdala.

Discussion. 1. Who are citizens of this country? 2. What is the duty of a citizen to his country? 3. What is the duty of a country to its citizens? 4. What incident illustrates the difficulties one country overcame in order to protect a citizen? 5. What does our country do for its citizens? 6. What illustration of this is given?

Phrases

THE CHARACTER OF WASHINGTON

THOMAS JEFFERSON

I think I knew General Washington intimately and thoroughly, and were I called on to delineate his character, it should be in terms like these:

His mind was great and powerful, without being of the very first order; [his penetration strong], though not so acute as that of a Newton, Bacon, or Locke, and as far as he saw, no judgment was ever sounder. It was slow in operation, being little aided by [invention or imagination], but sure in conclusion. Hence the common remark of his officers, of the advantage he derived from councils of war, where, hearing all suggestions, he selected whatever was best; and certainly no general ever planned his battles more judiciously. But if [deranged during the course] of the action, if any member of his plan was [dislocated by sudden circumstances], he was slow in readjustment. The consequence was that he often failed in the field, and rarely against an enemy in station, as at Boston and New York. He was incapable of fear, meeting personal dangers with the calmest unconcern.

Perhaps the strongest feature in his character was prudence; never acting until every circumstance, every consideration, was maturely weighed; refraining if he saw a doubt, but, when once decided, going through with his purpose whatever [obstacles opposed]. His integrity was most pure, his justice the most inflexible I have ever known, no motives of [interest or consanguinity], of friendship, or hatred, being able to [bias his decision]. He was, indeed, in every sense of the words, a wise, a good, and a great man. His temper was naturally irritable and high-toned; but reflection and resolution had obtained a firm and [habitual ascendancy] over it. If ever, however, it broke its bounds, he was most tremendous in his wrath.

In his expenses he was honorable, but exact; [liberal in contribution] to whatever promised utility, but frowning and unyielding on all [visionary projects] and all unworthy calls on his charity. His heart was not warm in its affections; but he exactly calculated every man’s value, and gave him a [solid esteem proportioned] to it. His person, you know, was fine, his stature exactly what one could wish, his deportment easy, erect, and noble; the best horseman of his age, and the most graceful figure that could be seen on horseback.

Although in the circle of his friends, where he might be unreserved with safety, he took a free share in conversation, his colloquial talents were not above mediocrity, possessing neither copiousness of ideas nor fluency of words. In public, when called on for a sudden opinion, he was unready, short, and embarrassed. Yet he wrote readily, [rather diffusely], in an easy and correct style. This he had acquired by conversation with the world, for his education was merely reading, writing, and common arithmetic, to which he added surveying at a later day.

His time was employed in action chiefly, reading little, and that only in agriculture and English history. His correspondence became necessarily extensive, and, with journalizing his agricultural proceedings, occupied most of his leisure hours within-doors.

On the whole, his character was, in its mass, perfect, in nothing bad, in few points indifferent; and it may truly be said that never did nature and fortune combine more perfectly to make a man great, and to place him in the same constellation with whatever worthies have merited from man an everlasting remembrance.

For his was the singular destiny and merit of leading the armies of his country successfully through an [arduous war] for the establishment of its independence; of conducting its councils through the birth of a government, new in its forms and principles, until it had settled down into a quiet and orderly train; and of scrupulously obeying the laws through the whole of his career, civil and military, of which the history of the world furnishes no other example.

NOTES AND QUESTIONS

Biography. Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), a native of Virginia, was Governor of Virginia, Minister to France, Secretary of State in Washington’s Cabinet, Vice-President, and President. He wrote the Declaration of Independence and was the founder of the University of Virginia. Jefferson was a ripe scholar, a good violinist, a skillful horseman, and an accurate marksman with a rifle. His influence was clearly felt in the framing of the Constitution, though he was in France at that time. His speeches were sound in policy and clear in statement.

Discussion. 1. What peculiarly fitted Jefferson to describe the character of Washington? 2. What conflict gave Washington an opportunity to show his greatness? 3. How had Washington’s life prepared him to take advantage of his opportunities? 4. Name the qualities, as given by Jefferson, that made Washington so great a leader. 5. How did he show prudence? Integrity? Justice? 6. From your readings can you give any instance in which he showed fearlessness? 7. How did he show sureness in judgment? 8. What, in Jefferson’s opinion, was the strongest feature of Washington’s character? 9. How does Jefferson summarize his estimate of Washington? 10. What quality especially characteristic of Lincoln is not mentioned in this estimate, because it was lacking in Washington? 11. Give a summary of the things Washington accomplished. 12. What part of this characterization of Washington impressed you most. 13. Which of the qualities mentioned would you most wish to possess?

Phrases

THE TWENTY-SECOND OF FEBRUARY

WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT

Pale is the February sky

And brief the mid-day’s sunny hours;

The wind-swept forest seems to sigh

For the sweet time of leaves and flowers.

Yet has no month a prouder day,

Not even when the [summer broods]

O’er meadows in their [fresh array],

Or autumn tints the glowing woods.

For this chill season now again

Brings, in its annual round, the morn

When, greatest of the sons of men,

Our glorious Washington was born.

Lo, where, beneath an [icy shield],

Calmly the mighty Hudson flows!

By [snow-clad fell] and frozen field,

Broadening, the lordly river goes.

The wildest storm that sweeps through space,

And rends the oak with sudden force,

Can raise no ripple on his face

Or slacken his [majestic course].

Thus, [’mid the wreck of thrones], shall live

Unmarred, undimmed, our hero’s fame,

And years succeeding years shall give

Increase of honors to his name.

NOTES AND QUESTIONS

For Biography, [see page 41].

Discussion. 1. How does the poet describe a day in February? 2. Why has “no month a prouder day”? 3. Whose birthday occurs on the twenty-second of February? 4. Do you know any other great man whose birthday comes in February? 5. Give in your own words the comparison of “the mighty Hudson” and the fame of Washington. 6. Do you know of some interesting incident in Washington’s life? 7. In the last stanza the poet speaks of wrecked thrones; what thrones can you name that were wrecked during the Great War?

Phrases

ABRAHAM LINCOLN

RICHARD HENRY STODDARD

This man whose homely face you look upon,

Was one of Nature’s masterful great men;

Born with strong arms that [unfought victories won].

Direct of speech, and cunning with the pen,

Chosen for [large designs], he had the art

Of winning with his humor, and he went

Straight to his mark, which was the human heart.

Wise, too, for what he could not break, he bent;

Upon his back, a more than [Atlas load],

The [burden of the Commonwealth] was laid;

He stooped and rose up with it, though the road

Shot suddenly downwards, [not a whit dismayed].

Hold, warriors, councilors, kings! All now give place

To this dead Benefactor of the Race.

NOTES AND QUESTIONS

Biography. Richard Henry Stoddard (1825-1903), the son of a sea captain, was born at Hingham, Mass. After the death of his father he moved with his mother to New York City, where, after a short school life, he began work in an iron foundry. He and Bayard Taylor became warm friends, meeting once a week to talk of literary matters. His characterization of Lincoln is regarded as a classic. He wrote both prose and poetry and became noted as a literary critic. He is the author of “Homes and Haunts of Our Elder Poets.”

Discussion. 1. Tell what you can of the author, noting anything in his life that was common to that of Lincoln. 2. Name the qualities that the poet says made Lincoln “one of Nature’s masterpieces.” 3. What does “homely” mean as used in the first line? 4. From your study of pictures of Lincoln what other words can you suggest to describe his features? 5. Explain the meaning of “cunning with the pen.” 6. Repeat any of Lincoln’s famous sayings you know. 7. What does the eighth line tell you of Lincoln’s character? 8. How did his humor help him to win? 9. Why was the “burden of the Commonwealth” so great and why was it laid on his shoulders? 10. Toward what did the road tend “suddenly downward,” and how did Lincoln meet the situation created by Secession? 11. What reasons can you give for calling him a “Benefactor of the Race”? 12. Compare the achievements of Lincoln with those of Washington. 13. Which do you think the better description, that written by Stoddard or that by Jefferson?

Phrases

O CAPTAIN! MY CAPTAIN!

WALT WHITMAN

O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done,

The ship has [weather’d every rack], the prize we sought is won,

The port is near, the bells I hear, the people [all exulting],

While follow eyes the [steady keel], the vessel grim and daring;

But O heart! heart! heart!

O the bleeding drops of red,

Where on the deck my Captain lies,

Fallen cold and dead.

O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells;

Rise up—for you the flag is flung—for you the bugle trills.

For you bouquets and ribbon’d wreaths—for you the shores a-crowding,

For you they call, the [swaying mass], their eager faces turning;

Here, Captain! dear father!

This arm beneath your head!

It is some dream that on the deck

You’ve fallen cold and dead.

My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still,

My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will,

The ship is anchor’d safe and sound, its voyage closed and done,

From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won;

Exult, O shores! and ring, O bells!

But I with mournful tread

Walk the deck my Captain lies,

Fallen cold and dead.

NOTES AND QUESTIONS

For Biography, [see page 556].

Discussion. 1. Tell what you know of the poet that fitted him to write of Lincoln’s character and achievements. 2. In this poem the Union is compared to a ship; who is the captain of the ship? 3. What fate befalls the captain, and at what stage of the voyage? 4. What “port” has been reached? 5. What is “the prize we sought and won”? 6. Point out words of rejoicing and of sorrow in the last stanza. 7. What parts of the poem impress you with the deep personal grief of the poet? 8. This poem put into words the nation’s deep grief at the time of Lincoln’s death; do you think this accounts for the wide popularity of the poem? 9. Read Whitman’s poem, “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloomed,” describing the journey of the train bearing the body of the martyred President from Washington to Springfield, Illinois.

Phrases

IN FLANDERS FIELDS

LIEUT. COL. JOHN D. McCRAE

In Flanders fields the [poppies blow]

Between the crosses, row on row,

That [mark our place]; and in the sky

The larks still bravely singing fly,

Scarce heard amidst the guns below.

We are the dead. Short days ago

We lived, [felt dawn], saw sunset glow,

Loved and were loved, and now we lie

In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe!

To you from [falling hands] we throw

The torch. Be yours to hold it high!

If ye break faith with us who die,

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders fields.

NOTES AND QUESTIONS

Biography. John D. McCrae, a physician of Montreal, was made a Lieutenant Colonel in the Canadian Army and went overseas early in the war. He died of pneumonia at the front in January, 1918. This beautiful poem, was written by him during the second battle of Ypres, April, 1915.

Discussion. 1. Tell in your own words the scene which the poet describes in the first five lines. 2. Of what is the poppy a symbol? 3. What does the poet bid us do? 4. What do you think was the motive which inspired Lieutenant Colonel McCrae to write this poem?

Phrases

AMERICA’S ANSWER

R. W. LILLARD

Rest ye in peace, ye Flanders dead.

The fight that ye so bravely led

We’ve taken up. And we will keep

[True faith] with you who lie asleep

With each a cross to mark his bed,

And poppies blowing overhead,

Where once his own [lifeblood] ran red.

So let your rest be sweet and deep

In Flanders fields.

Fear not that ye have died for naught.

The torch ye threw to us we caught.

Ten million hands will hold it high,

And [Freedom’s light] shall never die!

We’ve [learned the lesson] that ye taught

In Flanders fields.

NOTES AND QUESTIONS

Biography. “America’s Answer” was written by R. W. Lillard of New York City after the death of Lieutenant Colonel McCrae, the author of “In Flanders Fields.” It was printed in the New York Evening Post as a fitting response to the sentiment expressed in Dr. McCrae’s poem.

Discussion. 1. Why does the poet say that the “Flanders dead” may now rest in peace? 2. Who took up the struggle? 3. Why does the poet say that the heroes of Flanders have not “died for naught”? 4. Do you think this poem is as stirring as the one that precedes it?

Phrases