Lincoln Discussion Symposium

Kind of said to reflect that among those Lincoln admired- his own father was not one of them.

Just a thought inspired by Lincoln’s fondness for Shakespeare—might he have admired Edwin Booth?

Did he ever express any thoughts about Edwin Stanton (or other members of his Cabinet)?

According to Elizabeth Keckly, Mary Lincoln once commented that William Seward had no principles. Abraham replied:

"Mother, you are mistaken; your prejudices are so violent that you do not stop to reason. Seward is an able man, and the country, as well as myself, can trust him."

Depending on what (extent) "admiring" means all seem valid suggestions at least for a period in his life. As for Seward - I think Abraham Lincoln appreciated, valued him, held him in high regard, but I personally (my understanding of "admiring") wouldn't think he admired him like Shakespeare or the political "idols" of his "youth".

I would add Burns to the list as Abraham Lincoln even directly expressed his admiration:.

"...at the annual banquet of the capital’s Burns Club in January 1865, he replied: 'I cannot frame a toast to Burns. I can say nothing worthy of his generous heart and transcending genius. Thinking of what he has said, I cannot say anything which seems worth saying.' " (Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, Volume VII, p. 237)
 
At all I think it were the writers that had the greatest as longest lasting (throughout his life) influence on him. What about Henry Clay, Daniel Webster etc. in Lincoln' s later life? I am wondering and asking for your opinion as I am thinking of William Seward who as a young man admired Quincy Adams and when he later happened to visit and meet him still respected him highly, but, if I recall correctly (I think it was in in Kevin Peraino's "Lincoln in the World"), he was a bit disappointed and disenchanted to see he was a quite "normal" elderly man (and, too, put his pants on one leg at a time) - the magic had gone.

What about those Abraham Lincoln admired - which of them stood the test of times until the end of his life?

(03-25-2019 07:27 PM)Eva Elisabeth Wrote: [ -> ]I would add Burns to the list as Abraham Lincoln even directly expressed his admiration:.

"...at the annual banquet of the capital’s Burns Club in January 1865, he replied: 'I cannot frame a toast to Burns. I can say nothing worthy of his generous heart and transcending genius. Thinking of what he has said, I cannot say anything which seems worth saying.' " (Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, Volume VII, p. 237)
 

LINCOLN had been invited to attend the annual celebration of the Burns Club of Washington in 1864 (Robert Crawford to Lincoln, January 23, 1864).

Alexander Williamson, a clerk in the Second Auditor's Office who had tutored Willie and Tad Lincoln, wrote again on January 24, 1865:

"The Executive Committee of Management for the Celebration of the 106th Anniversary of the birth of Robert Burns' have instructed me as their Secretary to request the honor of your recognition of the genius of Scotland's bard, by either a toast, a sentiment, or in any other way you may deem proper. It takes place tomorrow.''

The Washington Evening Star of January 26, 1865, reported the meeting of the Burns Club on the previous evening:

Mr. Williamson, remarking that the President's pressing duties had prevented him writing a letter or a toast in response to the invitation to be present . . . read a hastily written memorandum which the President had sent him, in substance as follows:

"I cannot now frame a toast to Burns or say to you aught worthy of his most generous heart and transcending genius.''

I always recall Robert Burns' lines from Ode to a Mountain Daisy in this regard:

Wee, modest, crimson-tippèd flow'r,
Thou's met me in an evil hour;
For I maun crush amang the stoure
Thy slender stem:
To spare thee now is past my pow'r,
Thou bonie gem.

I would observe that I do not believe anyone can top the toast honoring Robert Burns that Lincoln made:

"I cannot now frame a toast to Burns or say to you aught worthy of his most generous heart and transcending genius. Thinking of what he has said, I cannot say anything which seems worth saying."

[I combined the two source quotes.]

Something to consider.....
If you had lived back then and Lincoln knew you, would we be taking about you here today?

Excuse me while I contemplate on this while I take my nap.

- Fido -

(03-25-2019 10:49 PM)David Lockmiller Wrote: [ -> ]

(03-25-2019 07:27 PM)Eva Elisabeth Wrote: [ -> ]I would add Burns to the list as Abraham Lincoln even directly expressed his admiration:.

"...at the annual banquet of the capital’s Burns Club in January 1865, he replied: 'I cannot frame a toast to Burns. I can say nothing worthy of his generous heart and transcending genius. Thinking of what he has said, I cannot say anything which seems worth saying.' " (Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, Volume VII, p. 237)
 

LINCOLN had been invited to attend the annual celebration of the Burns Club of Washington in 1864 (Robert Crawford to Lincoln, January 23, 1864).

Alexander Williamson, a clerk in the Second Auditor's Office who had tutored Willie and Tad Lincoln, wrote again on January 24, 1865:

"The Executive Committee of Management for the Celebration of the 106th Anniversary of the birth of Robert Burns' have instructed me as their Secretary to request the honor of your recognition of the genius of Scotland's bard, by either a toast, a sentiment, or in any other way you may deem proper. It takes place tomorrow.''

The Washington Evening Star of January 26, 1865, reported the meeting of the Burns Club on the previous evening:

Mr. Williamson, remarking that the President's pressing duties had prevented him writing a letter or a toast in response to the invitation to be present . . . read a hastily written memorandum which the President had sent him, in substance as follows:

"I cannot now frame a toast to Burns or say to you aught worthy of his most generous heart and transcending genius.''

I always recall Robert Burns' lines from Ode to a Mountain Daisy in this regard:

Wee, modest, crimson-tippèd flow'r,
Thou's met me in an evil hour;
For I maun crush amang the stoure
Thy slender stem:
To spare thee now is past my pow'r,
Thou bonie gem.

I would observe that I do not believe anyone can top the toast honoring Robert Burns that Lincoln made:

"I cannot now frame a toast to Burns or say to you aught worthy of his most generous heart and transcending genius. Thinking of what he has said, I cannot say anything which seems worth saying."

[I combined the two source quotes.]

Wow! That is awesome. I have never heard anyone offer such a toast in such a non toast way!

I belive there was a scene where he read some lines from a poem out to someone and added something like "I wish I could write/produce a piece like this", directly expressing admiration for the writer. Maybe someone knows more specifically?

(03-26-2019 10:03 AM)Eva Elisabeth Wrote: [ -> ]I belive there was a scene where he read some lines from a poem out to someone and added something like "I wish I could write/produce a piece like this", directly expressing admiration for the writer. Maybe someone knows more specifically?

I believe I have a memory of reading this sometime in the past. I have looked for the last hour and cannot find it. Frustrating! I shall keep looking. Eva, can you recall anything about the incident in addition to what you posted?

Are you referring to this -

"I would give all I am worth, and go into debt, to be able to write so fine a piece as I think that is. Neither do I know who is the author. I met it in a straggling form in a newspaper last summer, and I remember to have seen it once before, about fifteen years ago, and this is all I know about it." Abraham Lincoln wrote those lines in a letter to a friend, Andrew Johnston (a lawyer in Quincy, Illinois), on April 18, 1846

I think that must be it, Gene. For some reason, I recalled it as part of a conversation with someone, not words in a letter. But what you cited sounds exactly like my memory of the wording. Thanks, Gene!

I thought that quote was in reference to William Knox. Not sure.

(03-26-2019 06:22 PM)mbgross Wrote: [ -> ]I thought that quote was in reference to William Knox. Not sure.

Me too.

http://housedivided.dickinson.edu/sites/...l-18-1846/

“He preferred such lugubrious woks as the poem “Mortality” by William Knox. ‘I would give all I am worth, and go into debt, to be able to write so fine a piece as I think that is,’ he said in 1846. Lawrence Weldon observed him, at day’s end on the circuit, sit ‘by the decaying embers of an old-fashioned fire-place’ and ‘quote at length’ from ‘Mortality.’ He told friends that Knox’s verses ‘sounded to him as much like true poetry as anything he had ever heard.’
—Michael Burlingame, The Inner World of Abraham Lincoln (Champaign: University of Illinois Press, 1997), 108.

Thank you, Gene, that was it.