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+--- Thread: Who wrote the lines of poetry "quoted" by Lincoln at the Soldiers' Home? (/thread-2832.html)
RE: Who wrote the lines of poetry "quoted" by Lincoln at the Soldiers' Home? - Steve Whitlock - 07-10-2021 01:09 AM
Roger,
The Winds of Change: A Novel about the Last 14 Months of the American Civil War
By Richard Guida pg139 (Screenshot of pg in 1st attachment).
Note the author has Lincoln using the 4 lines in a different place. I wonder whether Lincoln may have made his own poem while utilizing the first two lines of the Collins ode. It was not unheard of. The 2nd attachment is another poem that utilizes the lines from the Collins ode. It was taken from the Los Angeles Times, 30 May 1892, Mon, Pg10.
When Lincoln recited for the ladies at the cemetery why didn't he quote the original ode in its entirety? Could it be he had a unique version he preferred, from his own poetry. The 2 halves do fit together nicely, in a shorter version.
RE: Who wrote the lines of poetry "quoted" by Lincoln at the Soldiers' Home? - Steve - 07-10-2021 03:40 AM
Oh! sleep, ye brave---still calmly sleep
Upon the bosom of yon verdant isle;
Sweet wildflowers o'er your graves shall weep,
And brightest there the moonbeam smile.
RE: Who wrote the lines of poetry "quoted" by Lincoln at the Soldiers' Home? - Steve Whitlock - 07-10-2021 03:54 AM
(07-10-2021 01:09 AM)Steve Whitlock Wrote: Roger,
The Winds of Change: A Novel about the Last 14 Months of the American Civil War
By Richard Guida pg139 (Screenshot of pg in 1st attachment).
Note the author has Lincoln using the 4 lines in a different place. I wonder whether Lincoln may have made his own poem while utilizing the first two lines of the Collins ode. It was not unheard of. The 2nd attachment is another poem that utilizes the lines from the Collins ode. It was taken from the Los Angeles Times, 30 May 1892, Mon, Pg10.
When Lincoln recited for the ladies at the cemetery why didn't he quote the original ode in its entirety? Could it be he had a unique version he preferred, from his own poetry. The 2 halves do fit together nicely, in a shorter version.
Last thoughts are that the 3rd and 4th lines were written for the 1st 2 lines. We need look no further than the beginning question:
How sleep the brave, who sink to rest,
To the ending answer:
Where nameless heroes calmly sleep.
I believe Mr. Lincoln penned those lines! We are not the first to look for another author, to no avail. The SF Bulletin article will only verify that it was quoted correctly, but doesn't prove he wrote the last 2 lines. If Abe wrote the poem, I would expect a copy somewhere among his papers, if other accounts of his poetry exist in a Lincoln Collection.
I didn't see a footnote for the screenshot use of the 4 lines, so I wonder how the author sourced the comment, or was the book a work of fiction?
(07-10-2021 03:40 AM)Steve Wrote: Oh! sleep, ye brave---still calmly sleep
Upon the bosom of yon verdant isle;
Sweet wildflowers o'er your graves shall weep,
And brightest there the moonbeam smile.
Steve,
Interesting. Here's the rest in the attachment from the NY Mirror, and Ladies' Literary Gazette, a book from 1824.
RE: Who wrote the lines of poetry "quoted" by Lincoln at the Soldiers' Home? - David Lockmiller - 07-10-2021 11:20 AM
(07-09-2021 08:52 PM)Steve Whitlock Wrote: I lost the conversation till I found it consisted of a
discursive review of General McClellan's character, in
which I was directly appealed to to know if we had
not at one time considered him the second Napoleon
in California.
I hastened to say that I had found, in travelling
in the New England States, more fervent admirers
of the Unready than I had ever known to expend
speculative enthusiasm upon him among us.
'So pleasant and scholarly a gentleman can never fail to secure personal friends,' said the President. 'In fact,' he continued, kindly,' "Even his failings lean to virtue's side."
A keen sense of genius in another, and a reverence for it that forced expression, was out of place at Seven Oaks, as beautiful things sometimes will be. He was lost in admiration of General Lee, and filled with that feeling, forebore to conquer him. The quality that would prove noble generosity in a historian, does not fit the soldier.
An insightful observation by President Lincoln, I think.