Lincoln's Verses About His Old Home

[Gene C]

From - "Story Life of Lincoln", by Wayne Whipple

The following is an extract from a very long original poem written by Lincoln in 1844 while on a visit to the home of his childhood:

My childhood's home I see
And sadden with the view;
And still, as memory crowds the brain
There's pleasure in it too.

Ah, Memory! thou midway world
"Twixt earth and Paradise,
Where things decayed and loved ones lost
In dreamy shadows rise.

And freed from all earth's earthy, vile
Seems hallowed, pure and bright
Like scenes from some enchanted isle
All bathed in liquid light.

[RJNorton]

Thanks for posting these lines, Gene. Here's an excerpt from a letter Lincoln wrote a friend about his visit:

"In the fall of 1844, thinking I might aid some to carry the State of Indiana for Mr. Clay, I went into the neighborhood in that State in which I was raised, where my mother and only sister were buried, and from which I had been absent about fifteen years. That part of the country is, within itself, as unpoetical as any spot of the earth; but still, seeing it and its objects and inhabitants aroused feelings in me which were certainly poetry; though whether my expression of those feelings is poetry is quite another question."

[LincolnMan]

I appreciate this bit of poetry from Lincoln. It especially came to mind a few years ago as I sat in my parked car looking at my vacant abandoned childhood home in Detroit. It was indeed sad. But in my mind's eye I still imagined the house and the neighborhood the way it was fifty years ago- clean, vital, and safe. The tree that I used to climb is still there but too big to ever climb now- and I'm too old to attempt. The house is now torn down. I do wonder what will be there fifty years from now?

[HerbS]

This poetry is great!Good bye old house and neighborhood.

[Eva Elisabeth]

This one written probably in 1847:

"When first my father settled here,
Twas then the frontier line:
The panther's scream, filled night with fear
And bears preyed on the swine."

...is simple, but would inspire imagination for a painting à la Henri Rousseau (and like A. L. was a self-taught poet etc., Rousseau was a self-taught painter):
   
[Henri Rousseau: "Tropical Landscape American Indian Struggling with Gorilla" (1910), Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond.]

[HerbS]

You can try,but you can never go home again!

[LincolnMan]

Yet it is touching that Lincoln visited his stepmother one more time (and it was to be his last) before settling in at Washington. His stepmother made a comment about it after he was assassinated that she knew she would never see him again.

[HerbS]

I agree!

[Gene C]

Only a part of the poem above was posted, below is a link for the full poem. It's bittersweet.

"He made Matthew Gentry the subject of Part II, telling Johnston: "He is three years older than I, and when we were boys we went to school together. He was rather a bright lad, and the son of the rich man of our poor neighborhood. At the age of nineteen he unaccountably became furiously mad, from which condition he gradually settled down into harmless insanity. When, as I told you in my other letter I visited my old home in the fall of 1844, I found him still lingering in this wretched condition. In my poetizing mood I could not forget the impression his case made upon me." (Abraham Lincoln Online)

It appears Matthew Gentry tried to harm himself, then turned on his father and mother, and had to be physically restrained. The incident made a lasting impression on Abraham.

http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/poem/...write.html

[RJNorton]

It appears Matthew Gentry tried to harm himself, then turned on his father and mother, and had to be physically restrained. The incident made a lasting impression on Abraham.

A wonderful account of Lincoln's Indiana years is the book on the topic by Louis Warren. Regarding Matthew Gentry, Warren writes:

Apparently Abe was present when his friend was stricken, and saw him attempt to maim himself, fight his father, and attack his mother. Seeing this "fortune-favored child" so horribly struck down shocked and bewildered Abe. It was a grim experience for a young sensitive boy to have undergone. The awful scene seemed to haunt him, and its lasting effect on him cannot be measured. We know that he brooded over it, wondering the meaning behind such a cruel fate.

And later in the book Warren writes:

When he was fifteen, he (Abraham) had witnessed the awful mental collapse of his schoolmate, Matthew Gentry, a demonstration of the "human form with reason fled," "the burning eyeballs . . . maniac laughter," the victim of the "pangs that killed the mind," who "begged, and swore, and wept and prayed." During the months that followed, after Matthew had become less distracted, Abraham would approach the Gentry home to listen to his mournful song and seemed to derive some comfort from the plaintive sound. Even in the early morning, before the other members of his household were awake, Abe would steal out to "drink its strains," when even the "trees with the spell seemed sorrowing angles."

[L Verge]

Do we know if Lincoln manifested any of the symptoms of his depression early in life? Perhaps he shared sympathy for his classmate because he was smart enough to recognize mental anguish that he suffered at times?

[RJNorton]

Laurie, I have thought about this, and at this point I cannot think of anything that was really that much out of the ordinary until 1835 when he was 26. I think the late summer of 1835 was when he first exhibited the signs of an unusual depression. Many authors point to Ann Rutledge's passing as the trigger. Maybe someone else can think of something.

[LincolnToddFan]

Hi everyone-

I have to admit that this is the first time I have ever heard or read about the Matthew Gentry incident in the early life of AL. How sad, no to mention sobering.

Roger, like you I have always read that the traumatic loss of Ann Rutledge is what caused AL's lifelong depression. I just don't accept it. Many psychologists believe that the loss of a parent in early childhood-particularly the mother-can cause later manifestations of depression. Couple that with AL's difficult relationship with his unsympathetic surviving parent, then the tragic death of Sarah..my suspicion is that the seed of depression that had been planted very early in his life was triggered into full bloom by the loss of Ann in adulthood.

Thanks to everyone for the info on Matthew Gentry, and for all the poems!

[HerbS]

I think that Lincoln suffered from a form of PTSD, which is linked to depression!

[LincolnToddFan]

I completely agree with you, 100%!