For These Trying Times
As we process all that has occurred in America over the last four years and what took place on January 6th, 2021 at the Capitol, we offer an example of the partnership of poetry and photography and how it has long helped us to process our responses to the horrors that too often occur in our country. The images are often the evidence of what has occurred , the poetry the response.
A stanza for a country divided
Poet Oliver Wendell Holmes penned his fifth stanza in 1861 -- 47 years after Francis Scott Key's original verses -- when the U.S. was in the grip of civil war. It circulated widely in the north during those years of conflict, but eventually retreated from public view. “He wrote that fifth verse, I believe, with real sorrow at what was happening to his country,” history professor Stephen Mucher says. “The divisions we had in this country in 1861 are similar to what we have now.”
Taken from: https://www.kqed.org/arts/12822853/why-we-should-sing-the-star-spangled-banners-obscure-fifth-verse
Bay Area Artists Sing the Little-Known Fifth Verse of 'The Star-Spangled Banner' | KQED Arts
Fifth Stanza
(This couldn’t resonate more after the events of January 6, 2021)
When our land is illum'd with Liberty's smile,
If a foe from within strike a blow at her glory,
Down, down, with the traitor that dares to defile
The flag of her stars and the page of her story!
By the millions unchain'd who our birthright have gained
We will keep her bright blazon forever unstained!
And the Star-Spangled Banner in triumph shall wave
While the land of the free is the home of the brave.
Civil War Photographs Helped Americans Grapple With the Horror of War
Photos are in the Public Domain and the Property of the Library of Congress
Walt Whitman through his poetry both exposed the horror of war and attempted to provide comfort to his fellow citizens. The partnership of the written word with Civil War era photographers Matthew Brady, Alexander Gardner, George Barnard and Timothy H. O’Sullivan to name a few.
Vigil Strange I Kept on the Field One Night
BY WALT WHITMAN
Vigil strange I kept on the field one night;
When you my son and my comrade dropt at my side that day,
One look I but gave which your dear eyes return’d with a look I shall never forget,
One touch of your hand to mine O boy, reach’d up as you lay on the ground,
Then onward I sped in the battle, the even-contested battle,
Till late in the night reliev’d to the place at last again I made my way,
Found you in death so cold dear comrade, found your body son of responding kisses, (never again on earth responding,)
Bared your face in the starlight, curious the scene, cool blew the moderate night-wind,
Long there and then in vigil I stood, dimly around me the battle-field spreading,
Vigil wondrous and vigil sweet there in the fragrant silent night,
But not a tear fell, not even a long-drawn sigh, long, long I gazed,
Then on the earth partially reclining sat by your side leaning my chin in my hands,
Passing sweet hours, immortal and mystic hours with you dearest comrade—not a tear, not a word,
Vigil of silence, love and death, vigil for you my son and my soldier,
As onward silently stars aloft, eastward new ones upward stole,
Vigil final for you brave boy, (I could not save you, swift was your death,
I faithfully loved you and cared for you living, I think we shall surely meet again,)
Till at latest lingering of the night, indeed just as the dawn appear’d,
My comrade I wrapt in his blanket, envelop’d well his form,
Folded the blanket well, tucking it carefully over head and carefully under feet,
And there and then and bathed by the rising sun, my son in his grave, in his rude-dug grave I deposited,
Ending my vigil strange with that, vigil of night and battle-field dim,
Vigil for boy of responding kisses, (never again on earth responding,)
Vigil for comrade swiftly slain, vigil I never forget, how as day brighten’d,
I rose from the chill ground and folded my soldier well in his blanket,
And buried him where he fell
