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1870s Poem

Turkey. A Thanksgiving Ode.

By Rose Terry Cooke with annotations by Will Smith

Turkey. A Thanksgiving Ode.

By Rose Terry Cooke
Annotations by Will Smith/JB
Horatio Walker. Watching the Turkeys. Watercolor, n.d., Smithsonian American Art Museum and its Renwick Gallery, Washington, D.C.

When is the turkey handsomest?
With the sunshine on his brazen breast,
When every feather is like a scale
On a glittering suit of knightly mail;
When his tail is spread, a splendid fan,
As he struts before his faithful clan
With blue, bald head and threatening eye,
And wattles red as a stormy sky?
With lofty step and war-cry loud
He marshals forth the quittering crowd,
Or leads their dance across the plain,
Or heads their march through waving grain,
Intent on plunder, red with pride,
Like warrior not to be defied,
In all the pomp of battle drest, —
Then is the turkey handsomest?

Winslow Homer. Thanksgiving Day — Ways and Means. Wood engraving in black ink on paper, 1858, Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, Washington, D.C.

When is the turkey handsomest?
When he is killed and plucked and dressed;
His spurs hacked off and thrown aside
With all the trappings of his pride,
He lies, a goodly shape of snow
Of swelling breast and rampant legs;
Or, dangling from the larder’s pegs,
Tells to the cook-maid’s practised eye
How fast the days are flitting by,
How soon appears the day of days,
The hour of Turkey’s reign and praise; —
There, hanging in his smooth white vest,
Is not the turkey handsomest?

When is the turkey handsomest?
Ah! when again he shows his breast,
Brown with the sunshine of the fire,
Crisp as a lady’s silk attire,
With unctuous juices dripping down
In pools of gravy rich and brown;
Odorous as any spicy air
That blows across an orchard fair,
His bosom swelled with savory meat
Of sausages and bread-crumbs sweet,
His pinions neatly skewered and tied
With giblets tucked in either side;
His legs resigned to any fate,
Rampant no more, but meekly straight;
Beside him cranberry, ruby clear,
With groves of brittle celery near:
As stately as a king he lies,
The centre of admiring eyes.
Now is the turkey handsomest,
Arrayed before the hungry guest,
Of all the viands first and best!
His life well lived, his woes at rest,
And the platter he lies on gayly dressed,
Now is the turkey handsomest!

Winslow Homer. Thanksgiving Day — The Dinner. Wood engraving in black ink on paper, 1858, Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, Washington, D.C.
Cooke, Rose Terry. “Turkey. A Thanksgiving ODE.” OUR YOUNG FOLKS: AN ILLUSTRATED MAGAZINE FOR BOYS AND GIRLS 9, no. 12 (December 1873): 724-25.
Contexts

As is apparent from this poem’s title, it is more about the holiday than the bird it mentions. In an optimistic declaration regarding the Thanksgiving of 1873, Ulysses S. Grant declared, “Gradually but, under the providence of God, surely. as we trust, the nation is recovering from the lingering results of a dreadful civil strife.” We can see the same sense of optimism in the poet’s choice not to mourn the turkey but, instead, to celebrate the Thanksgiving feast of which the bird is now a part.

Resources for Further Study
Contemporary Connections

Turkey has become so synonymous with Thanksgiving that, at times, it can be difficult to remember that turkeys had lives before they were on the table. Authors such as Barbara Kingsolver have drawn attention to the ethical issues that arise from large-scale turkey farming, choosing instead to highlight the benefits of smaller-scale heritage turkey farming. When the continued tradition of the presidential turkey pardon is placed within the context of the beginning of this poem, although the poet likely would not take an issue with it, it begs the question, “what have any of these turkeys done to need pardoning?”

Barbara Kingsolver answers questions about her books. Animal, Vegetable, Miracle is specifically about food — giving it up, finding local sources, and cooking.

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