Category: 1850s

Categories
1850s Poem

The Fiftieth Birthday of Agassiz

The Fiftieth Birthday of Agassiz [1]

By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Annotations by Catherine Bowlin
Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth. The Fiftieth Birthday of Agassiz. 1857. Longfellow Miscellaneous Papers, Manuscript Am 1370. Houghton Library, Harvard University. https://library.harvard.edu/onlineexhibits/longfellow/friends/33.html.

It was fifty years ago

  In the pleasant month of May,

In the beautiful Pays de Vaud, [2]

  A child in its cradle lay. 

And Nature, the old nurse, took

  The child upon her knee,

Saying: “Here is a story-book

  Thy Father has written for thee.” 

“Come, wander with me,” she said,

  “Into regions yet untrod;

And read what is still unread

  In the manuscripts of God.” 

And he wandered away and away

  With Nature, the dear old nurse,

Who sang to him night and day

The rhymes of the universe. 

And whenever the way seemed long,

  Or his heart began to fail,

She would sing a more wonderful song,

  Or tell a more marvellous tale. 

So she keeps him still a child,

  And will not let him go,

Though at times his heart beats wild

  For the beautiful Pays de Vaud; 

Though at times he hears in his dreams

  The Ranz des Vaches of old, [3]

And the rush of mountain streams

  From glaciers clear and cold; 

And the mother at home says, “Hark!

  For his voice I listen and yearn;

It is growing late and dark,

  And my boy does not return!”

May 28, 1857

Jean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz. Public domain.
Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth. “The Fiftieth Birthday of AGassiz.” The Courtship of Miles Standish and Other Poems. (1858): 196-8. https://www.hwlongfellow.org/poems_poem.php?pid=141
Contexts

Louis Agassiz was a well-known professor of zoology and geology at Harvard who promoted the biologically racist ideal polygenesis, “the notion that different species had different origins; he endorsed the idea of racially differential human origins” (Kilcup 159; see full citation below). Agassiz argued against many of Darwin’s ideas as the former believed in creationism and intelligent design. Regardless of Agassiz’s racist beliefs, many Americans celebrated his work.

Racial science, also called scientific racism and biological racism, was the belief that scientific data exists that justifies racism. Though no longer considered scientific, this type of science (such as polygenesis, eugenics, racialism, and race realism) was supported throughout most of the scientific community.

Resources for Further Study
  • Kilcup, Karen. Stronger, Truer, Bolder: American Children’s Writing, Nature, and the Environment. University of Georgia Press, 2021.
  • Skibba, Ramin. “The Disturbing Resilience of Scientific Racism.” Smithsonian Magazine. 2019. (Link)
  • Wood, Naomi. “(Em)bracing Icy Mothers: Ideology, Identity, and Environment in Children’s Fantasy.” Wild Things: Children’s Culture and Ecocriticism. Ed. Sidney I. Dobrin and Kenneth B. Kidd. Wayne State University Press, 2004. (Google Book)
Pedagogy

According to Naomi Wood, “Longfellow’s poem illustrates the romantic tradition inspired by Rousseau and Wordsworth, a tradition in which Nature is depicted as the child’s mother or nurse, an influence that works for the good and well-being of the child” (198, citation above). This representation of nature is idealistic and potentially damaging; Nature is personified, and she invites the child to discover parts of her while also taking care of the child. This highlights Nature’s power in the poem to keep the boy a child forever. Therefore, the young child is stuck, perpetually discovering Nature forever.

This interpretation of Nature may encourage discussion about the many different representations of Nature and how those representations evolve across literary periods.

[1] Jean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz (1806-1873): a Swiss-born American biologist and geologist recognized as an influential scholar of Earth’s natural history

[2] Mountainous district in Switzerland

[3] A melody traditionally played on the horn by the Swiss Alpine herdsmen as they drove their cattle to or from the pasture

Categories
1850s Poem

Spring Has Come

Spring Has Come [1]

By Oliver Wendell Holmes
Annotations by Celia Hawley
Field of Blossoms by William Henry Holmes, 1927, watercolor painting (no relation to author)

The sunbeams, lost for half a year,
Slant through my pane their morning rays;
For dry Northwesters cold and clear,
The East blows in its thin blue haze.

And first the snowdrop’s bells are seen,
Then close against the sheltering wall
The tulip’s horn of dusky green,
The peony’s dark unfolding hall.

The golden-chaliced crocus burns; [2]
The long narcissus-blades appear;
The cone-beaked hyacinth returns,
And lights her blue-flamed chandelier.

Late Tulips / Bybloemen or Violets, 19th century print

The willow’s whistling lashes, wrung
By the wild winds of gusty March,
With sallow leaflets lightly strung, [3]
Are swaying by the tufted larch.

The elms have robed their slender spray
With full-blown flower and embryo leaf;
Wide o’er the clasping arch of day
Soars like a cloud their hoary chief. [4]

Sampler by Sarah Yeakel, 1806, embroidery & stitching

–See the proud tulip’s flaunting cup,
That flames in glory for an hour, —
Behold it withering,–then look up,–
How meek the forest-monarch’s flower! — [5]

When wake the violets, Winter dies;
When sprout the elm-buds, Spring is near;
When lilacs blossom, Summer cries,
“Bud, little roses! Spring is here!”

Lilacs by Elizabeth Nourse, 1891, watercolor painting

The windows blush with fresh bouquets,
Cut with the May-dew on their lips
The radish all its bloom displays,
Pink as Aurora’s finger-tips. [6]

Nor less the flood of light that showers
On beauty’s changed corolla-shades,– [7]
The walks are gay as bridal bowers
With rows of many-petalled maids.

The scarlet shell-fish click and clash
In the blue barrow where they slide; [8]
The horseman, proud of streak and splash,
Creeps homeward from his morning ride.

Here comes the dealer’s awkward string,
With neck in rope and tail in knot,–
Rough colts, with careless country-swing,
In lazy walk or slouching trot.–

Filly and Colt by Frank Stamato, 1934, oil on canvas

Wild filly from the mountain-side,
Doomed to the close and chafing thills, [9]
Lend me thy long, untiring stride
To seek with thee the Western hills!

I hear the whispering voice of Spring,
The thrush’s trill, the cat-bird’s cry,
Like some poor bird with prisoned wing
That sits and sings, but longs to fly.

Cat Bird plate 128, courtesy Audubon.org

Oh for one spot of living green,–
One little spot where leaves can grow,–
To love unblamed, to walk unseen,
To dream above, to sleep below!

Spring Has come by Oliver Wendell HOlmes, 1858

[1] See Helen Keller’s letter of 1891 to Dr. Holmes regarding her reaction to this poem, included in this anthology. She tells him, in part: “I am not blind any longer, for I see with your eyes and hear with your ears.”

[2] golden-chaliced The golden petals of the flower that appear to hold or contain it

[3] sallow Although it can also mean an unhealthy or yellow complexion, Holmes uses “sallow” in its definition of willow tree, one that can be low-growing or shrubby. (All definitions courtesy Merriam-Webster)

[4] hoary Gray or white as if with age

[5] monarch The one who holds primary position or power

[6] Aurora The Roman goddess of dawn

[7] corolla-shades The inner whorl of petals in a flower, whose color can alter with the light

[8] barrow Wheelbarrow. Seasonal seafood was transported from Boston Harbor to nearby towns via horse-drawn carts.

[9] thills Shafts used to attach a cart or carriage to the animal drawing it

Contexts

Biography of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Encyclopedia Britannica online.

The Rarely Beautiful Life of Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. Holmes grew up in New England at a time when that region of America held cultural dominance in the country. He lived an unusually interesting and privileged life.

A Brief Guide to the Fireside Poets – A group known for their conventional forms and longer narrative poems.

The first of Helen Keller’s letters to Dr. Holmes, written soon after a visit to him, which he published in his volume Over the Teacups. Courtesy the American Foundation for the Blind.

Resources for Further Study
Pedagogy
  • Holmes uses many metaphors, or implied comparisons, in his poem. Name at least three that you notice, due to their vivid language, in the first half of the poem.
  • The poet also employs similes, direct comparisons using like and as, as well as personification. What effect do these rhetorical devices have on the visual images created by the poem?
  • After many stanzas devoted to flowers and their imagery, Holmes brings in other signs of spring as they occurred in 1858. What are those additional signs of the seasons he mentions?
  • How would you characterize the vocabulary Holmes uses in Spring Has Come? And his powers of observation?
  • The final stanza is less specific than the ones it follows; what is the feeling that is yearned for in it?
Contemporary Connections

Poems for Spring: a selection of poems that welcome the season.

10 Outside-the-Box Native Plants – the New England Wildflower Society’s Guide

Categories
1850s Song, Ballad

Dixie’s Land

Dixie [1]

By Daniel Decatur Emmett
Annotations by Celia Hawley
Landscape by R.D. Wilson, not dated, oil on canvas

I wish I was in de land ob cotton;
Old times dar am not forgotten,
Look away! Look away! Look away! Dixie Land.
In Dixie Land whar’ I was born in,[2]
Early on one frosty mornin’,
Look away! Look away! Look away! Dixie Land.


CHORUS:
Den I wish I was in Dixie, Hoo-ray! Hoo-ray!
In Dixie land, I’ll take my stand to live and die in Dixie;
Away, away, away down south in Dixie,
Away, away, away down south in Dixie.

Old Missus marry Will-de-weaber [3]
Willium was a gay deceaber;
Look away! Look away! Look away! Dixie Land.
But when he put his arms around ‘er
Smiled as fierce as a forty-pounder,
Look away! Look away! Look away! Dixie Land.

CHORUS

His face was sharp as a butcher’s cleaver,
But dat did not seem to greab ‘er;
Look away! Look away! Look away! Dixie Land.
Old Missues acted the foolish part,
And died for a man dat broke her heart,
Look away! Look away! Look away! Dixie Land.

CHORUS

Music for Dixie’s Land as performed by the 2nd South Carolina String Band, a contemporary group playing music as it would have sounded during the Civil War.

Now here’s health to the next old Missus,
And all the gals dat want to kiss us:
Look away! Look away! Look away! Dixie Land.
But if you want to drive ‘way sorrow,
Come and hear dis song tomorrow,
Look away! Look away! Look away! Dixie Land.

CHORUS

Dar’s buckwheat cakes an Injun batter,
Makes you fat or a little fatter;
Look away! Look away! Look away! Dixie Land.
Den hoe it down and scratch your grabble,
To Dixie’s land I’m bound to trabble,
Look away! Look away! Look away! Dixie Land.

Dixie’s Land, The Library of Congress, original notated sheet music

Away down South in de fields of cotton, [4]
Cinnamon seed and sandy bottom;
Look away, look away,
Look away, look away.
Den ‘way down South in de fields of cotton,
Vinegar shoes and paper stockings;
Look away, look away,
Look away, look away.
Den I wish I was in Dixie’s Land,
Oh- oh! Oh – oh!
In Dixie’s land I’ll take my stand,
And live and die in Dixie’s Land,
Away, away, away,
Away down South in Dixie.

From Southern War Songs: Camp-Fire, Patriotic and Sentimental, Collected and Arranged by W.L. Fagan, 1890


Pork and cabbage in de pot,
It goes in cold and comes out hot;
Look away, look away,
Look away, look away.
Vinegar put right on red beet,
It makes them always fit to eat;
Look away, look away,
Look away, look away.
Den I wish I was in Dixie’s Land,
Oh -oh! Oh – oh!
In Dixie’s land I’ll take my stand,
And live and die in Dixie’s Land,
Away, away, away,
Away down South in Dixie.

News from the War, from Harper’s Weekly, June 14, 1862 by Winslow Homer, graphic arts-print
Dixie’s Land by Daniel Decatur Emmett, 1859
Dixie as sung by Confederate SOldiers

[1] Composed in 1859 in New York City and titled “Dixie’s Land”, this instantly recognizable song is now more commonly known as “Dixie”. The first set of lyrics shown is the original composition.

[2] The lyrics, by a white male northerner, are written in an unflattering and exaggerated idiom imagining how a black southern slave might speak.

[3] Watch for multiple instances of the letter ‘b‘ used in place of the what should be understood as the letter ‘v.‘

[4] Lyrics as sung by the Confederate soldier, according to the book Southern War Songs.

Contexts

Although known as a Southern anthem, “Dixie’s Land,” aka “Dixie” was written in the north for the minstrel stage. The song was so popular in the South that it became generally accepted as the rallying song of the Confederacy.

Blackface: the Sad History of Minstrel Shows The ghosts of our past that are still with us.

Abraham Lincoln first heard the song at a Minstrels show in Chicago in 1860. According to a fellow attorney who attended the show with him, after “Dixie’s Land” was played, Lincoln clapped and shouted “Let’s have it again! Let’s have it again!” About the Song – Ballad of America

Where does the name Dixie come from? “Dixie” became associated so quickly with the South that many Americans attributed its very name to the region. In fact, the precise origin of the word “Dixie” remains unknown, though three competing theories persist. It either references a benevolent New York slaveholder named Dix, (“Dix’s Land”); the issue in Louisiana of $10 notes ( ‘dix’ is the number 10 in French); or — and most likely — the land below the Mason and Dixon line (the slaveholding South). During the Civil War, soldiers, civilians and slaves frequently referred to the South as Dixie and considered Emmett’s ditty the region’s anthem. (This information gathered from the articles on this page.)

The word Dixie takes on a different meaning for different people. Most commonly, it’s associated with the old South and Confederate states. Dixie was considered the land south of the Mason-Dixon line, where slavery was legal. But once the term was used in a minstrel song, its correlation with racist ideologies became crystal clear, according to Ingram. “Most historians would agree that Dixie is a word people understand as obviously a reference not just to a place, but a certain kind of ideology,” said Ingram, a history professor at College of Charleston in South Carolina. “There’s no mystery around all this,” she said. “People’s instincts about this being a problematic term is definitely correct. It’s correlated with something a lot darker than just history.” She added: “By the time Dixie made it into minstrel shows, it was clearly understood to be more than just a place name. ‘Dixie’ was the antebellum South, and the lyrics evoke a very nostalgic and romanticized view of slavery.”

Pedagogy

The song “Dixie” is an example of why knowing the history, the backstory, of a piece of iconic culture is critical to genuine understanding. From one of the most famous minstrel songs performed as theater to the recognized tune we know today, “Dixie’s” roots were planted in the ground of race, class struggle, and misogyny. Written by a white man, ostensibly from the perspective of a loyal slave, its trajectory into the present traces the history of black oppression in America. It has been embraced by the Dixiecrat party of the 1940’s, sung by white women protesting integration of schools in Arkansas and elsewhere, and is part of the score of the film Birth of a Nation, a movie that helped revive the Ku Klux Klan.

Many cruel stereotypes about the character of black people originated in the 19th century. Discuss why the practice of stereotyping can be so misleading and harmful. Give examples.

The Minstrel Song that Forever Changed the American South

How “Dixie” Became and Endured as an Anthem Interview from National Public Radio, 2019, includes sound clips

Contemporary Connections

What Dixie Really Means, from the Atlantic Magazine; a popular culture example from 2020

The Anthemic Allure of ‘Dixie,’ An Enduring Confederate Monument from NPR

R.D. Wilson is a contemporary visual artist whose work is professionally acclaimed and has popular appeal.

Categories
1850s Poem

THE RHYME OF THE DÉPÔT

THE RHYME OF THE DÉPÔT

By J.S.
Annotations by Kristina bowers
A color illustration showing the interior of a railroad station. Trains, baggage, and people can be seen on the platform.
Frederick Warne, The Children’s Object Book (London; New York: F. Warne & Co. , 188-?), 8. Public domain.
              I.
Vanity of vanities,
    Climax of vexation,
Waiting for the cars
    At a rail-road station:
Thinking every moment
    That the train will go,
Worrying out an hour
    In a small dépôt![1]

              II.
Sultry summer day, 
    Hot Sahara weather,
Motley crowd of people
    Huddled up together;
Crowded in a room
    Filled with ‘loafers’ smoking,
Wits and politicians
    Arguing and joking.

             III.
Every class of people
    In this mighty nation, 
Fully represented
    In the rail-road station.
Restless, whistling Yankee,
    With impatient tread,
Wishes that the cars
    Would just ‘go ahead’!

              IV.
Funny little Frenchman,
    With ejaculations,
Shows his impatience
    In gesticulations.
Rowdy at the glass,
    With a fierce moustache,
Obviously thinks
    That he cuts a ‘dash.’

               V.
Corpulent old fellow,
    Looking very wise,
With a lazy yawn
    Closes up his eyes;
Waiting for the cars,
    It is no wise odd
That he takes a train
    To the land of Nod!

              VI.
Eager politician,
    Closing up his peepers,
Runs off in a train
    Laid on heavy sleepers;

  
Paper in his hand
    So the stranger teaches,
He was lulled to sleep
    By Kossuth’s[2] long speeches!
    
              VII.
Philosophical stranger
    Says the cars are late,
But we all must learn
    ‘To labor and to wait.’
Suddenly is heard 
    An unearthly scream;
‘T is the engineer 
    Letting off the steam!

             VIII.
Universal rush
    For the narrow door,
Half-a-dozen sprawling
    On the muddy floor: 
One would think the people,
    Crowding in so fast,
Thought that every moment
    Was to be their last.

               IX.
Every one impatient, 
    Every body grumbling,
Train at length comes in
    With tremendous rumbling:
Like a band of furies[3]
    From the realms below,
Wildly rush the inmates
    Of the small dépôt.

                X.
Elbowed, jammed, and crowded,
    We may thank our stars
If we find a seat
    In the rail-road cars:
Chuckling with delight,
    With congratulation,
That we have escaped 
    From that rail-road station.

               XI.
Worst of the little miseries
    That in life beset us,
Greatest of the troubles
    That for ever fret us,
Waiting one long hour
    For the cars to go,
Elbowed, jammed, and crowded
    In a small dépôt!
“[Group at Potsdam Depot]” Photograph. n.d. From Potsdam Public Museum: Potsdam Railroad, 1850 to 2000. In copyright – Educational Use Permitted.
S., J. “The rhyme of the DÉPÔT.” The knickerbocker; or new york monthly magazine 40, no. 4 (october 1852): 315.

[1] Dépôt: French for “A deposit or place of deposit.” The American English usage of “depot” to mean railroad station became popularized in 1842.

[2] Lajos Kossuth, a Hungarian revolutionary leader, came to America in December 1851 and embarked on a speaking tour, garnering the support of many Americans.

[3] Furies are goddesses of vengeance who reside in the Underworld in Greco-Roman mythology.

Contexts

By 1852, when this piece was published, the first phase of the American railroad expansion had been completed. Competition from canals, unorganized and haphazard layout, and decentralized oversight were all characteristics of railroad development from the early 1800s to about 1850. At the mid-point of the 19th century, steam engines had only been around for about 20 years but had succeeded in transforming the American rail system into the most popular and utilized mode of transportation in the country.

Resources for Further Study
Categories
1850s Poem

George and his Dog

George and his Dog

By Lydia Maria Child
Annotations by Maggie Kelly/JB
Original illustration by an unknown artist for “George and his Dog” from
the 1854 edition of Flowers for Children Part I.
 George had a large and noble dog
     With hair as soft as silk;
  A few black spots upon his back,
     The rest as white as milk.

  And many a happy hour they had,
    In dull or shining weather;
  For, in the house, or in the fields,
    They always were together.

  It was rare fun to see them race,
     Through fields of bright red clover,
  And jump across the running brooks,
     George and his good dog Rover.

  The faithful creature knew full well
     When master wished to ride;
  And he would kneel down on the grass,
     While Georgy climbed his side.

  They both were playing in the field,
     When all at once they saw
  A little squirrel on a stump,
     With an acorn in his paw.

  Rover sent forth a loud bow-wow,
     And tried to start away;
  He thought to scare the little beast
     Would be a noble play.

  But George cried out, “For shame! for shame!
     You are so big and strong,
  To worry that poor little thing
    Would be both mean and wrong.”
Artist Unknown. Boy and Dog. Tintype with applied color,
c. 1865-1885.Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.
The dog still looked with eager eye,
     And George could plainly see,
  It was as much as he could do,
     To let the squirrel be.

  The timid creature would have feared
     The dog so bold and strong,
  But he seemed to know the little boy
     Would let him do no wrong.

  He peeped in George's smiling face,
     And trusting to his care,
  He kept his seat upon the stump,
     And ate his acorn there.

  He felt a spirit of pure love
     Around the gentle boy,
  As if good angels, hovering there,
     Watched over him in joy.

  And true it is, the angels oft
     Good little George have led;
  They're with him in his happy play,
     They guard his little bed.

  They keep his heart so kind and true,
     They make his eye so mild;
  For dearly do the angels love
     A gentle little child.
Child, Lydia Maria. “George and his dog,” in Flowers for CHildren, 70. new york: C.s. Francis & co., 1854.
Contexts

From Child’s introduction to Flowers for Children Part I:

TO PARENTS.

Several years ago, I published a little periodical called The Juvenile Miscellany. It found favour in the eyes of parents and children; and since it has been out of print, I have had frequent requests to republish it. I did not think it advisable to do this. But I have concluded to publish a series of small books, under the title of Flowers for Children. About half of each of these volumes will consist of new articles written expressly for the occasion; and the other half will be a selection of what seem to me the best of my own articles, formerly published in the Juvenile Miscellany. Upon reviewing the work for this purpose, I find that my maturer judgment rejects some inaccuracies, some moral inferences, and many imperfections of style. I have therefore carefully re-written all the articles used in the present selection.

The story of the Christ-Child and the Poor Children was suggested by the account of the Redemption Institute at Hamburg, by Horace Mann, in his late admirable Report on Education. It would be well for all parents, teachers, and magistrates, to read that account, and receive deeply into their hearts the lesson it conveys.

Resources for Further Study
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