Becoming America - An Exploration of American Literature from Precolonial to Post-Revolution, 2018a

BECOMING AMERICA
REVOLUTIONARY AND EARLY NATIONAL PERIOD LITERATURE
In addition to these political activities, Whittier devoted a good part of his writing
to the Abolitionist cause with such inuential works as Justice and Expediency
(1833), “The Slave Ships” (1834), and “Ichabod” (1850). This last poem attacked
Daniel Webster, who sought to compromise with those who supported slavery and
the Fugitive Slave Law.
After the Civil War and Emancipation, Whittier turned his attention again to
New England life and land. “The Barefoot Boy” (1855), a popular poem set to music,
gave voice to his love of nature and the country life. Home Ballads and Other Poems
(1860) memorialized his family, especially his sister Mary who had recently died.
The success of his Poetical Works (1869) contributed to his growing fame and
prosperity. Both of these were marked at the dinner celebration of his seventieth
birthday given by the Atlantic Monthly and attended by seventy guests, including
such important American writers as Emerson, Longfellow, and Mark Twain.
4.15.1 “The Hunters of Men”
(1835)
Have ye heard of our hunting, o’er mountain and glen,
Through cane-brake and forest,—the hunting of men?
The lords of our land to this hunting have gone,
As the fox-hunter follows the sound of the horn;
Hark! the cheer and the hallo! the crack of the whip,
And the yell of the hound as he fastens his grip!
All blithe are our hunters, and noble their match,
Though hundreds are caught, there are millions to catch.
So speed to their hunting, o’er mountain and glen,
Through cane-brake and forest,—the hunting of men!
Gay luck to our hunters! how nobly they ride
In the glow of their zeal, and the strength of their pride!
The priest with his cassock ung back on the wind,
Just screening the politic statesman behind;
The saint and the sinner, with cursing and prayer,
The drunk and the sober, ride merrily there.
And woman, kind woman, wife, widow, and maid,
For the good of the hunted, is lending her aid
Her foot’s in the stirrup, her hand on the rein,
How blithely she rides to the hunting of men!
Oh, goodly and grand is our hunting to see,
In this “land of the brave and this home of the free.”
Priest, warrior, and statesman, from Georgia to Maine,
All mounting the saddle, all grasping the rein;
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