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

BECOMING AMERICA
REVOLUTIONARY AND EARLY NATIONAL PERIOD LITERATURE
I cease from my song for thee,
From my gaze on thee in the west, fronting the west, communing with thee,
O comrade lustrous with silver face in the night.
Yet each to keep and all, retrievements out of the night,
The song, the wondrous chant of the gray-brown bird,
And the tallying chant, the echo arous’d in my soul,
With the lustrous and drooping star with the countenance full of woe,
With the holders holding my hand nearing the call of the bird,
Comrades mine and I in the midst, and their memory ever to keep, for the dead I
loved so well,
For the sweetest, wisest soul of all my days and lands—and this for his dear sake,
Lilac and star and bird twined with the chant of my soul,
There in the fragrant pines and the cedars dusk and dim.
4.24.8 Reading and Review Questions
1. How does Whitman’s use of free verse challenge readers? What features
or elements of Whitman’s poetry help us to understand how to read it?
2. How does Whitman’s use of natural elements compare to his use of
manmade or urban elements in his poetry?
3. How would you describe the voice of Whitman’s poetry?
4. How does Whitman’s poetry engage with the Civil War?
4.25 FRANCES ELLEN WATKINS HARPER
(1825–1911)
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper was
born free to free parents in the slaveholding
state of Maryland. Her parents
died when Harper was still young.
Subsequently, she was brought up by her
Uncle William J. Watkins, a minister,
educator, and founder of a school for
free blacks. In 1850, she became the rst
female teacher at the Union Seminary in
Ohio. She left teaching to devote herself
to anti-slavery activism. She lectured for
anti-slavery organizations in northern
states and southeastern Canada. With
William Still (1821–1902), she assisted
fugitive slaves escape to freedom in the
north through the network of people
Image 4.23 | Frances Ellen Watkins Harper
Photographer | J. W. Gibson
Source | Wikimedia Commons
License | Public Domain
Page | 1476