continued from front flap
many familiar poems of patriotic ardor have been chosen, other poems show a steady interest in antiwar themes. Lorrie Goldensohn provides a brief biography for each poet and places each poem in its proper literary and historical context. Comprehensive and compelling, American War Poetry not only documents the birth and development of a national style of expression but shows the force of poetry working on the historical moment, making it come vitally alive.
Lorrie Goldensohn is most recently the author of Dismantling Glory: TwentiethCentury Soldier Poetry, which was nominated for the 2004 National Book Critics Circle Award. Elizabeth Bishop: The Biography of a Poetry received a nomination for a Pulitzer Prize in 1990. Her poetry and critical essays have appeared in journals and periodicals since 1965.
American War Poetry spans the
“American War Poetry is an original and unprecedented event, assembling the poetry of war from the birth of the republic to the present imperial quest, and in reading this formidable symphony of utterance one cannot but admire the vision, critical acumen, and scholarly rigor that brought so necessary a book into being. Lorrie Goldensohn has given us an immense gift.” —Carolyn Forché
am e r i can war poetry
Poets Include: Elizabeth Bishop Robert Bly Joseph Brodsky Gwendolyn Brooks Stephen Crane E. E. Cummings Emily Dickinson T. S. Eliot Ralph Waldo Emerson Louise Erdrich Martin Espada
Robert Frost Ernest Hemingway Langston Hughes Galway Kinnell Denise Levertov Philip Levine Robert Lowell J. D. McClatchy W. S. Merwin Edna St. Vincent Millay Marianne Moore
Sharon Olds Ezra Pound Adrienne Rich Carl Sandburg Charles Simic Sitting Bull Wallace Stevens Henry David Thoreau Robert Penn Warren Phillis Wheatley Walt Whitman
columbia university press new york
www.columbia.edu/cu/cup
american war poetry
D
Goldensohn
an anthology
jack et image: Troops Awaiting Helicopter Transport, Vietnam War. © Tim Page/Corbis
jack et design: Chang Jae Lee
Edited by
pr inted in the u.s.a.
Lorrie Goldensohn
9!BME=H<:PR POS!
ISBN 0-231-13310-3
columbia
history of the nation. Beginning with the Colonial Wars of the eighteenth century and ending with the Gulf Wars, this original and significant anthology presents four centuries of American men and women—soldiers, nurses, reporters, and embattled civilians— writing about war. American War Poetry opens with a ballad by a freed African American slave, commenting on a skirmish with Indians in a Massachusetts meadow. Poems on the American Revolution follow, as well as poems on “minor” conflicts like the Mexican War and the Spanish-American Wars. This compact anthology has generous selections on the Civil War, World Wars I and II, the Korean War, and the Vietnamese-American War, but it also includes an unusually large offering on American participation in the Spanish Civil War. Another section covers four hundred years of conflict with Native Americans, ending with poems by contemporary Indians who respond passionately and directly to their difficult history. The collection also reaches into current reaction to American involvement in Latin America, Bosnia, and the Gulf Wars. Showing the depth of feeling and the range of thinking with which Americans have confronted war, American War Poetry expands our sense of what poetry is made to do. While the birth of a national identity is documented in early poems, the anthology also conveys the growing sophistication of a uniquely American style. Although early war poems show that the first justification for war was purely defensive, as American global ambitions matured, American writers moved increasingly to deplore a homegrown imperialism and its terrible costs. While
continued on back flap
the colonial wars –
The General [Edward Braddock] received the wound of which he died; but previous to it, had several horses killed and disabled under him. Captains Orme and Morris his two Aids de Camp having received wounds which rendered them unable to attend, G. W. [Washington] remained the sole aid throughout the day, to the General; he also had one horse killed, and two wounded under him—A ball through his hat—and several through his clothes, but escaped unhurt. . . . The shocking Scenes which presented themselves in this Nights March are not to be described—The dead—the dying—the groans—lamentations—and crys along the Road of the wounded for help (for those under the latter descriptions endeavoured from the first commencement of the action—or rather confusion—to escape to the second division) were enough to pierce a heart of adamant, the gloom and horror of which was not a little encreased by the impervious darkness which in places rendered it impossible for the two guides which attended to know whether they were in, or out of the track but by groping on the ground with their hands. —George Washington, on General Edward Braddock’s defeat by combined French and Indian forces in , from Washington on Washington, edited by Paul M. Zall
That they could fight as well as European regulars, or that they could be gathered up into an army at all—these were the issues facing the colonial militias of each Crown colony. Yet in these early battles, American soldiers were mustered and learned to fight effectively. Taking their cues from their Native American friends and foes, they adapted their strategies and tactics to accommodate the terrain on which they found themselves. War in early America was not fought on level ground cleared for the frontal engage-
the colonial wars
ments familiar to European soldiers, allowing for a tight discipline of firing and close battle formations, but rather was fought over mountainous, swampy, or heavily forested and unmapped ground, without roads to enable the passage of heavy artillery. From the beginning, American soldiers were citizen soldiers, and the command patterns and relations between men and officers were more informal, and lacked the organization of either long regimental tradition or hired mercenaries. Indian tribes fought on all sides: with the British colonists, or with the French or the Spanish vying for continental possession and domination, the tribes themselves attempting to cling tenaciously to their ancestral ground, playing off one enemy against the other, and themselves being played. Throughout the eighteenth century, American literature follows the home culture, aping the English forms of either high or low literary pedigree. The anonymous “Song of Braddock’s Men,” describing Braddock’s mission to Fort Duquesne in , is particularly interesting. The ballad turns into a victory what was in fact a bloody and terrifying defeat, where panicked British regulars presented a clumped target against their free-ranging enemies, and in the dim wilderness fired mostly at one another. Joel Barlow presents the same material in formal terms, registers the defeat as defeat, but turns Washington, without much historical justification, into the savior of the day. Lucy Terry, the ex-slave whose bare-bones account of a skirmish in a Massachusetts settlement functions as an exemplar of all these early battles for land, also sets in motion other issues that continue to haunt America’s literature of war. First, the encounter between white and red man foreshadows the way that ethnicity and then race will try the national balance, as the poem points to what will be a major flashpoint throughout something like the next hundred and fifty years of the new nation’s life: the displacement of native dwellers by European settlers. In “Bars Fight,” her homely and radical use of direct speech contrasts sharply with the greater formality of the printed language of a veteran soldier and journalist like Philip Freneau, or with the ambitions of Joel Barlow’s epic versification. A vernacular kin to Lucy Terry’s will show up again more consciously in James Russell Lowell, giving color and stylistic opportunities to the poetry that will open a way for the distinctive and egalitarian American sound audible in both the free and metered verse of later centuries.
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lucy terry [prince] (‒) Bars 1 Fight August, ’twas the twenty-fifth, Seventeen hundred forty-six; The Indians did in ambush lay, Some very valiant men to slay, The names of whom I’ll not leave out. Samuel Allen like a hero fout. And though he was so brave and bold, His face no more shall we behold. Eleazar Hawks was killed outright, Before he had time to fight,— Before he did the Indians see, Was shot and killed immediately. Oliver Amsden he was slain, Which caused his friends much grief and pain. Simeon Amsden they found dead, Not many rods distant from his head. Adonijah Gillett, we do hear, Did lose his life which was so dear. John Sadler fled across the water, And thus escaped the dreadful slaughter. Eunice Allen see the Indians coming, And hopes to save herself by running, And had not her petticoats stopped her, The awful creatures had not catched her, Nor tommy hawked her on the head, And left her on the ground for dead. Young Samuel Allen, Oh lackaday! Was taken and carried to Canada. 1
A colonial term for a meadow.
the colonial wars
anonymous The Song of Braddock’s Men Fort DuQuesue Expedition, To arms, to arms! my jolly grenadiers! Hark how the drums do roll it along! To horse, to horse, with valiant good cheer; We’ll meet our proud foe before it is long. Let not your courage fail you; Be valiant, stout, and bold; And it will soon avail you, My loyal hearts of gold. Huzzah, my valiant countrymen!—again I say huzzah! ’Tis nobly done,—the day’s our own—huzzah, huzzah! March on, march on, brave Braddock leads the foremost; The battle is begun as you may fairly see. Stand firm, be bold, and it will soon be over; We’ll soon gain the field from our proud enemy. A squadron now appears, my boys; If that they do but stand! Boys, never fear, be sure you mind The word of command! Huzzah, my valiant countrymen!—again I say huzzah! ’Tis nobly done,—the day’s our own—huzzah, huzzah! See how, see how, they break and fly before us! See how they are scattered all over the plain! Now, now—now, now, our country will adore us! In peace and in triumph, boys, when we return again! Then laurels shall our glory crown For all our actions told: The hills shall echo all around, My loyal hearts of gold. Huzzah, my valiant countrymen!—again I say huzzah! ’Tis nobly done,—the day’s our own—huzzah, huzzah!
the colonial wars
joel barlow (–) “Progress of the Colonies. Troubles with the natives.” From The Columbiad, book Between the gulfs, where Laurence drains the world And where Floridia’s farthest floods are curl’d, Where midlands broad their swelling mountains heave And slope their champaigns to the Atlantic wave, The sandy streambank and the woodgreen plain Raise into sight the new made seats of man. The placid ports that break the seaborn gales, Rear their tall masts and stretch aloft their sails; Full harvests wave, the groves with fruitage bend, Gay villas smile, defensive towers ascend; All the rich works of art their charms display To court the planter and his cares repay: Till war invades; when soon the dales disclose Their meadows path’d with files of savage foes; High tufted quills their painted foreheads press, Dark spoils of beasts their shaggy shoulders dress, The bow bent forward for the combat strung, The ax, the quiver on the girdle hung; The deep discordant yells convulse the air, And earth resounds the war whoop’s hideous blare. The patriarch lookt; and every darken’d height, Pours down the swarthy nations to the fight. Where Kennebec’s high source forsakes the sky, Where long Champlain’s yet unkeel’d waters lie, Where Hudson crowds his hill-dissundering tide, Where Kaatskill heights the starry vault divide, Where the dim Alleganies range sublime And give their streams to every neighboring clime, The swarms descended like an evening shade, And wolves and vultures follow’d where they spread. Thus when a storm on eastern pinions driven
the colonial wars
Meets the firm Andes in the midst of heaven, The clouds convulse, the torrents pour amain And the black waters sweep the subject plain. Thro harvest fields the bloody myriads tread, Sack the lone village, strow the streets with dead; The flames in spiry volumes round them rise, And shrieks and shouts redoubling rend the skies. Fair babes and matrons in their domes expire Or bursting frantic thro the folding fire They scream, fly, fall; promiscuous rave along The yelling victors and the driven throng; The streams run purple; all the peopled shore Is wrapt in flames and trod with steps of gore. Till colons,2 gathering from the shorelands far, Stretch their new standards and oppose the war, With muskets match the many-shafted bow, With loud artillery stun the astonisht foe. When like a broken wave the barbarous train Lead back the flight and scatter from the plain, Slay their weak captives, drop their shafts in haste, Forget their spoils and scour the trackless waste; From wood to wood in wild confusion hurl’d They hurry o’er the hills far thro the savage world. Now move secure the cheerful works of peace, New temples rise and fruitful fields increase.
“Hostilities between France and England extended to America. Braddock’s defeat.” From The Columbiad, book , continued Too soon the mother states with jealous fear Transport their feuds and homebred quarrels here. Now Gallia’s war-built barks ascend in sight, White flags unfold and armies robed in white, On all the frontier streams their forts prepare 2
Colonists.
the colonial wars
And coop our cantons with surrounding war. Quebec, as proud she rears her rocky seat, Feeds their full camp and shades their anchor’d fleet; Oswego’s rampart frowns athwart his flood, And wild Ontario swells beneath his load. And now an equal host from Albion’s strand Arrives to aid her young colonial band. They join their force and tow’rd the falling day Impetuous Braddock leads their hasty way; O’er Allegany heights, like streams of fire, The red flags wave and glittering arms aspire To meet the savage hordes, who there advance Their skulking files to join the arms of France. Where, old as earth, yet still unstain’d with blood, Monongahela roll’d his careless flood, Flankt with his mantling groves the fountful hills, Drain’d the vast region thro his thousand rills. Lured o’er his lawns the buffle herds, and spread For all his fowls his piscatory glade; But now perceives, with hostile flag unfurl’d, A Gallic fortress awe the western world; There Braddock bends his march; the troops within Behold their danger and the fire begin. Forth bursting from the gates they rush amain, Front, flank and charge the fast approaching train; The batteries blaze, the leaden vollies pour, The vales, the streams, the solid mountains roar; Clouds of convolving smoke the welkin spread, The champaign shrouding in sulphureous shade. Lost in the rocking thunder’s loud career, No shouts nor groans invade the Patriarch’s ear, Nor valorous feats are seen nor flight nor fall, But one broad burst of darkness buries all. Till chased by rising winds the smoke withdrew, And the wide slaughter open’d on his view. He saw the British leader borne afar In dust and gore beyond the wings of war; And while delirious panic seized his host,
the colonial wars
Their flags, their arms in wild confusion tost, Bold in the midst a youthful warrior3 strode And tower’d undaunted o’er the field of blood; He checks the shameful rout, with vengeance burns, And the pale Britons brighten where he turns. So when thick vapors veil the nightly sky The starry hosts in half seen lustre fly Till phosphor rises o’er the twinkling crowd And gives new splendor thro his parting cloud. Swift on a fiery steed the stripling rose, Form’d the light files to pierce the line of foes; Then waved his gleamy sword that flasht the day And thro the Gallic legions hew’d his way: His troops press forward like a loose-broke flood, Sweep ranks away and smear their paths in blood; The hovering foes pursue the combat far And shower their balls along the flying war; When the new leader turns his single force, Points the flight forward, speeds his backward course; The French recoiling half their victory yield, And the glad Britons quit the fatal field.
3
George Washington.
continued from front flap
many familiar poems of patriotic ardor have been chosen, other poems show a steady interest in antiwar themes. Lorrie Goldensohn provides a brief biography for each poet and places each poem in its proper literary and historical context. Comprehensive and compelling, American War Poetry not only documents the birth and development of a national style of expression but shows the force of poetry working on the historical moment, making it come vitally alive.
Lorrie Goldensohn is most recently the author of Dismantling Glory: TwentiethCentury Soldier Poetry, which was nominated for the 2004 National Book Critics Circle Award. Elizabeth Bishop: The Biography of a Poetry received a nomination for a Pulitzer Prize in 1990. Her poetry and critical essays have appeared in journals and periodicals since 1965.
American War Poetry spans the
“American War Poetry is an original and unprecedented event, assembling the poetry of war from the birth of the republic to the present imperial quest, and in reading this formidable symphony of utterance one cannot but admire the vision, critical acumen, and scholarly rigor that brought so necessary a book into being. Lorrie Goldensohn has given us an immense gift.” —Carolyn Forché
am e r i can war poetry
Poets Include: Elizabeth Bishop Robert Bly Joseph Brodsky Gwendolyn Brooks Stephen Crane E. E. Cummings Emily Dickinson T. S. Eliot Ralph Waldo Emerson Louise Erdrich Martin Espada
Robert Frost Ernest Hemingway Langston Hughes Galway Kinnell Denise Levertov Philip Levine Robert Lowell J. D. McClatchy W. S. Merwin Edna St. Vincent Millay Marianne Moore
Sharon Olds Ezra Pound Adrienne Rich Carl Sandburg Charles Simic Sitting Bull Wallace Stevens Henry David Thoreau Robert Penn Warren Phillis Wheatley Walt Whitman
columbia university press new york
www.columbia.edu/cu/cup
american war poetry
D
Goldensohn
an anthology
jack et image: Troops Awaiting Helicopter Transport, Vietnam War. © Tim Page/Corbis
jack et design: Chang Jae Lee
Edited by
pr inted in the u.s.a.
Lorrie Goldensohn
9!BME=H<:PR POS!
ISBN 0-231-13310-3
columbia
history of the nation. Beginning with the Colonial Wars of the eighteenth century and ending with the Gulf Wars, this original and significant anthology presents four centuries of American men and women—soldiers, nurses, reporters, and embattled civilians— writing about war. American War Poetry opens with a ballad by a freed African American slave, commenting on a skirmish with Indians in a Massachusetts meadow. Poems on the American Revolution follow, as well as poems on “minor” conflicts like the Mexican War and the Spanish-American Wars. This compact anthology has generous selections on the Civil War, World Wars I and II, the Korean War, and the Vietnamese-American War, but it also includes an unusually large offering on American participation in the Spanish Civil War. Another section covers four hundred years of conflict with Native Americans, ending with poems by contemporary Indians who respond passionately and directly to their difficult history. The collection also reaches into current reaction to American involvement in Latin America, Bosnia, and the Gulf Wars. Showing the depth of feeling and the range of thinking with which Americans have confronted war, American War Poetry expands our sense of what poetry is made to do. While the birth of a national identity is documented in early poems, the anthology also conveys the growing sophistication of a uniquely American style. Although early war poems show that the first justification for war was purely defensive, as American global ambitions matured, American writers moved increasingly to deplore a homegrown imperialism and its terrible costs. While
continued on back flap