Civil War Poetry
There were many reasons why Civil War poets wrote about the war. Some used the war to express their ideas concerning society, religion, and man's place in the world. While others aspired to capture the effects of the war and its impact on the soldiers and their families. Few of the poets trying to capture the war's effects approached realism because sentimentality and melodramatic temper was typical for their era. There were so many different feelings express in the poetry about the Civil War. I plan to compare the similarities and contrast the differences of poems by authors of this period, both black and white. I also plan to discuss the affect of the North verses the South conflict from the respective point of view. They concentrated on different feelings and actions during and after the Civil War. War poetry written by noncombatants is significant because of its acknowledgement of other cultural aspects of the Civil War. The everyday people that were affected-- the housewives, medical doctors, teachers, preachers, bankers, journalists, schoolboys and girls-- are valuable because they consider themselves to be representation of society. The southern and northern poems have many in commons but also many contras
Another poem by a Northern poet is "Returned From War" by Henry L Abbey from May Dreams. It is similar to "Our Flag" because Abbey is probably using his imagination. This makes the poem realistic only in the way that it probably happened. This poem doesn't express directly the soldier's nobility but it brings the battlefield and the home together. Depicting the dead soldier brought home from the war to his wife shows the emotion of the effects of the battlefield in the home. This is similar to "Our Flag". Another similarity, is in "Returned From War" where Abbey talks of the dead soldier wrapped in the American flag. "Shrouded by his country's flag, And in martial garments dressed." (The Poetry of the Civil War- pg. 32) He shows how important the American flag was to everyone both South and North. Underwood writes, "These crimson spots are my poor mother's blood; The winding sheet I wrapt her in, When in the night, I stole her corpse away To give rest within its house of clay." (Also from The Poetry of the Civil War- pg. 123) Underwood writes of the blood spots on the flag that the slave saved and showed him. This added to the drama and let him use the melodramatic temper they loved to write with in the nineteenth century. Another poem by an African American author Paul Lawrence Dunbar called, "The Colored Soldier" depicts, as well as "The Reason Why" how African American soldiers fought bravely for the union. I think its horrible especially the line "They were good to stop a bullet And to front the fearful fray." (African - American Poetry of the Nineteenth Century) This shows how terrible it was on the blacks fighting for the south. It was terrible because the South, or the Union, was fighting to legalize slavery. They were used and abused as people. It seems they all stand so brave, I'm not sure everyone, but in the poems I have read they are all honored and proud to stand up for their rights. Again, in the poem " The Colored Soldier" they refer to the American flag, which seems to be an aspect throughout my paper. Those are just a few poems that show the feelings and impact, poems had during the war. The exception being Caroline Ball's "The Jacket of Grey" and Henry Timrod's "Ode", they dealt with the aftermath of the war. Some of the African American poets saw the war as something that almost would purify America. This was also Walt Whitman's (another 19th century poet) opinion but he is a whole other topic. I mention him only as an insight to others with this opinion. They believe it's not necessarily a bad thing but a chance to defend the rights of all Americans especially their rights as people. In "The Reason Why" George Clinton Rowe writes of a soldier that has the American flag and is supposed to "Bring back to me this banner, This ensign of the free!" said the sergeant. "Holding the flag on high; 'I'll bring it back or else report to God the reason why!' " (African -American Poetry of the Nineteenth Century- pg. 344) This again shows what an impact the American flag had on everyone, whether black, white, soldier, or mother. The poem later explains that the soldier had
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2116
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)
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