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There were many reasons why Civil War poets wrote about the war. Some used the war to express their ideas concerning society, religion, and mans 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 wars 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 contrasting things too. Northern poets quickly took the offensive on the issue of slavery.
They thought the concept and anyone involved with slavery was evil. The poem, Our Flag by T. H. Underwood really gets the emotions going when it is read. He writes of a slave owner who murders a slaves mother and wife.
Writing about this lets Underwood express the drama of the cruelty that was bestowed upon the slaves. Toward the end of this poem he writes of the slaves dead wife and he refers to her as being noble. For now my darling in her slumber lay as royally as lays the noblest clay (The Poetry of the American Civil War- pg. 123). Ive noticed that many of the poets ennoble the dead, mostly the soldiers, but here Underwood says it towards a dead slave. During and after the war every soldier was thought of very highly.
Underwood uses much realism but writes from a second hand perspective or ultimately through his imagination. Another poem I read Ode by Henry Tired shows how the poets of the time ennobled the soldiers that fought in the war, as well as the slave in Our Flag. This poem is one of the firsts in its time to speak of the champions with honor and enduring fame. Now, war has become a means of ennobling those who fight without regard for the outcome or aims. I believe the soldiers and the slaves were very noble.
Indeed they all had to be really brave to deal with the conditions they were forced into. 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 doesnt express directly the soldiers 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 countrys 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 mothers blood; The winding sheet I what 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.
The poem by T. H. Underwood, Our Flag and the poem I am going to talk about The Jacket of Grey by the Southern poet Caroline Augusta Ball both show the sorrow and pride of the dead soldiers coming home. This is just one of the similarities between the South and the North. Another comparison I find is that all of these authors put an importance on the bloody articles of the dead that the families hold onto. In most cases its the American flag but in Caroline Balls poem its the gray jacket the soldier was wearing.
Mostly all of the poems touch on the American flag as an insight about the War Between the States. In these three poems they mostly stick to the horrible feelings and situations the war caused. Some of the African American poets saw the war as something that almost would purify America. This was also Walt Whitman's (another 19 th century poet) opinion but he is a whole other topic. I mention him only as an insight to others with this opinion. They believe its 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; Ill 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 died and He left the flag, reporting To God the reason why.
This poem definitely expresses the bravery of the black soldiers on the battlefield. Another poem by an African American author Paul Lawrence Dun...
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Research essay sample on Civil War Nineteenth Century
