This weeks reading was extremely patriotic and revolved around the formation of our country. It is for this reason that i was most ingulfed with the reading for the first time. In each poem Whitman gives detailed emotion and sights that im sure derived from his own experience as a nurse during the civil war. A not so interesting mention but something that stuck out to me initially is Whitmans reference to the volunteer nurses as women when he indeed was one. ” The women volunteering for nurses, the work begun for in earnest, no mere parade now;” I was under the impression that both men and women volunteered their help in anyway possible as Whitman did in being a nurse himself. Im curious if the position of nurse was primarily for women as it was not to long ago for us.
In the mindset of of the civil war and its participants i was paying close attention maybe to close. One line references a general who stood in the middle of his unit and addressed his men reading the Decleration. The vision of the general standing firmly in his position and surrounded by his men reminds me of the second most famous confederate gerneral. Second only to Robert E. Lee, Stone Wall Jackson was famous for standing in one spot during the course of battle never moving. Ironically never being wounded or killed by an enemy soldier. Instead he was shot by one of his own soldiers and died 8 days after from an pnemonia.
Refreshing myself with Stone Wall Jacksons legacy i came across a poem written soon after his death and around the same time “Leaves of Grass” came out or better yet the third republication of it roughly 1960. The author is unknown but it’s very interesting to see a contemporary of Whitman’s; writing rhythmatic poetry with a southern mantality.
Let me know what you think!?
- Come, stack arms, men! Pile on the rails,
- Stir up the camp-fire bright;
- No matter if the canteen fails,
- We’ll make a roaring night.
- Here Shenandoah brawls along,
- There burly Blue Ridge echoes strong,
- To swell the brigade‘s rousing song
- Of “Stonewall Jackson’s way.”
- We see him now, — the old slouched hat
- Cocked o’er his eye askew;
- The shrewd, dry smile, the speech so pat,
- So calm, so blunt, so true.
- The “Blue-Light Elder” knows ‘em well;
- Says he, “That’s Banks, — he’s fond of shell;
- Lord save his soul! we’ll give him hell,
- That’s “Stonewall Jackson’s way.”
- Silence! ground arms! kneel all! caps off!
- Old “Blue Light’s” going to pray.
- Strangle the fool that dares to scoff!
- Attention! it’s his way.
- Appealing from his native sod,
- “Hear us, hear us Almighty God,
- Lay bare Thine arm; stretch forth Thy rod!”
- That’s “Stonewall Jackson’s way.”
- He’s in the saddle now. Fall in!
- Steady! the whole brigade!
- Hill’s at the ford cut off; we’ll win
- His way out, ball and blade!
- What matter if our shoes are worn?
- What matter if our feet are torn?
- “Quick-step! we’re with him before morn!”
- That’s “Stonewall Jackson’s way.”
- The sun’s bright lances rout the mists
- Of morning, and, by George!
- Here’s Longstreet struggling in the lists,
- Hemmed in an ugly gorge.
- Pope and his Yankees, whipped before,
- “Bayonets and grape!” hear Stonewall roar;
- “Charge, Stuart! Pay off Ashby’s score!”
- In “Stonewall Jackson’s way.”
- Ah! Maiden, wait and watch and yearn
- For news of Stonewall’s band!
- Ah! Widow, read, with eyes that burn,
- That ring upon thy hand.
- Ah! Wife, sew on, pray on, hope on;
- Thy life shall not be all forlorn;
- The foe had better ne’er been born
- That gets in “Stonewall’s way.”
