Yesterday I shared Joseph Rodman Drake's poem “The American Flag,” a work set to music in a cantata by composer Antonin Dvořák. The poem was written around 1816, and it was first published in 1819. Dvořák composed his work between 1892 and 1893.
With its grandiloquent language and lofty themes, Drake’s poem is quite typical of poetry from the early 19th century, and today I thought I’d just toss out a few comments about the poem -- some of the aspects I liked and others that bugged me.
With its grandiloquent language and lofty themes, Drake’s poem is quite typical of poetry from the early 19th century, and today I thought I’d just toss out a few comments about the poem -- some of the aspects I liked and others that bugged me.
In the first stanza…
I do love the image of “The milky baldric of the skies” – what a great way to depict the Milky Way. However, I thought “azure” was an odd choice for the night sky in line 3, “She tore the azure robe of night.” Why not “ebon” or “onyx”? Also, “hand” seemed a strange choice for the eagle line 11.
In second stanza…
First of all, WOW – that is all one sentence! LOL – that’s quite a bit to get out in one breath, so to speak. It does have an exclamation point in the middle, but oddly enough, Drake has used that as one would a comma for direct address (like, “Thanks…comma…everyone” or “Children…comma…please stop jumping”). In this case, the addressee is “Child of the sun.” Drake uses the exclamation point like this in the third, fourth, and fifth stanzas as well.
I do like in this stanza how Drake used a mix imagery to appeal to a range of senses – sight, sound, smell – and the smattering of alliterative pairs of words.
In the third stanza…
Again, the alliterative language and rhymes are effective – and I particularly like that “warm and wet” in line 5. I’m not sure why the apostrophe was used in “dimmed” – other than to make it “look” poetic? Other effective bits include the “cannon mouthings” in line 11; the “Heave in wild wreaths the battle shroud” in line 12; and the “gory sabres” in line 13. Finally, that oxymoronic phrasing at the end, “That lovely messenger of death,” is appropriately eerie.
In the fourth stanza…
I have to admit, I was not familiar with the word “careering” at all, used in a sense where I would have said “careening.” Ya learn something every day, no? Also, I loved the image of the “bellied sail” in line 4 – it works perfectly!
I do love the image of “The milky baldric of the skies” – what a great way to depict the Milky Way. However, I thought “azure” was an odd choice for the night sky in line 3, “She tore the azure robe of night.” Why not “ebon” or “onyx”? Also, “hand” seemed a strange choice for the eagle line 11.
In second stanza…
First of all, WOW – that is all one sentence! LOL – that’s quite a bit to get out in one breath, so to speak. It does have an exclamation point in the middle, but oddly enough, Drake has used that as one would a comma for direct address (like, “Thanks…comma…everyone” or “Children…comma…please stop jumping”). In this case, the addressee is “Child of the sun.” Drake uses the exclamation point like this in the third, fourth, and fifth stanzas as well.
I do like in this stanza how Drake used a mix imagery to appeal to a range of senses – sight, sound, smell – and the smattering of alliterative pairs of words.
In the third stanza…
Again, the alliterative language and rhymes are effective – and I particularly like that “warm and wet” in line 5. I’m not sure why the apostrophe was used in “dimmed” – other than to make it “look” poetic? Other effective bits include the “cannon mouthings” in line 11; the “Heave in wild wreaths the battle shroud” in line 12; and the “gory sabres” in line 13. Finally, that oxymoronic phrasing at the end, “That lovely messenger of death,” is appropriately eerie.
In the fourth stanza…
I have to admit, I was not familiar with the word “careering” at all, used in a sense where I would have said “careening.” Ya learn something every day, no? Also, I loved the image of the “bellied sail” in line 4 – it works perfectly!
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In the fifth stanza…
The final question mark, to me, is perplexing; however, I’ve seen versions of this poem with a period used instead – though to be honest, that last segment is weird. As a matter of fact, Drake originally concluded the poem with these four lines:
As fixed as yonder orb divine,
That saw thy bannered blaze unfurled,
Shall thy proud stars resplendent shine,
The guard and glory of the world.
He wasn’t happy with them (that “yonder orb divine” is laughable), so he asked his friend, poet Fitz-Green Halleck, for help. Halleck wrote the final four lines we see today. Like I said, I’ve seen versions with a period at the end, but I’ve also found versions like this – with two question marks:
Forever float that standard sheet!
Where breathes the foe but falls before us?
With Freedom’s soil beneath our feet,
And Freedom’s banner streaming o’er us?
Sooo…there are some nice elements within the poem, but overall, it’s bloated ballyhoo and star-spangled sentiment – full of sound and fury, if you know what I mean. I’ll look at a similarly themed poem tomorrow by Walt Whitman, and I’ll also get to the “something a bit odd I found” that I mentioned yesterday.
The final question mark, to me, is perplexing; however, I’ve seen versions of this poem with a period used instead – though to be honest, that last segment is weird. As a matter of fact, Drake originally concluded the poem with these four lines:
As fixed as yonder orb divine,
That saw thy bannered blaze unfurled,
Shall thy proud stars resplendent shine,
The guard and glory of the world.
He wasn’t happy with them (that “yonder orb divine” is laughable), so he asked his friend, poet Fitz-Green Halleck, for help. Halleck wrote the final four lines we see today. Like I said, I’ve seen versions with a period at the end, but I’ve also found versions like this – with two question marks:
Forever float that standard sheet!
Where breathes the foe but falls before us?
With Freedom’s soil beneath our feet,
And Freedom’s banner streaming o’er us?
Sooo…there are some nice elements within the poem, but overall, it’s bloated ballyhoo and star-spangled sentiment – full of sound and fury, if you know what I mean. I’ll look at a similarly themed poem tomorrow by Walt Whitman, and I’ll also get to the “something a bit odd I found” that I mentioned yesterday.
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