TEACHING POETRY & AMERICAN ART

  • Introduction
    • Why Poetry and American Art?
    • Strategies
    • Disclaimer
    • About Me
  • Romanticism
    • Intro to American Romanticism (1820-1900)
    • John James Audubon
    • Thomas Cole
    • Asher Durand
    • Daniel Chester French
    • Winslow Homer
    • Albert Pinkham Ryder
    • Augustus Saint-Gaudens
    • "Illuminated Gems of Sacred Poetry"
    • "Indian Summer: Autumn Poems and Sketches"
  • Realism / Social Realism
    • Realism >
      • Intro to Realism (1900-1920)
      • George Bellows
      • Edwin Dawes
      • Thomas Eakins
      • Edward Hopper
      • Thomas Hovenden
      • John Sloan
    • Social Realism >
      • Intro to Social Realism (1920-1940)
      • Walker Evans
      • Dorothea Lange
      • Ben Shahn
  • Regionalism
    • Intro to Regionalism (1920-1940)
    • Thomas Hart Benton
    • Maynard Dixon
    • Grant Wood
  • Modernism
    • Intro to Modernism (1910-1940)
    • Stuart Davis
    • Charles Demuth
    • Marsden Hartley
    • Georgia O'Keeffe
  • Harlem Renaissance
    • Intro to Harlem Renaissance (1920-1940)
    • Aaron Douglas
    • Meta Warrick Fuller
    • Jacob Lawrence
    • Faith Ringgold
    • Carl Van Vechten
    • Hale Woodruff
  • Abstract Expressionism
    • Intro to Abstract Expressionism / New York School (1940-1960)
    • Morris Graves
    • Red Grooms
    • Philip Guston
    • Grace Hartigan
    • Kenneth Patchen
    • Dorothea Tanning
    • Walasse Ting
    • Cy Twombly
  • Postmodern/Contemporary
    • Intro to Postmodern / Contemporary Art (1950-present)
    • Visual Poetry
    • Louise Bourgeois
    • Joseph Goldyne
    • Elizabeth Murray
    • Jeff Schlanger
    • Kiki Smith
    • Jaune Q. Smith
  • More Resources
  • Introduction
    • Why Poetry and American Art?
    • Strategies
    • Disclaimer
    • About Me
  • Romanticism
    • Intro to American Romanticism (1820-1900)
    • John James Audubon
    • Thomas Cole
    • Asher Durand
    • Daniel Chester French
    • Winslow Homer
    • Albert Pinkham Ryder
    • Augustus Saint-Gaudens
    • "Illuminated Gems of Sacred Poetry"
    • "Indian Summer: Autumn Poems and Sketches"
  • Realism / Social Realism
    • Realism >
      • Intro to Realism (1900-1920)
      • George Bellows
      • Edwin Dawes
      • Thomas Eakins
      • Edward Hopper
      • Thomas Hovenden
      • John Sloan
    • Social Realism >
      • Intro to Social Realism (1920-1940)
      • Walker Evans
      • Dorothea Lange
      • Ben Shahn
  • Regionalism
    • Intro to Regionalism (1920-1940)
    • Thomas Hart Benton
    • Maynard Dixon
    • Grant Wood
  • Modernism
    • Intro to Modernism (1910-1940)
    • Stuart Davis
    • Charles Demuth
    • Marsden Hartley
    • Georgia O'Keeffe
  • Harlem Renaissance
    • Intro to Harlem Renaissance (1920-1940)
    • Aaron Douglas
    • Meta Warrick Fuller
    • Jacob Lawrence
    • Faith Ringgold
    • Carl Van Vechten
    • Hale Woodruff
  • Abstract Expressionism
    • Intro to Abstract Expressionism / New York School (1940-1960)
    • Morris Graves
    • Red Grooms
    • Philip Guston
    • Grace Hartigan
    • Kenneth Patchen
    • Dorothea Tanning
    • Walasse Ting
    • Cy Twombly
  • Postmodern/Contemporary
    • Intro to Postmodern / Contemporary Art (1950-present)
    • Visual Poetry
    • Louise Bourgeois
    • Joseph Goldyne
    • Elizabeth Murray
    • Jeff Schlanger
    • Kiki Smith
    • Jaune Q. Smith
  • More Resources
Dirge
(by Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1803-1882)
 
Knows he who tills this lonely field,                                 stanza 1
    To reap its scanty corn, 
What mystic fruit his acres yield
    At midnight and at morn?

In the long sunny afternoon,                                            stanza 2
     The plain was full of ghosts;
I wandered up, I wandered down,
    Beset by pensive hosts.

The winding Concord gleamed below,                              stanza 3
     Pouring as wide a flood
As when my brothers, long ago,
    Came with me to the wood.

But they are gone,— the holy ones                                  stanza 4 
    Who trod with me this lonely vale;
The strong, star-bright companions
    Are silent, low, and pale.

My good, my noble, in their prime,                                 stanza 5
    Who made this world the feast it was,
Who learned with me the lore of time,
    Who loved this dwelling-place!

They took this valley for their toy,                                  stanza 6
    They played with it in every mood;
A cell for prayer, a hall for joy,--
    They treated nature as they would.

They colored the horizon round;                                     stanza 7 
     Stars flamed and faded as they bade;
All echoes hearkened for their sound,--
    They made the woodlands glad or mad.

I touch this flower of silken leaf,                                       stanza 8
    Which once our childhood knew;
Its soft leaves wound me with a grief
    Whose balsam never grew.

Hearken to yon pine warbler                                            stanza 9 
     Singing aloft in the tree!  
Hearest thou, O traveler,
     What he singeth to me?

Not unless God made sharp thine ear                             stanza 10
     With sorrow such as mine,
Out of that delicate lay couldst thou
     Its heavy tale divine.

'Go, lonely man,' it saith,                                                     stanza 11
    'They loved thee from their birth;
Their hands were pure, and pure their faith,--
     There are no such hearts on earth.

'Ye drew one mother's milk,                                                stanza 12
     One chamber held ye all;
A very tender history
      Did in your childhood fall.

'Ye cannot unlock your heart,                                               stanza 13
     The key is gone with them;
The silent organ loudest chants
     The master's requiem.'

Discussion points / questions / activities

  • In Indian Summer, these stanzas were deleted: #5, 6, 7,  9, 10, 11, 12, 13, leaving stanzas 1, 2, 3, 4, and 8 as the ones featured in the anthology. What do you think was the reason for these edits? Do the deleted stanzas add something essential to the poem? Or are they replaceable? Why? For reference, here is the poem as it appeared in the anthology:

Dirge (as featured in Indian Summer)

​Knows he who tills this lonely field,                               stanza 1
    To reap its scanty corn, 
What mystic fruit his acres yield
    At midnight and at morn?

In the long sunny afternoon,                                           stanza 2
     The plain was full of ghosts;
I wandered up, I wandered down,
    Beset by pensive hosts.
​
​The winding Concord gleamed below,                             stanza 3
     Pouring as wide a flood
As when my brothers, long ago,
    Came with me to the wood.

​But they are gone,— the holy ones                                  stanza 4 
    Who trod with me this lonely vale;
The strong, star-bright companions
    Are silent, low, and pale.

I touch this flower of silken leaf,                                     stanza 8
    Which once our childhood knew;
Its soft leaves wound me with a grief
    Whose balsam never grew.
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