Bryant's Song of the Sower and Homer's Tented Field
Winslow Homer, "Tented Field" illustration from William Cullen Braynt's "Song of the Sower" (1871)
Discussion points / questions / activities
→ See the other Winslow Homer resource Homer's Bobbin Girl for the full text of Bryant's "Song of the Sower."
Homer's Tented Field illustrates this section of the poem:
III.
Fling wide the golden shower; we trust
The strength of armies to the dust.
This peaceful lea may haply yield
Its harvest for the tented field.
Ha! feel ye not your fingers thrill,
As o'er them, in the yellow grains,
Glide the warm drops of blood that fill,
For mortal strife, the warrior's veins;
...
→ See the other Winslow Homer resource Homer's Bobbin Girl for the full text of Bryant's "Song of the Sower."
Homer's Tented Field illustrates this section of the poem:
III.
Fling wide the golden shower; we trust
The strength of armies to the dust.
This peaceful lea may haply yield
Its harvest for the tented field.
Ha! feel ye not your fingers thrill,
As o'er them, in the yellow grains,
Glide the warm drops of blood that fill,
For mortal strife, the warrior's veins;
...
- Connect this section of the poem to the illustration. How do the two connect?
- Notice the covered wagons in the background. Why are they there? What time period is illustrated?
- Notice the military men and their tented field. How would you describe the men and their camp?
- Does this illustration express an opinion on war / military pursuits ? Does the poem? How can you tell?
