Lincoln's Poetry

Christopher Sullivan is an independent researcher, editor, and writer.

• ForewordIntroduction – An Aspiring PoetFor Abraham Lincoln, poetry was a kind of currency. He saved and traded it; he regularly drew on his mental bank account; he judged its worth and its purposes. He experienced its value in practical, personal ways -- as an aspiring poet, seeing his own work in print, and as a lawyer, where once his spontaneous recitation of six lines of blank verse turned a jury and won a case he should have lost.Part 1 - FoundationsTo explore Lincoln's lifelong attraction to verse and its purposes for him, we must first consider experiences that set its foundation. Chapter 1 - Poetic Stirrings on the FrontierChapter 2 – `Schools, So Called'Chapter 3 - `Wisdom Literature' – Poetry in PrimersChapter 4 – `A Youth to Fortune and to Fame Unknown'Chapter 5 - `Alma Mater'Part 2 – Poets and PurposesFrom childhood into his mid-twenties, Lincoln had been leaning toward verse for instruction, entertainment and mental exercise. Through the second half of his life, it is possible to trace the deepening and more varied place that poetry – particularly if we focus on certain writers and on certain themes -- had in his thoughts and experience.Chapter 6 – The Romance of a Wider World – Lincoln's ByronChapter 7 – `A Secret Sorrow' – Lincoln's MelancholyChapter 8 – The Devil Came `Fiddlin' – Lincoln's BurnsChapter 9 – `Our Conversation Turned Upon Poetry' – Lincoln's RespiteChapter 10 – `Bard and Benefactor' – Lincoln's ShakespearePart 3 – Lincoln's Own VerseThis section presents the texts of extant poetic works that Lincoln is known (and in one instance, firmly believed) to have written, including those that he published, each presented with explanatory context. Also: A discussion of two verses attributed to him.Chapter 11 – The Longer PoemsChapter 12 – Jottings – Lincoln's Other VerseChapter 13 – Did Lincoln Compose These Two Verses? An InquiryPart 4 – Poetic ProseIt is Lincoln's prose that is remembered as poetic. Examining passages of that lyrical writing, some familiar, others overlooked, this section renders some of this prose typographically in verse form, as an aid to glimpsing how his poetic mind worked. Chapter 14 – `And the War Came'Chapter 15 -- Prose Into VerseAfterword – Notes in a Stovepipe Hat Poetic language swept into Lincoln's soul from his first consciousness. At every stage – schoolboy scribbling doggerel about `his hand and pen,' then flatboatman, railsplitter, surveyor, legislator, lawyer, president – it was the background music. And as he hinted, it represented an aspiration, one that the would-be poet ultimately achieved. Appendix I – Where are Keats and Whitman?Did Lincoln know the verse of John Keats and Walt Whitman, two poets with whom he had intriguing personal connections? An inquiryAppendix II – 'Oh, Why Should the Spirit of Mortal Be Proud?'Text of William Knox's poem "Mortality," a favorite Lincoln often repeated.AcknowledgementsSourcesIndex