Background/Rationale
Why poetry? Georgia Heard wrote that she has seen the transformational power of poetry. She recounts stories of students who have lost parents to drug abuse, or parents who were in jail, or who have felt abused or neglected. Heard wrote, “The real lessons poetry can teach are what I call life lessons”.2 Students need an avenue to let their feeling and thoughts maneuver through. They need to release their anger, frustration, fears, and anxieties. Heard believes that poetry is the vehicle that will help students reach into their “well of feelings” and help them to articulate what it is that they are feeling.
Students today are exposed to so much more than students were just 15 to 20 years ago. Living in the city, students see and hear more than they should. Students tell me about seeing and hearing people getting shot, drugs being used, children being hit by cars, and people arguing and fighting, both physically and verbally. Because of technology, they have access not only to breaking news around the world; they also are connected with friends and family up to the minute - live. Without a way to express the affect this has on their bodies and minds, students have a difficult time expressing what they are feeling. What I see happening at school each day is students coming to school looking sad, angry, hungry, and defeated. Although poetry will not solve these social problems, it can help students put words to what they are experiencing, what they wish they could change about their circumstances, and how they can see their city or neighborhood (their existence) in a different light.
Public Poetry
Private poetry deals with the individual activity of the self. When a poet deals with public themes that affect him or her, such as politics and war, they look not only within themselves, but also on what they hear from others and from today what we call mass media. Public poetry has been around for centuries and has been critical in understanding the thoughts and hearts of people living in difficult times. In public poetry, the artist has to direct their attention inward and outward. Michael Thurston adds that, “(a) t the same time, we are at one with the community of viewers, hearers, readers. We unite with the ‘humanity’ with whom we share both senses and values.”3 Poets, in writing public poetry, carry the burden of understanding their own hearts and minds in a given situation and in connecting and reflecting on the values of the community at large while maintaining poetic form and structures.
Adrienne Rich feels that poetry should be taught in schools. It should be exciting and there should be television shows, videos, and poetry games to interest our young students. We do not hear about poetry as an art form as much as we do about paintings, fiction and non-fiction books, music, movies, or television shows. Perhaps there is not enough money to be had by commercial interests to warrant the investment in poetry. Rich wrote in 1993 that around the United States there must be several thousand poetry readings a night and listed all the places you could find them. I wonder if this is still true today. Rich’s hope is that poetry remains simple and inexpensive enough that it will “never become leashed to profit, marketing, and consumerism.”4
Introducing public poetry in my classroom will serve several purposes. Giving students a forum in which to safely write and discuss their experiences and feelings about living in an urban setting, in a section of the city that includes abandoned homes, unkempt homes, abandoned cars, litter, graffiti, homelessness, and constant noise will help them to express in words what they are experiencing without the fear of reprisal or reproach from family or their community. Students will hear about poets who use allegory and figurative language in order to allow the reader to work out the possible meanings and make connections to events in the world or personal experiences.
Rudyard Kipling
The first poem I would like to introduce to my students, after completing a few lessons introducing public poetry, is called “Philadelphia” by Rudyard Kipling. Kipling was born in 1865 in Bombay, India and died in 1936. At about six years old, he was taken to Southsea England to learn how to read and write in English. Unfortunately, he spent almost six years in a house that was owned by an old Navy Captain and his wife who took in children whose parents lived in India. He was abused physically and emotionally by “the woman”, which is how he refers to the Captain’s wife, in his book, Something of Myself. During his stay, he began having trouble with his eyesight (because he was banned from reading and had to hide in poorly lit rooms to read) and had what might be called a nervous breakdown – he was having hallucinations. Eventually his aunt, who lived in England, found out what was happening and wrote Rudyard’s mother. His mother traveled back to England and took Rudyard out of the house – interestingly enough, his sister was to stay there for a couple more years, as she did not receive the same treatment. He eventually attended Westward Ho! a school where 75% of the students were born outside of England, and whose fathers had been in the army.
Finally at 16, Kipling returned home. He worked on the editorial staff of a daily paper of the Punjab, the Civil and Military Gazette, where he wrote that he never worked less than ten hours as the daily paper came out each evening. He wrote a book of verse, one book of prose, and stories for the Pioneer Weekly, including a set of six small volumes of his tales while working there. After six and a half years, he left India for England in 1889. After he married, he and his wife traveled around the world. They ended up living in a cottage in New England where he began to write the stories of Mowgli in The Jungle Book.
In 1910, Kipling wrote Rewards and Fairies, which is a historical fantasy featuring short stories set in historical times. I think it is important to put the book in context in order to understand the poem. Dan and Una meet Puck, a fairy, who conjures up real and fictional characters to tell the children stories about historic events that are not necessarily accurate. The poem “Philadelphia” appears in the chapter entitled, “Brother Square-toes,” a tale about a boy who travels to Philadelphia and meets Apothecary Tobias Hirte of 118 Second Street who takes the boy, Pharaoh, under his wing. Pharaoh meets Red Jacket, a Seneca Chief, through Tobias and gives Pharaoh the Seneca name, “Brother Square-toes.” Red Jacket and Pharaoh travel south to meet George Washington to ask him if the United States was planning to fight with France against England. President Washington assures Red Jacket that the United States will not fight in this war.
Count Charles Maurice Talleyrand de Perigord, from France, traveled to America to talk the President into helping France fight against England. Talleyrand is known for being King Louis’ Ambassador to England until King Louis’ was beheaded. Talleyrand ran back to Paris and enjoined Danton, King Louis’ murderer, to send him back to England as the new Ambassador of the French Republic. The English did not take this kindly and kicked him out of England. He fled to America with no money and met Toby, Pharaoh and Red Jacket in Philadelphia. Talleyrand tried to talk Pharaoh into telling him exactly what the President said to the French Ambassador before he went back to France having failed to talk Washington into joining their fight. Washington asked Red Jacket only to tell others that “there will be no war.” Pharaoh honored their wishes and would not give Talleyrand any other information, which Talleyrand had to accept.
Before we get to the first section of the poem, a few words about Count Zinnendorf who is mentioned in the first stanza. He was born in 1700 in Dresden, Saxony (Germany) and died in 1760. He was the son of a Saxon minister and of noble descent. He wanted to study theology but his family wanted him to study law. After he was married, he inherited part of his grandmother’s estate and became interested in his tenants’ religious affairs. Along with these refugees from Bohemia and Moravia, they developed their own Moravian Church in Herrnhut, Saxony. Zinnendorf believed that members should provide each other with living quarters, food, clothing, childcare, education and employment, if possible. This “communitarian” ideal became very popular and the aristocracy became doubtful of their allegiance to the state. Zinnendorf was ordained in the Lutheran church in hopes of appeasing them. Before being banished from the estate, he was consecrated a bishop of the Unitas Fratrum in 1773 and then traveled to the Netherlands, Baltics, West Indies, and England establishing congregations in these areas. In 1741, he traveled to America eventually setting up a congregation in the Philadelphia area, namely Bethlehem. Tobias was a member of the Moravian church and so the reference to Count Zinnendorf.
Philadelphia
If you’re off to Philadelphia in the morning,
You mustn’t take my stories for a guide.
There’s little left indeed of the city you will read of,
And all the folk I write about have died. Now few will understand if you mention Talleyrand,
Or remember what his cunning and his skill did.
And the cabmen at the wharf do not know Count Zinnendorf,
Nor the Church in Philadelphia he builded.
It is gone, gone, gone with lost Atlantis (Never say I didn’t give you warning).
In Seventeen Ninety-three ‘twas there for all to see, But it’s not in Philadelphia this morning.
In this first section, Kipling in referring to the stories in Rewards and Fairies, writes that there is little left behind of the people who lived in the city in 1793. Not many people would remember who Talleyrand or Zinnendorf was; indeed, I had to look them up! He laments perhaps that the diversity and excitement of the city has changed so much that by the early 1900s, when the poem was written, you might not recognize it – so do not look for it. Also we know that Washington was living in the city during his presidency so the city was filled with visitors, dignitaries, lobbyists, and early activists. The city must of have been bustling at all hours of the day.
If you're off to Philadelphia in the morning,
You mustn't go by anything I've said.
Bob Bicknell's Southern Stages have been laid aside for ages,
But the Limited will take you there instead.
Toby Hirte can't be seen at One Hundred and Eighteen
North Second Street--no matter when you call;
And I fear you'll search in vain for the wash-house down the lane
Where Pharaoh played the fiddle at the ball.
It is gone, gone, gone with Thebes the Golden,
(Never say I didn't give you warning).
In Seventeen Ninety-four 'twas a famous dancing floor--
But it's not in Philadelphia this morning.
In this section of the poem, Kipling again writes that you shouldn’t go by anything that has been said. Bob Bicknell’s Southern Stages was mentioned in the story. Pharaoh sold horses to Bob for the Baltimore stagecoaches and made quite a profit. The Limited may be referring to The Liberty Limited, which the Pennsylvania Railroad debuted in the 1930s. It was a revolutionary new streamliner, which became a competitor of the B&O Railroad until World War II. Here we see reference to travel in old Philadelphia being replaced by the monstrous trains during Industrial Revolution.
Toby Hirte of course, is Tobias the Apothecary who takes Pharaoh under his wing. Red Jacket brings Pharaoh to him because of his affiliation with the Moravian Church. He was making pills when Pharaoh first met him and selling them as he traveled around the area along with Red Jacket’s Seneca Oil. After the Civil War, teaching hospitals such as Hahnemann in Philadelphia trained and licensed physicians, which would have replaced many “Apothecaries.”
There are a couple of references to hotels, dancing halls, and taverns in this poem. Pharaoh was a fiddler who was hired to play at various dancing halls in the story. Thebes the Golden must have been one that Pharaoh played in which was well known in 1794.
If you're off to Philadelphia in the morning,
You must telegraph for rooms at some Hotel.
You needn't try your luck at Epply's or "The Buck,"
Though the Father of his Country liked them well.
It is not the slightest use to inquire for Adam Goos,
Or to ask where Pastor Meder has removed--so
You must treat as out of date the story I relate
Of the Church in Philadelphia he loved so.
He is gone, gone, gone with Martin Luther
(Never say I didn't give you warning)
In Seventeen Ninety-five
he was, ( rest his soul! ) alive.
But he's not in Philadelphia this morning.
In this next section of the poem, Kipling is referring to hotels that were around at the time Washington was staying at the President’s House in Philadelphia. Pastor Meder and Adam Goos were Priest and Brother, respectively, of the Moravian church in the story. Pastor Meder is listed in the church records as pastor during the early 1800s.5 He is gone with Martin Luther, may be referring back to Count Zinnendorf who was ordained a Lutheran priest to appease the aristocracy of Saxony. In 1795, Pastor Meder may have been alive but not Count Zinnendorf!
If you're off to Philadelphia this morning,
And wish to prove the truth of what I say,
I pledge my word you'll find the pleasant land behind
Unaltered since Red Jacket rode that way.
Still the pine-woods scent the noon;
still the catbird sings his tune;
Still autumn sets the maple-forest blazing;
Still the grape-vine through the dusk flings her soul-compelling musk;
Still the fire-flies in the corn make night amazing!
They are there, there, there with Earth immortal
(Citizens, I give you friendly warning). .
The thins that truly last when men and times have passed,
They are all in Pennsylvania this morning!
This is a wonderful ending to the poem, when Kipling turns from people and places you could find in Philadelphia in the 1790s to what is truly lasting and you can still find in Philadelphia – the beautiful nature that can still be seen in and around the city. Although this would have been more true in 1910 than it is today, if you care to look around the city, especially in Fairmount Park, you can find the pine woods, the catbirds, the maple trees turning yellow, orange, and red in autumn and the fire-flies! Kipling even then makes the point that you can see these beautiful things in Pennsylvania, widening the area to incorporate the cornfields and woodlands that can still be found today.
Carl Sandburg
Carl Sandburg was born on January 6, 1878 in Galesburg, Illinois. His parents were from Sweden, his father was an illiterate blacksmith but his mother could read and write and “often amazed us with her English vocabulary.”6 Sandburg had various jobs before the age of 19, when he decided to see the world. Since he did not have any money, he learned that he could travel as a hobo, without any money at least until he found a job. He left his family home with $3.25 in his pocket. What he noticed when he got to Chicago was that although the country was emerging from hard time and prosperity seemed to be on the way, there were still many people out of work. When he returned home, he worked on farms and for a painting company. America in 1898 was at war with Spain over Cuba. After Sandburg learned of the sinking of the battleship Maine, he knew he wanted to enlist. After receiving his uniform and training in the Army, he was sent to Puerto Rico, where he survived a short stay fighting only with mosquitoes and discomfort from the heavy Civil War uniforms and equipment soldiers were given at that time.
After the war, Sandburg enlisted in Lombard College, which is where he came under the influence of Walt Whitman. He loved Whitman’s free verse, unrhymed and easy style and gave him the greatest compliment – that of imitating his style. Sandburg left Lombard before he graduated – it is not clear why he left but judging by his history so far, he did not seem to stay long at any one job or place and later said that he was happy but restless at Lombard. He was married, living in Milwaukee, working as editor for the Social-Democratic Herald where he was finally able to write a page and two columns a week. In the summer of 1912, he and his wife decided to move to Chicago hoping that this would be the place where Sandburg could write poetry.
In 1913, Sandburg wrote and edited for many publishers, including Poetry: A Magazine of Verse. He wrote the Chicago poems while trying to get a steady job. His wife sent some of his poems to Poetry: A Magazine of Verse, but they had been rejected. Unknowingly, Sandburg decided to stop in the new offices and they loved his poems. They were then published and the rest they say is history!
Chicago
Hog Butcher for the World,
Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat,
Player with Railroads and the Nation's Freight Handler;
Stormy, husky, brawling,
City of the Big Shoulders:
North Callahan wrote that this poem offended and shocked many readers. They did not like his slang or reference to the common man. The poem begins by listing jobs that require muscle, hard work and grit. “City of the big shoulders” speaks to the hard working nature of the people who helped build the city and keep it going. (I read that it actually was “City of the broad shoulders.”)
They tell me you are wicked and I believe them, for I have seen your painted women under the gas lamps luring the farm boys.
And they tell me you are crooked and I answer: Yes, it is true I have seen the gunman kill and go free to kill again.
And they tell me you are brutal and my reply is: On the faces of women and children I have seen the marks of wanton hunger.
And having answered so I turn once more to those who sneer at this my city, and I give them back the sneer and say to them:
Come and show me another city with lifted head singing so proud to be alive and coarse and strong and cunning.
Sandburg acknowledges the brutal but hardworking side of Chicago. During the early 1900s, Chicago was the transportation hub of the country and was also the agricultural, manufacturing and financial center. The city was growing fast – reportedly its population doubled every 20 years. Chicago was and is a large metropolitan area where thousands of people came to look for jobs. Sandburg in his own quest to find a job met many people who, like him, struggled to find work. He also met people who worked hard for a living and still could not put enough food on their family’s table at night. Speaking for the city, Sandburg answers those who would criticize, point fingers at, and look down upon people who were just trying to make a good living. His reply speaks to the images that he has seen walking around Chicago – women selling their bodies for money, gunmen killing others, crooked officials, children going hungry – and asks, show me a city that does not have these same conditions and situations, that is proud and strong!
Flinging magnetic curses amid the toil of piling job on job, here is a tall bold slugger set vivid against the little soft cities;
Fierce as a dog with tongue lapping for action, cunning as a savage pitted against the wilderness,
Bareheaded,
Shoveling,
Wrecking,
Planning,
Building, breaking, rebuilding,
It is like Sandburg is saying - here the magnificent city, carrying big shoulders, set against the little soft cities – as fierce and mighty as a dog – can take those curses from others and fling them amid the toil of piling job on job – they won’t distract us (the city) from building, breaking, rebuilding. It can take what you throw at it!
Under the smoke, dust all over his mouth, laughing with white teeth,
Under the terrible burden of destiny laughing as a young man laughs,
Laughing even as an ignorant fighter laughs who has never lost a battle,
Bragging and laughing that under his wrist is the pulse, and under his ribs the heart of the people,
Laughing!
Laughing the stormy, husky, brawling laughter of Youth, half-naked, sweating, proud to be Hog Butcher, Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat, Player with Railroads and Freight Handler to the Nation.
Sandburg seems to be saying – under all the dust and dirt, underneath the nature of things, underneath the skin of workers, there comes that pure satisfaction of a job well done. You see it in young people, young workers who do not yet feel the toll hard work has on the body and soul after years of hard labor. They enjoy the day, the small accomplishments and are proud to be a part of making Chicago the great city it is. Indeed these workers make Chicago the great city it is!
Walt Whitman
Walt Whitman was born on May 31, 1819 in West Hills, Long Island, New York. Because of his father’s economic situation, including bad investments and inconsistent jobs, Whitman’s formal education ended when he was eleven. At this young age, he took a job at a law office and because they took kindly to him, they helped him improve his handwriting and composition skills and gave him a membership to the library to that he could continue reading. Throughout his lifetime he had many jobs including newspaper editor, teaching, printing, and journalist to name a few. In 1841, he became involved in the Democratic electoral campaign and gave speeches and wrote articles about politics. In 1855, Whitman’s famous poem, Leaves of Grass was self-published, which some feel he began writing as far back as the 1840s. In this poem, Whitman “celebrated democracy, nature, love, and friendship. This monumental work chanted praises to the body as well as to the soul, and found beauty and reassurance even in death.”7
After the Civil War broke out in April 1861, Whitman’s brother, George, enlisted in the war. Whitman decided to resume his career as a journalist and after reading George’s name among those who were wounded at the battle of Fredericksburg, Whitman decided to travel to Washington to search for him. Whitman stayed in Washington and worked as a nurse in the area hospitals. He kept careful notes throughout the war and wrote articles for newspapers. Although he never officially met President Lincoln, he wrote that he saw him many times while in Washington and they would exchange bows. Whitman wrote two poems about Lincoln, one entitled, “O Captain, My Captain” and the other “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d” which was written after Lincoln’s assassination.
To date I have not found any background information on Whitman’s poem, “The Great City” – not even the date it was written. We know that Whitman lived and worked in New York City and visited many others. He traveled more after the Civil War then before due to family commitments – he helped to care for his siblings including a mentally challenged younger brother. I think it is safe to assume that he was not writing about New York City.
The Great City
The place where a great city stands is not the place of stretch'd wharves, docks, manufactures, deposits of produce merely, Nor the place of ceaseless salutes of new-comers or the anchor-lifters of the departing, Nor the place of the tallest and costliest buildings or shops selling goods from the rest of the earth, Nor the place of the best libraries and schools, nor the place where money is plentiest, Nor the place of the most numerous population.
New York in the 1800s was the great city where immigrants flowed in through Ellis Island, where I can imagine ceaseless salutes to newcomers and anchors lifted abroad ocean liners. It was the place of the tallest buildings, shopping and where money was “plentiest!” And of course, New York City continues to have the largest city population in the United States.
Where the city stands with the brawniest breed of orators and bards, Where the city stands that is belov'd by these, and loves them in return and understands them, Where no monuments exist to heroes but in the common words and deeds, Where thrift is in its place, and prudence is in its place, Where the men and women think lightly of the laws, Where the slave ceases, and the master of slaves ceases, Where the populace rise at once against the never-ending audacity of elected persons, Where fierce men and women pour forth as the sea to the whistle of death pours its sweeping and unript waves,
In this second stanza, Whitman is giving us clues for what he considers the greatest city. It’s a city where the strongest breed of storytellers and speakers live, where people love to hear these orators and bards speak and understand their message, where common people are their heroes, where people are careful with their earnings and spend wisely, where men and women respect the law, where slavery does not exist, where the community protects its interests, and where men and women give of themselves for the common good.
Where outside authority enters always after the precedence of inside authority, Where the citizen is always the head and ideal, and President, Mayor, Governor and what not, are agents for pay, Where children are taught to be laws to themselves, and to depend on themselves, Where equanimity is illustrated in affairs, Where speculations on the soul are encouraged, Where women walk in public processions in the streets the same as the men, Where they enter the public assembly and take places the same as the men; Where the city of the faithfulest friends stands, Where the city of the cleanliness of the sexes stands, Where the city of the healthiest fathers stands, Where the city of the best-bodied mothers stands, There the great city stands.
Whitman continues in the third and final paragraph giving us more clues. It’s a city where people call the outside authority when they cannot solve their conflicts, where elected officials truly represent the people, where children are educated to become citizens, where people are encouraged to find out who they are, where women are equal to men, where loyal friends abound, where good health is important for the well being of fathers and mothers because a healthy family is the foundation for a great city. By the end of the poem, you realize that Whitman is listing the elements of an ideal city – a great city. Wouldn’t it be amazing to live in such as city?
Comments: