Poems of American History, The Period of Growth

These are the poems Americans once memorized, recited, and believed. Spanning from the Revolutionary War through the Civil War's threshold, this collection captures the voices that shaped a nation's understanding of itself. Here is Longfellow's "Paul Revere's Ride" galloping through the night, Francis Scott Key watching the bombardment that became "The Star-Spangled Banner," and Whittier stirring the conscience of a country hurtling toward its great moral crisis. The Alamo's defenders, Johnny Appleseed wandering westward, the wreck of the Hesperus on the rocks of Gloucester - these are the stories Americans told to explain who they were and how they had become. Emerson's essays on the national spirit appear here in verse form, while Holmes captures the age of Washington and the Founders. Even Lord Byron makes an appearance, his romantic passion finding eager American readers. This is not a museum of dusty texts but the living literature of a people inventing themselves through language, rhythm, and myth. For readers who want to understand how America understood itself before it was a finished nation, these poems remain essential witnesses to a bold, bloody, and idealistic age.