War-Lyrics and Other Poems Review

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(More customer reviews)Oliver Wendell Holmes called the author of these poems, Henry Howard Brownell (1820-1872), "Our War Laureate."
During the Civil War, Brownell served with Admiral David Farragut on the flagship "Hartford," so poets and historians are most likely to be drawn to "The River Fight" (the capture of New Orleans on April 24, 1862) and "The Bay Fight" (the Battle of Mobile Bay, August 5, 1864).
The Battle of Mobile Bay is now mostly remembered through William Heysham Overend's painting of Farragut in the mizzen rigging as the "Hartford" engaged the Confederate ironclad "Tennessee." Brownell's long poem, "The Bay Fight," paints the larger picture. It first traces the movement of the Union warships up Mobile Bay, past the "torpedoes" and other defenses to face the Confederate squadron. It is full of suspense and drama as the "Hartford," the "Lackawanna," and the "Monongahela" rammed the ironclad, manuevered to avoid being rammed in turn, and exchanged broadsides.
There's also plenty of drama in "The River Fight" as the Union fleet runs up the Mississippi to New Orleans, and the poem also describes the complex preparation of a warship for battle.
Readers should be sure to read Brownell's long footnote on pp. 235-237, "Can a Slaveholder be a Good Man?" In it he wrestled with the dilemmas posed by friendship with those who owned slaves, and with the knowledge that many Americans enjoyed products and benefits of the slave system, which deadened moral feelings. It's an interesting small essay on issues Americans still discuss.
The poems of the war make up a little more than half the volume, which includes Brownell's poetry on other subjects, many classical.
It may take a little time for a modern reader to become re-acquainted with the poetic forms of the 19th century. Contemporary critics noted that some of Brownell's poems were "unfinished, uneven, often undignified, and sometimes grotesque." Brownell said they were "spray, perhaps, flung up by the strong Tide-Rip of Public Trouble."
BiblioLife has performed a real service by making available the 1866 collection of his poems, so full of heart.
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