Concord Hymn

"Concord Hymn" is an 1837 poem by American writer Ralph Waldo Emerson. It was written for a memorial to the Battle of Concord during the American Revolution.

Contents

Background

Emerson wrote "Concord Hymn" in 1836 for the dedication of the Obelisk, a battle monument in Concord, Massachusetts that commemorated the men that gave their lives at the Battle of Concord (April 19, 1775), the first battle of the American Revolution.

Emerson had been traveling through Europe; upon his return to the United States in 1833 he first lived with his mother in Newton, Massachusetts before moving to Concord in October 1834 to live with his step-grandfather Dr. Ezra Ripley at what was later named The Old Manse.[1] The home stands less than a hundred paces from the spot where the battle took place.[2] Shortly before his marriage to Lydia Jackson in 1835, Emerson purchased a home on the Cambridge and Concord Turnpike which he named "Bush".[3] He quickly became one of the leading citizens in Concord and gave a public lecture to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the town's founding on September 12, 1835.[4]

The "Concord Hymn" was written at the request of the Battle Monument Committee. As part of Concord's Independence Day celebration on July 4, 1837, the poem was first read before sung as a hymn by a local choir using the then-familiar tune "Old Hundredth".[5] Its original title was "Hymn: Sung at the Completion of the Concord Monument, April 19, 1836".[6]

Analysis

In the poem, Emerson elevates the event above mere local history and instead sets Concord as the center of the American nation.[7] However, as scholar Lawrence Buell notes, Emerson's poem removes the specific details of the battle and presents a more general "spirit" of revolution and freedom.[8] That spirit, Emerson hopes, will outlive those who fought in the battle.[9]

One source of the hymnn's power may be Emerson's personal ties to the subject. His grandfather Reverend William Emerson witnessed the battle at the North Bridge while living at the Old Manse.[10]

Legacy

Emerson's poem became the most-remembered aspect of the dedication of the monument; it was widely republished in newspaper accounts of the day. In contrast, the speech given by Congressman Samuel Hoar is forever lost.[11] In particular, Emerson's line about the "shot heard 'round the world" has become known in popular memory. The opening stanza, which includes the line, was inscribed on the granite pedestal for the Minute Man statue by Daniel Chester French. The statue was dedicated along with a replica of the Old North Bridge at a centennial recognition of the original battle on April 19, 1875.[12] "Concord Hymn" established Emerson as a poet; he was previously known as a lecturer and essayist.[9] Emerson biographer Robert Richardson notes they have since become the most famous lines he ever wrote.[13] Concord's centennial celebration of Emerson's birth in 1903 ended with a singing of the hymn.[6]

Poem

By the rude bridge that arched the flood,
Their flag to April’s breeze unfurled,
Here once the embattled farmers stood,
And fired the shot heard round the world.

The foe long since in silence slept;
Alike the conqueror silent sleeps;
And Time the ruined bridge has swept
Down the dark stream which seaward creeps.

On this green bank, by this soft stream,
We set to-day a votive stone;
That memory may their deed redeem,
When, like our sires, our sons are gone.

Spirit, that made those heroes dare,
To die, and leave their children free,
Bid Time and Nature gently spare
The shaft we raise to them and thee.

(Note: This version is from The Complete Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson (1904), edited by Edward Waldo Emerson, who noted, "From a copy of this hymn as first printed on slips for distribution among the Concord people at the celebration of the completion of the monument on the battle-ground, I note the differences from the poem here given as finally revised by Mr. Emerson in the Selected Poems."

References

  1. ^ Richardson, Robert D. Jr. Emerson: The Mind on Fire. Berkeley, California: University of California Press, 1995: 182. ISBN 0-520-08808-5
  2. ^ York, Maurice and Rick Spaulding. Ralph Waldo Emerson: The Infinitude of the Private Man. Wrightwood Press, 2008: 74. ISBN 9780980119008
  3. ^ Wilson, Susan. Literary Trail of Greater Boston. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2000: 127. ISBN 0-618-05013-2
  4. ^ Richardson, Robert D. Jr. Emerson: The Mind on Fire. Berkeley, California: University of California Press, 1995: 206. ISBN 0-520-08808-5
  5. ^ York, Jake Adam. The Architecture of Address: The Monument and Public Speech in American Poetry. Psychology Press, 2005: 24. ISBN 9780415970587
  6. ^ a b Buell, Lawrence. Emerson. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2003: 56. ISBN 9780674016279
  7. ^ Field, Peter S. Ralph Waldo Emerson: The Making of a Democratic Intellectual. Rowman & Littlefield, 2003: 114. ISBN 9780847688432
  8. ^ Buell, Lawrence. Emerson. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2003: 57. ISBN 9780674016279
  9. ^ a b Wayne, Tiffany K. Encyclopedia of Transcendentalism: The Essential Guide to the Lives and Works of Transcendentalist Writers. New York: Facts on File, 2006: 58. ISBN 0-8160-5626-9
  10. ^ Felton, R. Todd. A Journey into the Transcendentalists' New England. Berkeley, California: Roaring Forties Press, 2006: 58–59. ISBN 0-9766706-4-X
  11. ^ York, Jake Adam. The Architecture of Address: The Monument and Public Speech in American Poetry. Psychology Press, 2005: 160. ISBN 9780415970587
  12. ^ Wilson, Susan. Literary Trail of Greater Boston. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2000: 147. ISBN 0-618-05013-2
  13. ^ Richardson, Robert D. Jr. Emerson: The Mind on Fire. Berkeley, California: University of California Press, 1995: 262. ISBN 0-520-08808-5
Poetry

"Concord Hymn" (1836) · "Uriel" (1846) · "The Rhodora" (1847) · "Brahma" (1856)
Essays

Nature (1836) · The American Scholar (1837) · Self-Reliance (1841) · Compensation (1841) · Over-soul (1841) · Circles (1841) · The Poet (1844) · Experience (1844) · Politics (1844) · New England Reformers (1844)
Essay collections