{"id":1120,"date":"2024-10-29T19:27:02","date_gmt":"2024-10-29T19:27:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chopwoodcarrywaterllc.com\/?p=1120"},"modified":"2025-04-23T19:19:13","modified_gmt":"2025-04-23T19:19:13","slug":"abraham-lincoln-walks-at-midnight-in-springfield-illinois","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chopwoodcarrywaterllc.com\/index.php\/2024\/10\/29\/abraham-lincoln-walks-at-midnight-in-springfield-illinois\/","title":{"rendered":"Abraham Lincoln Walks at Midnight In Springfield, Illinois by Vachel Lindsay"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It is portentous, and a thing of state<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That here at midnight, in our little town<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A mourning figure walks, and will not rest,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Near the old court-house pacing up and down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Or by his homestead, or in shadowed yards<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He lingers where his children used to play,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Or through the market, on the well-worn stones<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He stalks until the dawn-stars burn away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A bronzed, lank man! His suit of ancient black,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A famous high top-hat and plain worn shawl<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Make him the quaint great figure that men love,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The prairie-lawyer, master of us all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He cannot sleep upon his hillside now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He is among us:\u2014as in times before!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And we who toss and lie awake for long<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Breathe deep, and start, to see him pass the door.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His head is bowed. He thinks on men and kings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yea, when the sick world cries, how can he sleep?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Too many peasants fight, they know not why,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Too many homesteads in black terror weep.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The sins of all the war-lords burn his heart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He sees the dreadnaughts scouring every main.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He carries on his shawl-wrapped shoulders now<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bitterness, the folly and the pain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He cannot rest until a spirit-dawn<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shall come;\u2014the shining hope of Europe free;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The league of sober folk, the Workers’ Earth,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bringing long peace to Cornland, Alp and Sea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It breaks his heart that kings must murder still,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That all his hours of travail here for men<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seem yet in vain.   And who will bring white peace<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That he may sleep upon his hill again?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

____________________<\/p>\n\n\n\n

About Lindsay\u2019s poem \/ Regarding Abraham Lincoln Walks At Midnight statue at West Virginia State Capitol grounds, Charleston, W. Va.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Vachel Lindsay [1879-1931], U.S. poet born in Springfield, Ill., was noted for his efforts  \u201cas a traveling<\/p>\n\n\n\n

bard whose dramatic delivery in public readings helped keep appreciation for poetry as a spoken art alive in the American Midwest; he called these performances the \u201cHigher Vaudeville.\u201d With their strong strong rhythms rooted in the American vernacular, revival meetings, the soap box, and the works of Edgar Allan Poe<\/a> and William Blake<\/a>, poems such as \u201cThe Santa Fe Trail\u201d and \u201cAbraham Lincoln Walks at Midnight<\/a>\u201d became part of an American literary and cultural revival distinct from literary modernism. This poem, written amid the First World War, is telling through these stanzas:  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c. . . He cannot rest until a spirit-dawn<\/p>\n\n\n\n

`Shall come;\u2014the shining hope of Europe free. Moreover, Lindsay, considered empathic with African-Americas in the early generations following the Civil War, may have used the term \u2018white peace\u2019 for that purpose. Scholars contend Lindsay\u2019s thinking toward equality and justice is strained by some his other poems\u201d https:\/\/www.poetryfoundation.org\/poets\/vachel-lindsay<\/a>).  \/ Use this photograph of Lindsay:https:\/\/www.sj-r.com\/story\/entertainment\/arts\/2023\/04\/07\/a-new-documentary-explores-the-life-and-work-of-vachel-lindsay\/70090567007\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Regarding Abraham Lincoln Walks At Midnight.\u00a0<\/strong>This statue, 8 feet tall on a 5\u00be foot granite Base, is located on the North side of the state Capitol Building.\u00a0 From the Smithsonian Institution Art Inventories Catalog: \u201cFred M. Torrey created the original20 inch high model in 1935 after a Vachel Lindsay poem entitled \u2018Abraham Lincoln Walks at Midnight.\u2019 Charleston resident Louise Bing contacted Torrey about purchasing a Lincoln sculpture in honor of West Virginia\u2019s centennial celebration. Torrey offered the model of “Abraham Lincoln Walks at Midnight” to West Virginia around 1964-65. Louise Bing raised the $5,000 to purchase the 42 inch bronze model, and then went on to spearhead a\u00a0drive to raise over $35,000 from the public to have the sculpture enlarged. Contributions from across the state came from school children, private citizens, and the West Virginia Arts and Humanities Council. However, the artist died in 1967, before the sculpture could be enlarged. Bernard Wiepper was commissioned to enlarge the original model to a nine foot plaster model which was then cast in bronze. The sculpture was dedicated on Wes Virginia\u2019s 111th birthday celebration on June 20, 1974.\u201d – https:\/\/www.hmdb.org\/m.asp?m=23019<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It is portentous, and a thing of state That here at midnight, in our little town A mourning figure walks, and will not rest, Near the old court-house pacing up and down. Or by his homestead, or in shadowed yards He lingers where his children used to play, Or through the market, on the well-worn … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Abraham Lincoln Walks at Midnight In Springfield, Illinois by Vachel Lindsay”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1120","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chopwoodcarrywaterllc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1120","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chopwoodcarrywaterllc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chopwoodcarrywaterllc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chopwoodcarrywaterllc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chopwoodcarrywaterllc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1120"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/chopwoodcarrywaterllc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1120\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1133,"href":"https:\/\/chopwoodcarrywaterllc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1120\/revisions\/1133"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chopwoodcarrywaterllc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1120"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chopwoodcarrywaterllc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1120"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chopwoodcarrywaterllc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1120"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}