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==History==
==History==
In October 1834 Emerson went to live with his step-grandfather [[Ezra Ripley]] in Concord, at what was later named [[The Old Manse]]<ref>
IN CASE YOU DIDNT KNOW HE DOESNT EXSIST ANYMORE SO THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO REASON TO LEARN ABOUT HIM!!!! but just in case you have an obsession with dead people here is the info. about his life. <(^.^<) 8(}) In October 1834 Emerson went to live with his SUPER UGLY step-grandfather who had a face that looked like a donkey's [[Ugly Ripley]] in Concord, at what was later named [[The Old Manse]]<ref>
Richardson, Robert D. Jr. ''Emerson: The Mind on Fire''. Berkeley, California: University of California Press, 1995: 182. ISBN 0-520-08808-5</ref>&mdash;less than a hundred paces from the spot where the battle took place.<ref>
Richardson, Robert D. Jr. ''Emerson: The Mind on Fire''. Berkeley, California: University of California Press, 1995: 182. ISBN 0-520-08808-5</ref>&mdash;less than a hundred paces from the spot where the battle took place.<ref>
York, Maurice and Rick Spaulding. ''Ralph Waldo Emerson: The Infinitude of the Private Man''. Wrightwood Press, 2008: 74. ISBN 978-0-9801190-0-8</ref>
York, Maurice and Rick Spaulding. ''Ralph Waldo Emerson: The Infinitude of the Private Man''. Wrightwood Press, 2008: 74. ISBN 978-0-9801190-0-8</ref>

Revision as of 14:31, 7 February 2013

Emerson's "Concord Hymn" was written for the dedication of the memorial of the Battle of Concord.

"Concord Hymn" (original title was "Hymn: Sung at the Completion of the Concord Monument, April 19, 1836")[1][clarification needed] is a poem by Ralph Waldo Emerson written for the 1837 dedication of the Obelisk, a monument in Concord, Massachusetts commemorating the Battle of Concord, the second in a series of battles and skirmishes on April 19, 1775 at the outbreak of the American Revolution.

History

IN CASE YOU DIDNT KNOW HE DOESNT EXSIST ANYMORE SO THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO REASON TO LEARN ABOUT HIM!!!! but just in case you have an obsession with dead people here is the info. about his life. <(^.^<) 8(}) In October 1834 Emerson went to live with his SUPER UGLY step-grandfather who had a face that looked like a donkey's Ugly Ripley in Concord, at what was later named The Old Manse[2]—less than a hundred paces from the spot where the battle took place.[3] In 1835 he purchased a home on the Cambridge and Concord Turnpike[4] and quickly became one of Concord's leading citizens. That same year he was asked to give a public lecture commemorating the town's 200th anniversary.[5]

The "Concord Hymn" was written at the request of the Battle Monument Committee. At Concord's Independence Day celebration on July 4, 1837 it was first read, then sung as a hymn by a local choir using the then-familiar tune "Old Hundredth".[6]

The poem elevates the battle above a simple event, setting Concord as the spiritual center of the American nation,[7] and exalting a general spirit of revolution and freedom[8]— a spirit Emerson hoped would outlive those who fought in the battle.[9] One source of the hymn's power may be Emerson's personal ties to the subject: his grandfather William Emerson, Sr., witnessed the battle at the North Bridge while living at the Old Manse.[10]

The first stanza of "Concord Hymn" is inscribed at the base of The Minute Man statue by Daniel Chester French.
The poem's first stanza was also featured on a 1925 U.S. 5-cent stamp.

Emerson's poem was widely published in newspaper accounts of the dedication; in contrast there is no record of Congressman Samuel Hoar's speech that day.[11] In particular, Emerson's line "the shot heard 'round the world" is a fixture in the lore of the American Revolution,[citation needed] and the opening stanza is inscribed beneath the Daniel Chester French Minute Man statue dedicated (along with a replica of the Old North Bridge) at the 1875 commemoration of the original battle.[12] "Concord Hymn" established Emerson as a poet; he was previously known as a lecturer and essayist.[9] Emerson biographer Robert Richardson notes they[clarification needed] 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. [1]

Text

Wikisource has original text related to this article:

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 spirits 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. ^ a b Buell, Lawrence. Emerson. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2003: 56. ISBN 978-0-674-01627-9
  2. ^ Richardson, Robert D. Jr. Emerson: The Mind on Fire. Berkeley, California: University of California Press, 1995: 182. ISBN 0-520-08808-5
  3. ^ York, Maurice and Rick Spaulding. Ralph Waldo Emerson: The Infinitude of the Private Man. Wrightwood Press, 2008: 74. ISBN 978-0-9801190-0-8
  4. ^ Wilson, Susan. Literary Trail of Greater Boston. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2000: 127. ISBN 0-618-05013-2
  5. ^ Richardson, Robert D. Jr. Emerson: The Mind on Fire. Berkeley, California: University of California Press, 1995: 206. ISBN 0-520-08808-5
  6. ^ York, Jake Adam. The Architecture of Address: The Monument and Public Speech in American Poetry. Psychology Press, 2005: 24. ISBN 978-0-415-97058-7
  7. ^ Field, Peter S. Ralph Waldo Emerson: The Making of a Democratic Intellectual. Rowman & Littlefield, 2003: 114. ISBN 978-0-8476-8843-2
  8. ^ Buell, Lawrence. Emerson. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2003: 57. ISBN 978-0-674-01627-9
  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 978-0-415-97058-7
  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
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