Category Archives: American Literature

BOOKS: “John Brown” by W.E.B. Du Bois

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John BrownJohn Brown by W.E.B. Du Bois
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Available free online at Project Gutenberg

“John Brown’s Raid on Harpers Ferry” is one of those historic events like the “Teapot Dome Scandal” that American kids have to memorize a rote fact about to regurgitate on an American History test a couple times during their scholastic lives, never to be thought of much again, forever a familiar name lacking all depth of understanding. (At least that’s how it was in my day.) Unlike the Teapot Dome Scandal, which I suspect is not learned about in detail because it was somewhat complex and boring, I think the minimalist coverage of John Brown might reflect a bit of national embarrassment. For Brown’s tale is not complicated, and it’s certainly not boring. Brown thought slavery was an abomination, and he devoted his life to freeing slaves by whatever means he could, which culminated in a raid on an arsenal at Harper’s Ferry, West Virgina, at the convergence of the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers, a raid intended to liberate weapons to the cause of arming freed slaves and other abolitionist fighters.

It’s a shame that more is not learned about John Brown because he was such a fascinating and principled individual, and in a sense his story isn’t just an embarrassing tale of a sparse few virtuous people against a mainstream that was — at best — indifferent to slavery. But there is a potential for pride in the fact that Brown and those who fought with him were able to see slavery for what it was and to stand strong against that mainstream, to make the fight of the oppressed their fight and — in the case of Brown and others — to pay the ultimate price in the conduct of that fight.

W.E.B. Du Bois’ biography of John Brown came out in 1909 and may not be written in the novel-esque style that a writer today would write it, but it is well-written and readable. Du Bois’ book is a full biography of Brown, if focused on his abolitionist aspect. Du Bois tells a little of Brown’s backstory and of his work life and then explores his experiences fighting in Kansas. However, this book does really shine in its account of the Harpers Ferry Raid and its aftermath.

Readers interested in American History or the biographies of virtuous individuals are urged to read this account of the life of John Brown.

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PROMPT: Cultural Heritage

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What aspects of your cultural heritage are you most proud of or interested in?

I’m not sure whether this prompt is directed toward the culture of my ancestors (Irish) or the culture in which I was raised (American.) If it is the former, then the answer is certainly the great literary and poetic talent that was born of the culture (i.e. Yeats, Wilde, Shaw, Heaney, Beckett, Joyce, etc.) But if it is the latter, then it is certainly the great literary and poetic talent that was born of the culture (i.e. Whitman, Poe, Hemingway, Hughes, Twain, Dickinson, Faulkner, etc.)

“Upon the Road of My Life” by Stephen Crane [w/ Audio]

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Upon the road of my life,
  Passed me many fair creatures,
  Clothed all in white, and radiant.
 To one, finally, I made speech:
   “Who art thou?”
 But she, like the others,
   Kept cowled her face,
   And answered in haste, anxiously,
   “I am good deed, forsooth;
   You have often seen me.”
 “Not uncowled,” I made reply.
   And with rash and strong hand,
   Though she resisted,
   I drew away the veil
   And gazed at the features of vanity.
 She, shamefaced, went on;
   And after I had mused a time,
 I said of myself,
   “Fool!”

“Changed” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow [w/ Audio]

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From the outskirts of the town
  Where of old the mile-stone stood,
Now a stranger, looking down
I behold the shadowy crown
  Of the dark and haunted wood. 

Is it changed, or am I changed?
  Ah! the oaks are fresh and green,
But the friends with whom I ranged
Through their thickets are estranged
  By the years that intervene. 

Bright as ever flows the sea,
  Bright as ever shines the sun,
But alas! they seem to me
Not the sun that used to be,
  Not the tides that used to run.

“A Decade” by Amy Lowell [w/ Audio]

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When you came, you were like red wine and honey,
 And the taste of you burnt my mouth with its sweetness.
 Now you are like morning bread,
 Smooth and pleasant.
 I hardly taste you at all for I know your savour,
 But I am completely nourished.

“So set its Sun in Thee” (808) by Emily Dickinson [w/ Audio]

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So set its Sun in Thee
   What Day be dark to me —
 What Distance — far —
   So I the Ships may see
 That touch — how seldomly —
   Thy Shore?

“King Trisanku” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow [w/ Audio]

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Viswamitra the Magician,
  By his spells and incantations,
Up to Indra's realms elysian
  Raised Trisanku, king of nations. 

Indra and the gods offended
  Hurled him downward, and descending
In the air he hung suspended,
  With these equal powers contending. 

Thus by aspirations lifted,
  By misgivings downward driven,
Human hearts are tossed and drifted
  Midway between earth and heaven.

“It might be lonlier” (405) by Emily Dickinson [w/ Audio]

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It might be lonelier
   Without the Loneliness —
 I'm so accustomed to my Fate —
   Perhaps the Other — Peace —

Would interrupt the Dark —
   And crowd the little Room —
 Too scant — by Cubits — to contain
   The Sacrament — of Him —

I am not used to Hope —
   It might intrude upon —
 Its sweet parade — blaspheme the place —
   Ordained to Suffering —

It might be easier
   To fail — with Land in Sight —
 Than gain — My Blue Peninsula —
   To perish — of Delight —

“A face devoid of love or grace” (1711) by Emily Dickinson [w/ Audio]

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A face devoid of love or grace,
   A hateful, hard, successful face,
   A face with which a stone
 Would feel as thoroughly at ease
   As were they old acquaintances —
   First time together thrown.

“His steady sails he never furls” by Henry David Thoreau [w/ Audio]

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His steady sails he never furls
   At any time o' year,
 And perching now on Winter's curls,
   He whistles in his ear