From Harper’s Weekly, January 24, 1863   THE MONITOR.   Oh loyal souls, sunk in a noble ship As e’er the waters crossed! What direful tidings ring from every lip— “The Monitor is lost!” Sunk in an instant underneath the wave, With half the crew lost in a watery grave.   And yet not lost. Within [...]

From the December 20, 1862 Harper’s Weekly   WINTER. When winter rains begin, And trees are yellow and thin, And every garden bed Is a couch for the dying or dead; When woods are mouldy and dank; When the sodden river bank Is gusty, and misty, and chill, And birds are dull and still; Then may you [...]

Forgive my radio silence, gentle blog-readers, but it has been a busy fall! However, today, as I was preparing for teaching a class for the College of William & Mary’s Christopher Wren Association tomorrow, I stumbled upon this little piece of Victorian poesy and simply had to share.  Get your hankies ready!   From Harper’s Weekly, July [...]

In the category of “whilst looking for something else entirely….” we give you the following ditty (and cautionary tale), straight out of Harper’s Weekly, from 150 years ago today: Fashion for the Fireside To Mrs. J. I give thee this fire-proof dress, my love. Wearing all that attire, It gives me the greatest distress, my [...]

In April 1951, the Associated Press announced (erroneously)that the USS Monitor had been found in 120 feet of water. The US Navy’s response at that time was that they had no plans to raise her. The Harvard Crimson reported that students at Harvard University had created the movement “American Students for Raising the Monitor,” and [...]

This poem, written in 1861, in a sense was meant to awaken America to the coming of the war.  The beating of the drums and the blowing of the bugle would sound into every aspect of American life. Walt Whitman “Beat! Beat! Drums!”   Beat! beat! drums!—blow! bugles! blow! Through the windows—through doors—burst like a [...]

Taken from the September 1861 edition of Southern Literary Messenger: A Magazine Devoted to Literature, Science and Art, “Unknown Heroes,” written by William Howard Perrigo, is a timeless poem.  This poem, fitting to the time period in which it was written and is certainly relevant today as many continue to make the ultimate sacrifice. UNKNOWN [...]

On this day in 1861, Chapters 48 & 49 of Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations appeared in serial form in Harper’s Weekly. Harper’s also reprinted a poem from Punch magazine with the British view of the American war. O JONATHAN and JEFFERSON, come listen to my song; I can’t decide, my word upon, which of you [...]

Upon scrolling through the June 1861 edition of the Southern Literary Messenger: A Magazine Devoted to Literature, Science, and Art, I stumbled upon a poem that was likely written just before the onset of the war, but to me, shows the struggle of women during the war. “Fallen” was a submission written in early 1861 [...]

On this day in 1861, Tennessee seceded with a majority vote. Governor John Letcher of Virginia officially transferred Virginia troops to the Confederacy. While this move put the commander of the Virginia Army out of a job, General Robert E. Lee remained as an advisor to Confederate President Jefferson Davis. This poem, written on June [...]