Reflection Blog - Fireside Poets - Romanticism

My first thought when I read that I had to pick a poem from one of the fireside poets, I decided right then and there that I wanted to chose a short one. What student does not want less work, less to read, and overall, less to analyze? I decided to Google Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poems and I picked the first one I saw. It was short, and immediately I was excited. In my head I thought, "Hey, I can get this blog done so fast now. No worries, right?" I read the poem and I was actually enthralled by the significant detail portrayed in the poem. It may be a short piece of literature, but I definitely feel like I could blog about the significance of it forever... so in the end, I do not feel like I am taking the easy-way out (which is a good thing).

The poem is called "A Nameless Grave". It is about a man who stumbles upon a grave that is completely unmarked signifying the body of an unknown soldier who died in the American Revolution. The man reflects on how the soldier died in battle, yet no one knows exactly who the individual was or is. "Thou unknown hero sleeping by the sea in thy forgotten grave," (Longfellow line 10). I find this quote from the poem to be very significant. To me, it is saying that the man who stumbled upon the grave reflects on the fact that nobody knows just who the soldier is...where he came from...how he died...his birthday...or even the day he had to part with this earth. The poem made me think a good deal about the American Revolution, a war in which I feel school teachers overlook in class more than they should. This was one of the biggest wars fought on American soil and back then, technology was nowhere as "technological" than what is it today. When someone was killed from a gunshot wound to the head, it was practically impossible for anyone to identify the body and say who it was. There was no DNA testing then. How sad is that? How sad and lonely would it be to die a hero, but no one know who you were? I asked myself that question more than once. Although one may perceive it to be a terrible thing to be deemed an "unknown hero", in all honestly, I think some soldiers kind of, sort of, wished to perish that way. They did not go to war to get their name in the local tribune, but rather felt so strongly about freedom and independence that they chose to serve their country with honor and gratitude. This poems last line says "And I can give thee nothing in return," regarding what the soldier has given the man. He means that the soldier fought for this man's independence from Britain, but because he is unknown, the man can not give anything to him. I think Longfellow wanted readers to feel like they could realize more than the man in the poem does. Readers can take from this poem that honor does not need to be won only by those who are identifiable, but rather, it should go to anyone who represented bravery, strength, courage, and valor.

As far as this poem representing the Romanticism time period, I think that it demonstrates great detail, just not as in depth as the other poems we have read thus far into this unit.

"Shot down in skirmish, or disastrous rout, Of battle, when the loud artillery drave, Its iron wedges through the ranks of brave, And doomed battalions, storming the redoubt," (Longfellow). Considering the poem is less than fifteen lines, these 3 lines give the poem a lot of detail. The author describes the loudness of the artillery, the wedges of iron in the rank, and even the state in which the battalions are "doomed". Also, a lot of the Romantic poems consisted of artistic inspiration. Since the Revolution was a huge part in any American's lives, I can understand why Longfellow had the inspiration to write this poem. I think that the Romanticism time period writing had a lot to do with what inspired authors.

"A Nameless Grave by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow." PoemHunter.Com - Thousands of Poems and Poets.. Poetry Search Engine. 10 Mar. 2010. Web. 07 Dec. 2011.