Elegy-Zac Byrd

Lincoln Is Dead

Lincoln Is Dead

By George Moses Horton 1798–1883 George Moses Horton

He is gone, the strong base of the nation,

    The dove to his covet has fled;

Ye heroes lament his privation,

    For Lincoln is dead.

 

He is gone down, the sun of the Union,

    Like Phoebus, that sets in the west;

The planet of peace and communion,

    Forever has gone to his rest.

 

He is gone down from a world of commotion,

    No equal succeeds in his stead;

His wonders extend with the ocean,

    Whose waves murmur, Lincoln is dead.

 

He is gone and can ne’er be forgotten,

    Whose great deeds eternal shall bloom;

When gold, pearls and diamonds are rotten,

    His deeds will break forth from the tomb.

 

He is gone out of glory to glory,

    A smile with the tear may be shed,

O, then let us tell the sweet story,

    Triumphantly, Lincoln is dead.

 

 

This elegy was written by George Moses Horton.  Horton an African American during the 1800's was greatly affected and displayed his sorrow for the loss of Lincoln in this elegy.  The poem starts with expressing how Lincoln was "the base of the nation" and how the "sun of the Union" has set below the horizon.  This depiction of Lincoln as such a major and central part of our lives like the sun shows the grief Horton expresses.  He is then praised with one of the highest honors a person can say when Horton expresses that "no equal succeeds in his stead".  Since Horton is an African American I feel like here he is speaking for the general population of African Americans during that time of how great a president Lincoln was.  At the end of the first stanza the elegy said "Lincoln is dead" but now at the end it says "Triumphantly, Lincoln is dead".  This, and how "a smile with the tear may be shed" for Lincoln, expresses Horton's solace for his personal and African Americans loss.  This ending captured the lasting image of Lincoln being in Horton's mind one of the greatest presidents of all time.  I chose this poem because I thought it was interesting how this came from an African American's perspective.  Especially during a time like this where a president represented not only the nation  to him, but also his freedom.

Horton, George M. "Lincoln Is Dead." “Words for the Hour”: A New Anthology of American Civil War Poetry. Ed.               Faith Barrett and Cristanne Miller. University of Massachusetts Press, 2005.