Misplaced Pages

#641358

65-439: The poem is about a local blacksmith. Noted as being strong, he works by the sweat of his brow and does not owe anyone anything. Children coming home from school stop to stare at him as he works, impressed by the roaring bellows and burning sparks. On Sundays, the blacksmith, a single father after the death of his wife, takes his children to church, where his daughter sings in the village choir . He goes through his life following

130-412: A bath in holy water." Later scholars and critics questioned the depth of Whittier's poetry. One was Karl Keller, who noted, "Whittier has been a writer to love, not to belabor." Whittier was particularly supportive of women writers, including Alice Cary , Phoebe Cary , Sarah Orne Jewett , Lucy Larcom , and Celia Thaxter . He was especially influential on prose writings by Jewett, with whom he shared

195-644: A belief in the moral quality of literature and an interest in New England folklore. Jewett dedicated one of her books to him and modeled several of her characters after people in Whittier's life. Whittier's family farm, known as the John Greenleaf Whittier Homestead or simply "Whittier's Birthplace", is now a historic site open to the public. His later residence in Amesbury, where he lived for 56 years,

260-541: A cause that he deemed morally correct and socially necessary. He was a founding member of the American Anti-Slavery Society and signed the Anti-Slavery Declaration of 1833, which he often considered the most significant action of his life. Whittier's political skill made him useful as a lobbyist, and his willingness to badger anti-slavery congressional leaders into joining the abolitionist cause

325-495: A humble, plain person, much as John Greenleaf Whittier does in his poem " The Barefoot Boy ". Further, Simon Bronner notes that, like Nathaniel Hawthorne 's woodcarver character in "Drowne's Wooden Image", Longfellow is praising the craftsman in a time of industrialization. The poem, along with several others by Longfellow, was translated into Spanish by Colombian poet Rafael Pombo . In several interviews, baseball player and manager Billy Southworth noted that his father recited

390-463: A kind of Ballad on a Blacksmith in the next Knickerbocker , which you may consider, if you please, as a song in praise of your ancestors at Newbury." The actual village blacksmith in the poem, however, was a Cambridge resident named Dexter Pratt, a neighbor of Longfellow's. Pratt's house is still standing at 54 Brattle Street in Cambridge. Several other blacksmiths have been posited as inspirations for

455-402: A motion made by John Quincy Adams . By the end of the 1830s, the unity of the abolitionist movement had begun to fracture. Whittier stuck to his belief that moral action apart from political effort was futile. He knew that success required legislative change, not merely moral suasion. That opinion alone engendered a bitter split from Garrison, and Whittier went on to become a founding member of

520-462: A new resolution that barred Congress from discussing petitions that mentioned bringing slavery to an end. Congress approved them on December 12, 1838, which became known as the "Atherton Gag"; Whittier referred to Atherton in one of his many abolition poems as "vile" by having allied himself so closely with his fellow Democrats from pro-slavery South. It was not until 1844 the House rescinded that gag rule on

585-399: A poem to commemorate his gift called " From my Arm-Chair ". The site on Brattle Street in Cambridge where the tree once stood is now designated with a stone marker. "The Village Blacksmith" is written in six line stanzas alternating between iambic tetrameter and trimeter with a regularity of cadence and rhyme that mimics the stability invoked in the poem's narrative. The title character of

650-576: A portion of the poem in the 1953 cartoon Duck Amuck . The first bandmaster of the Royal Army Ordnance Corps , R. T. Stevens, suggested the adoption of the song version of "The Village Blacksmith" as the Corps' march of the RAOC in 1922. He argued that the melody had a marching lilt, the theme was appropriate, and that many regimental marches were based on airs. Accordingly "The Village Blacksmith" became

715-619: A section called "Quips and Cranks", he wrote: A short time ago I saw in an English newspaper that the “village smithy” was in a certain English village that was named; as a matter of fact, as everybody knows, it was on Brattle Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts. "The Village Blacksmith" was first published in the November 1840 issue of The Knickerbocker . It was soon after printed as part of Longfellow's poetry collection Ballads and Other Poems in 1841. The collection, which also included " The Wreck of

SECTION 10

#1732854683642

780-512: A shoemaker for a time, and a deal was made to pay part of his tuition with food from the family farm. Before his second term, he earned money to cover tuition by serving as a teacher in a one-room schoolhouse in what is now Merrimac, Massachusetts . He attended Haverhill Academy from 1827 to 1828 and completed a high school education in only two terms. Whittier received the first substantial public praise for his work from critic John Neal via Neal's magazine The Yankee in 1828. Whittier valued

845-495: A type of bellows used by blacksmiths and smelters to increase the air flow going into the forge, with the property that air is blown out on both strokes of the handle (in contrast to simpler and more common bellows that blow air when the stroke is in one direction and refill the bellows in the other direction). These bellows blow a more constant, and thus stronger, blast than simple bellows. Such bellows existed in China at least since

910-410: A weight on it. The bottom and the middle leaves contain valves, the top one does not. Only the top lung is connected to the spout. When the bottom leaf is moved up, air is pumped from the bottom lung into the top lung. At the same time air is leaving the bellows from the top lung through the spout, but at a slower rate. This inflates the top lung. Next the bottom leaf is moved down to pull fresh air into

975-450: Is airtight and lubricated . As the piston is pulled, air enters from the far side and the air in the near chamber is compressed and forced into a side chamber, where it flows through the nozzle. Then as it is pushed air enters from the near side and the air in the far chamber flows through the same nozzle. These have three leaves. The middle leaf is fixed in place. The bottom leaf is moved up and down. The top leaf can move freely and has

1040-481: Is also open to the public, and is now known as the John Greenleaf Whittier Home . Whittier's hometown of Haverhill has named many buildings and landmarks in his honor including J.G. Whittier Middle School, Greenleaf Elementary, and Whittier Regional Vocational Technical High School . Numerous other schools around the country also bear his name. The John Greenleaf Whittier Bridge , built in the style of

1105-559: Is poor stuff! I like the man, but have no high opinion either of his poetry or his prose." Editor George Ripley , however, found Whittier's poetry refreshing and said it had a "stately movement of versification, grandeur of imagery, a vein of tender and solemn pathos, cheerful trust" and a "pure and ennobling character". Boston critic Edwin Percy Whipple noted Whittier's moral and ethical tone mingled with sincere emotion. He wrote, "In reading this last volume, I feel as if my soul had taken

1170-433: Is thought to mean feuillevert , after his Huguenot forebears. He grew up on the farm in a household with his parents, a brother and two sisters, a maternal aunt and paternal uncle, and a constant flow of visitors and hired hands for the farm. As a boy, it was discovered that Whittier was color-blind when he was unable to see a difference between ripe and unripe strawberries . The farm was not very profitable, and there

1235-431: Is used by extension for a number of applications that do not involve air transfer. Bee smokers have bellows attached to the side to provide air to a slow burning fuel. This allows for an increased rate of combustion and a temporarily higher output of smoke on command, something desirable when calming domesticated bees . John Greenleaf Whittier John Greenleaf Whittier (December 17, 1807 – September 7, 1892)

1300-557: The North American Review responded to Whittier's collection In War Time, and Other Poems , by calling him "on the whole, the most American of all our poets, and there is a fire of warlike patriotism in him that burns all the more intensely that is smothered by his [Quaker] creed". The passage of the Thirteenth Amendment in 1865 ended both slavery and his public cause, and so Whittier turned to other forms of poetry for

1365-461: The Levant , archaeologists have found primitive pot bellows, consisting of a ceramic pot to which a loose leather hide had been attached at the top. Such pot bellows were constructed with a wide rim, so that the hide covering would transmit a maximum amount of air when pumped. The covering was fastened to the pot with a cord under an out-turned rim, or in a groove just below the rim exterior. An opening near

SECTION 20

#1732854683642

1430-575: The Liberty Party in 1839. In 1840, he attended the World Anti-Slavery Convention in London. By 1843, he was announcing the triumph of the fledgling party: "Liberty party is no longer an experiment. It is vigorous reality, exerting... a powerful influence." Whittier unsuccessfully encouraged Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow to join the party. He took editing jobs with

1495-777: The Middlesex Standard in Lowell, Massachusetts , and the Essex Transcript in Amesbury until 1844. While in Lowell, he met Lucy Larcom , who became a lifelong friend. In 1845, he began writing his essay "The Black Man" which included an anecdote about John Fountain, a free black who was jailed in Virginia for helping slaves to escape. After his release, Fountain went on a speaking tour and thanked Whittier for writing his story. Around then,

1560-690: The Sagamore and Bourne bridges, carries Interstate 95 from Amesbury to Newburyport over the Merrimack River . A covered bridge spanning the Bearcamp River in Ossipee, New Hampshire , is also named for Whittier. The city of Whittier, California , is named after the poet, as are the communities of Whittier, Alaska , Greenleaf, Idaho , and Whittier, Iowa ; the Minneapolis neighborhood of Whittier ;

1625-415: The 5th century BC, when it was invented, and had reached Europe by the 16th century. In 240 BC, The ancient Greek inventor Ctesibius of Alexandria independently invented a double-action piston bellow used to lift water from one level to another. A piston is enclosed in a rectangular box with a handle coming out one side. The piston edges are covered with feathers, fur, or soft paper to ensure that it

1690-548: The Chinese to the bamboo-based piston bellows of Southeast Asians. The acquired piston bellows technology completely replaced the Chinese ox hide bellows that by the Song dynasty , the ox hide bellows were completely extinct. The Han dynasty Chinese mechanical engineer Du Shi (d. 38) is credited with being the first to use hydraulic power on a double-action piston pumps, through a waterwheel , to operate bellows in metallurgy. His invention

1755-928: The Church shall heal. Whittier's "At Port Royal 1861" describes the experience of Northern abolitionists arriving at Port Royal, South Carolina , as teachers and missionaries for the slaves who had been left behind when their owners fled because the Union Navy would arrive to blockade the coast. The poem includes the "Song of the Negro Boatmen," written in dialect: Oh, praise an' tanks! De Lord he come To set de people free; An' massa tink it day ob doom, An' we ob jubilee. De Lord dat heap de Red Sea waves He jus' as 'trong as den; He say de word: we las' night slaves; To-day, de Lord's freemen. De yam will grow, de cotton blow, We'll hab de rice an' corn: Oh, nebber you fear, if nebber you hear De driver blow his horn! Of all

1820-527: The Hesperus ", was instantly popular. Scholar Karen L. Kilcup suggests that the poem's popularity, like Longfellow's later poem " Paul Revere's Ride ", reflects contemporary Americans' need for heroic national figures. In 1879, years after the publication of "The Village Blacksmith", the local schoolchildren in Cambridge, Massachusetts presented Longfellow with an armchair made from "the spreading chestnut tree" in

1885-536: The North, formerly known as the National Enquirer . In May 1838, the publication moved its offices to the newly opened Pennsylvania Hall on North Sixth Street, which was shortly after burned by a pro-slavery mob. Whittier continued to write poetry, and nearly all of his poems then dealt with the problem of slavery. In 1838, Charles G. Atherton of New Hampshire presented five resolutions that were adopted and created

1950-542: The North. For the next ten years, it featured the best of his writing, both as prose and poetry. Being confined to his home and away from the action offered Whittier a chance to write better abolitionist poetry, and he was even poet laureate for his party. Whittier's poems often used slavery to represent all kinds of oppression (physical, spiritual, economic), and his poems stirred up popular response because they appealed to feelings, rather than logic. Whittier produced two collections of antislavery poetry: Poems Written during

2015-731: The Progress of the Abolition Question in the United States, between 1830 and 1838 and Voices of Freedom (1846). He was an elector in the presidential election of 1860 and of 1864 for Abraham Lincoln both times. In the months leading up to the American Civil War , Whittier built a strong national audience. In January 1861, The Atlantic Monthly , which had previous spurned his poetry, praised him for his "keen and discriminating love of right" and his "love of freedom". In 1864,

The Village Blacksmith - Misplaced Pages Continue

2080-489: The RAOC Regimental March. The Royal New Zealand Army Ordnance Corps adopted the same march. Bellows A bellows or pair of bellows is a device constructed to furnish a strong blast of air . The simplest type consists of a flexible bag comprising a pair of rigid boards with handles joined by flexible leather sides enclosing an approximately airtight cavity which can be expanded and contracted by operating

2145-580: The Vermonters, 1779 " anonymously in The New-England Magazine in 1838. The poem was mistakenly attributed to Ethan Allen for nearly sixty years. Whittier acknowledged his authorship in 1858. During the 1830s, Whittier became interested in politics, but after losing a congressional election at age 25, he suffered a nervous breakdown and returned home. The year 1833 was a turning point for Whittier; he resurrected his correspondence with Garrison, and

2210-761: The Vermonters, 1779 , which he had anonymously inserted in The New England Magazine. The poem was erroneously attributed to Ethan Allen for nearly sixty years. This use of poetry in the service of his political beliefs is illustrated by his book Poems Written during the Progress of the Abolition Question . Highly regarded in his lifetime and for a period thereafter, he is now largely remembered for his anti-slavery writings and his poems Barbara Frietchie , " The Barefoot Boy ", " Maud Muller " and Snow-Bound . A number of his poems have been turned into hymns , including Dear Lord and Father of Mankind , taken from his poem " The Brewing of Soma ". The latter part of

2275-880: The Whittier neighborhoods of Denver and Boulder , Colorado, as well as a school and a park there. Both Whittier College and Whittier Law School are named after him. A park in the Saint Boniface area of Winnipeg is named after the poet in recognition of his poem "The Red River Voyageur". Whittier Education Campus in Washington, DC , is named in his honor. SS Whittier Victory a World War II ship named after Whittier College. Whittier Peak and Mount Whittier in Washington and Mount Whittier in New Hampshire are mountains named after him. The alternate history story P.'s Correspondence (1846) by Nathaniel Hawthorne , considered

2340-580: The addition of other issues to its platform. He eventually participated in the evolution of the Liberty Party into the Free Soil Party , and some say his greatest political feat was convincing Charles Sumner to run on the Free-Soil ticket for the U.S. Senate in 1850. Beginning in 1847, Whittier was the editor of Gamaliel Bailey 's The National Era , one of the most influential abolitionist newspapers in

2405-483: The base served to insert a pipe of perishable material whose purpose was to direct the air blast to either the furnace or crucible, and which was usually done through the mediation of a tuyère . Tuyères used in conjunction with pot bellows had the function of protecting the ends of perishable tubes leading from the pot into the fire. Places in Saharan Africa still make use of primitive pot bellows. The term "bellows"

2470-569: The bellows. The bellows are used to deliver additional air to the fuel, raising the rate of combustion and therefore the heat output. Various kinds of bellows are used in metallurgy : Chinese bellows were originally made of ox hide with two pots as described in Mozi 's book on military technology in the Warring States period (4th century BC). By the Han dynasty , contact with Southeast Asian cultures exposed

2535-404: The bellows. While this happens the weight on the top leaf pushes it down, so air keeps leaving through the spout. This design does not increase the amount of air flow going into the forge, but provides a more constant air flow compared to a simple bellows. It also provides more even air flow than two simple bellows pumped alternately or one double-acting piston bellows. In archaeological ruins of

2600-517: The character in the poem, including "The Learned Blacksmith" Elihu Burritt , to whom Longfellow once offered a scholarship to attend Harvard College . Several people, both in the United States and in England, took credit for inspiring the poem with varying amounts of evidence. The Longfellow family became annoyed with the preponderance of claims. In 1922, the poet's son Ernest Wadsworth Longfellow responded to these people in his book Random Memories . In

2665-419: The daily tasks assigned to him and has earned his sleep at night. The narrator concludes by thanking the blacksmith for the lessons he can teach. Longfellow said the poem was a tribute to his ancestor Stephen Longfellow, who had been a blacksmith, a schoolmaster, then a town clerk. In 1745, this ancestor was the first Longfellow to make his way to Portland, Maine , the town where the poet would be born. The poem

The Village Blacksmith - Misplaced Pages Continue

2730-603: The first such story ever published in English, includes the notice "Whittier, a fiery Quaker youth, to whom the muse had perversely assigned a battle-trumpet, got himself lynched, in South Carolina". The date of that event in Hawthorne's invented timeline was 1835. Whittier was one of thirteen writers in the 1897 card game Authors , which referenced his writings "Laus Deo", "Among the Hills", Snow-bound , and "The Eternal Goodness". He

2795-423: The handles, and fitted with a valve allowing air to fill the cavity when expanded, and with a tube through which the air is forced out in a stream when the cavity is compressed. It has many applications, in particular blowing on a fire to supply it with air. The term "bellows" is used by extension for a flexible bag whose volume can be changed by compression or expansion, but not used to deliver air. For example,

2860-557: The intensity of my gazing. I do not think his voice naturally particularly fine, but he uses it with great effect. He has wonderful dramatic power ... I like him better than any public reader I have ever before heard. He was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 1870. Whittier spent the last winters of his life, from 1876 to 1892, at Oak Knoll, the home of his cousins in Danvers, Massachusetts . Whittier spent

2925-670: The job of editor of the National Philanthropist , a Boston-based temperance weekly. Shortly after a change in management, Garrison reassigned him as editor of the weekly American Manufacturer in Boston. Whittier became an outspoken critic of President Andrew Jackson , and by 1830 was editor of the prominent New England Weekly Review in Hartford, Connecticut , the most influential Whig journal in New England . He published " The Song of

2990-405: The light-tight (but not airtight) bag allowing the distance between the lens and film of a folding photographic camera to be varied is called a bellows . "Bellows" is only used in plural. The Old English name for "bellows" was blǽstbęl(i)g , blást-bęl(i)g 'blast-bag', 'blowing-bag'; the prefix was dropped and by the eleventh century the simple bęlg , bylg , bylig ('bag')

3055-472: The opinion of the older and more established writer, pledging that if Neal did not like his writing, " I will quit poetry, and everything also of a literary nature , for I am sick at heart of the business." In an 1829 letter, Neal told Whittier to "Persevere, and I am sure you will have your reward in every way." Reading Neal's 1828 novel Rachel Dyer inspired Whittier to weave New England witchcraft lore into his own stories and poems. Garrison gave Whittier

3120-456: The passionate abolitionist began to encourage the young Quaker to join his cause. In 1833, Whittier published the antislavery pamphlet Justice and Expediency , and from there dedicated the next twenty years of his life to the abolitionist cause. The controversial pamphlet destroyed all of his political hopes, as his demand for immediate emancipation alienated both Northern businessmen and Southern slaveholders, but it also sealed his commitment to

3185-612: The peace of God is there; To worship rightly is to love each other, Each smile a hymn, each kindly deed a prayer. His sometimes contrasting sense of the need for strong action against injustice can be seen in his poem "To Rönge" in honor of Johannes Ronge , the German religious figure and rebel leader of the 1848 rebellion in Germany: Thy work is to hew down. In God's name then: Put nerve into thy task. Let other men; Plant, as they may, that better tree whose fruit, The wounded bosom of

3250-410: The poem is presented as an " everyman " and a role model: he balances his commitments to work, the community, and his family. The character is presented as an iconic tradesman who is embedded in the history of the town and its defining institutions because he is a longtime resident with deeply rooted strength, as symbolized by the "spreading chestnut tree". Longfellow uses the poem to glorify and celebrate

3315-514: The poem to him as a child, that he himself memorized it, and that it inspired him as an adult. Several quotes from the poem were used in Buster Keaton 's 1922 silent comedy The Blacksmith (1922). In 1926, a comical song called "The Village Blacksmith Owns the Village Now" was published with words by Leslie Moore and music by Johnny Tucker. The lyrics detailed how the blacksmith grew rich with

SECTION 50

#1732854683642

3380-427: The poem was set in 1924 by Dr. George Gilbert Stocks to the tune of Repton by English composer Hubert Parry from the 1888 oratorio Judith . It is also sung as the hymn Rest by Frederick Maker, and Charles Ives also set a part of it to music in his song "Serenity". Whittier's Quakerism is better illustrated, however, by the hymn that begins: O Brother Man, fold to thy heart thy brother: Where pity dwells,

3445-412: The poem which had recently been cut down. Under the cushion of the chair is a brass plate on which is inscribed, in part: "This chair made from the wood of the spreading chestnut-tree is presented as an expression of his grateful regard and veneration by the children of Cambridge". From then on, Longfellow made it a rule to allow schoolchildren to be admitted into his study to see the chair. He also composed

3510-507: The poetry inspired by the Civil War , the "Song of the Negro Boatmen" was one of the most widely printed, and, although Whittier never actually visited Port Royal, an abolitionist working there described his "Song of the Negro Boatmen" as "wonderfully applicable as we were being rowed across Hilton Head Harbor among United States gunboats." Nathaniel Hawthorne dismissed Whittier's Literary Recreations and Miscellanies (1854): "Whittier's book

3575-501: The remainder of his life. One of his most enduring works, Snow-Bound , was first published in 1866. Whittier was surprised by its financial success; he earned $ 10,000 from the first edition. In 1867, Whittier asked James T. Fields to get him a ticket to a reading by Charles Dickens during the British author's visit to the United States. After the event, Whittier wrote a letter describing his experience: My eyes ached all next day from

3640-511: The rise of the automobile by converting his shop into a service station . The song was recorded by popular U.S. comedians and bandleaders of the era including the Happiness Boys and Harry Reser . In 1938, songwriters Tommie Connor , Jimmy Kennedy , and Hamilton Kennedy created a comical song and dance routine inspired by the poem; Glenn Miller 's recording of the song was featured in the 1990 film Memphis Belle . Daffy Duck recites

3705-410: The stresses of editorial duties, worsening health, and dangerous mob violence caused Whittier to have a physical breakdown. He went home to Amesbury and remained there for the rest of his life, ending his active participation in abolition. Even so, he continued to believe that the best way to gain abolitionist support was to broaden the Liberty Party's political appeal, and Whittier persisted in advocating

3770-493: The summer of 1892 at the home of a cousin in Hampton Falls, New Hampshire , where he wrote his last poem (a tribute to Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. ) and where he was captured in a final photograph. He died at this home on September 7, 1892, and was buried in Amesbury, Massachusetts . Whittier's first two published books were Legends of New England (1831) and the poem Moll Pitcher (1832). In 1833 he published The Song of

3835-574: Was an American Quaker poet and advocate of the abolition of slavery in the United States . Frequently listed as one of the fireside poets , he was influenced by the Scottish poet Robert Burns . Whittier is remembered particularly for his anti-slavery writings, as well as his 1866 book Snow-Bound . Whittier was born to John and Abigail ( née Hussey) Whittier at their rural homestead in Haverhill, Massachusetts , on December 17, 1807. His middle name

3900-463: Was first introduced to poetry by a teacher. His sister Mary Whittier sent his first poem, "The Deity", to the Newburyport Free Press without his permission, and its editor, William Lloyd Garrison , published it on June 8, 1826. Garrison, as well as another local editor, encouraged Whittier to attend the recently opened Haverhill Academy. To raise money to attend the school, Whittier became

3965-525: Was invaluable. From 1835 to 1838, he traveled widely in the North, attending conventions, securing votes, speaking to the public, and lobbying politicians. As he did so, Whittier received his fair share of violent responses, being several times mobbed, stoned, and run out of town. From 1838 to 1840, he was editor of the Pennsylvania Freeman in Philadelphia , one of the leading antislavery papers in

SECTION 60

#1732854683642

4030-488: Was only enough money to get by. Whittier himself was not cut out for hard farm labor and suffered from bad health and physical frailty his whole life. Although he received little formal education, he was an avid reader who studied his father's six books on Quakerism until their teachings became the foundation of his ideology. Whittier was heavily influenced by the doctrines of his religion, particularly its stress on humanitarianism, compassion, and social responsibility. Whittier

4095-422: Was used to operate piston bellows of blast furnaces in order to forge cast iron . The ancient Greeks , ancient Romans , and other civilizations used bellows in bloomery furnaces producing wrought iron . Bellows are also used to send pressurized air in a controlled manner in a fired heater. In modern industry, reciprocating bellows are usually replaced with motorized blowers. Double-acting piston bellows are

4160-467: Was used. The word is cognate with " belly ". There are similar words in Old Norse , Swedish, and Danish and Dutch (blaasbalg), but the derivation is not certain. 'Bellows' appears not to be cognate with the apparently similar Latin follis . Several processes, such as metallurgical iron smelting and welding , require so much heat that they could only be developed after the invention, in antiquity , of

4225-526: Was written early in Longfellow's poetic career, around the same time he published his first collection, Voices of the Night , in 1839. The book included his poem " A Psalm of Life ". On October 5, 1839, he recorded in his journal: "Wrote a new Psalm of Life. It is 'The Village Blacksmith.'" It would be another year before the poem was published, however. Longfellow wrote to his father on October 25, 1840: "There will be

#641358