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Sunday, January 23, 2022

Musical Interlude

In the 2021-2022 American Literature course I teach to homeschoolers, excerpts from James Russell Lowell's poem "The Present Crisis" have appeared in our literature textbook. Reading the first stanza in our textbook excerpt brought to mind this hymn from traditional Christian liturgy, set to a particularly haunting melody.  I remember singing this hymn in church — back in the days when churches had physical hymnals.

The words of the hymn speak to me in our present time. See if the words speak to you:



Additional information (worth your time):

The full poem "The Present Crisis" is HERE.  

A brief review of the poem is HERE.  

Also NOTE THE BACKGROUND of Russell's poem, originally written in protest to the Mexican American War (1846-1848), but used in subsequent generations for different purposes because of the timelessness of certain lines and phrases.
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5 comments:

  1. LJanuary 23, 2022 at 11:37:00 AM CST

    I am familiar with the poem; however, I never heard of this song in my life. It is beautiful and so true to all times, especially today. Honestly, I am a cry baby, always have been since a little girl. I imagine I am just a too sensitive soul despite my feisty writings, but this song did bring me to tears.

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    Replies
    1. Always On WatchJanuary 24, 2022 at 6:53:00 AM CST

      Elizabeth,
      You are not too sensitive. You're what a real person should be!

      When I had my homeschoolers watch this video last Tuesday, they were glued to it. It's not their taste in music, I know, but the words really affected them deeply. One of the homeschoolers follows politics and found both the poem and this song so meaningful for our time in history.

      Delete
  2. SilverfiddleJanuary 23, 2022 at 12:10:00 PM CST

    Apologies for interrupting your beautiful Sunday Musical Interlude.

    Our debates in Friday's post got scattered, leaving many loose ends.

    I have posted two recapitulations at the end of the comment thread so we can resolve the debates:

    - Ronald Ward says The GOP is "Corporately Owned." Silverfiddle provided evidence that the Democrat Party is also "Corporately Owned." Ronald blathered and mumbled after that, so I'd like him to return to the recapitulated thread and provide and answer.

    - Silverfiddle stated that GOP has become the party of working people, based upon data collected over the past 40 years. Ronald responded by demanding a comparison of GOP v. Democrat policies concerning working people.

    I invite all to revisit Friday's post, go to the bottom of the comments where you will find the two issues with bold headers and my opening responses.

    Then, come back here for some Sunday relaxation.

    Apologies again to AOW for interrupting the Sunday serenity.

    ReplyDelete

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