Abraham Lincoln Walks at Midnight

Description

A Meaningful Statement for Peace

When American poet Vachel Lindsay wrote Abraham Lincoln Walks at Midnight in 1914, he probably didn’t guess at how his poem would withstand the tests of time, remaining an important part of American culture and literature for more than 100 years.

At the time, the First World War had broken out, and Lindsay was shocked at the brutality and terror created by a conflict of a magnitude that was never seen before up to that day. His poem depicts Abraham Lincoln as a figure of times gone by walking through the streets of his nation and the world, witnessing how, despite all his efforts, “kings must murder still” and people continue to be oppressed.

During those days, Abraham Lincoln Walks at Midnight was received with approval by many of the great literary masters and thinkers of the time. It was included in Modern American Poetry – Louis Untermeyer’s anthology written in 1919, and it also became an important inspirational tool used in many schools throughout the US.

The poem has also been an inspiration to an important American sculptor known as Martin Torrey. His 1933 bronze statue based on the poem’s depiction of Abraham Lincoln, named “Lincoln Walks at Midnight” was displayed at the 1939 World Fair, and also became an inspiration for the 1974 casting of the statue into a 9-foot tall replica which stands near the West Virginia State Capitol to this day.

While short, this poem depicts the essence of Abraham Lincoln’s demeanor and comes as close as one can get to showing the great political figure’s possible thoughts and feelings on the state of the world at the beginning of the 20th century.

Vachel Lindsay may be considered the father of modern singing poetry; this is probably one of the most solemn and deeply symbolic poems he had ever wrote, and is, perhaps, just as meaningful today as it was a century ago.
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