The Blue And The Gray: An Inspiration For Memorial Day --
Poem By Francis Miles Finch, Set To Music & Performed By Jim Remington"The famous poem by Francis Miles Finch entitled The Blue and the Grey commemorates soldiers who fought for both sides during the Civil War. The Planters' Banner, a local newspaper of Franklin, LA, published this poem on September 14, 1867. William T. Palfrey included the memorial poem in his plantation diary. The poem contrasts the North and the South, the robings of glory (the North) and the gloom of defeat (the South), and the dead and the living. Images of death and the grave beneath the sod and the dew run throughout. The poem also paints the vivid, gory picture of warfare, describing the flow of inland river where the iron fleets had once traversed and the grass beneath which soldiers lie in their graves. The rivers are no longer sullied by the red flow of soldiers' blood, and now flowers bloom around the scenes of battle. The poem shows life after war: It transitions from the gloom of defeat into a sunny spring day full of blossoms blossoming for all. While the seasons change and the weather varies, the Love and tears for the Blue, Tears and love for the Grey remain.
"The poem memorializes the soldiers who fought and died for both sides; sentimental poems remember these fallen heroes. Yet, The Blue and the Grey challenges the pointlessness of the war itself, probing, Sadly, but not with upbraiding, The generous deed was done, In the storm of the years are fading, No braves battle was won. To Finch, little honor came from the Civil War, merely death for soldiers fighting for their causes. The poem paradoxically and simultaneously eulogizes and glorifies the Civil War in its pointless destruction and its grandiose battles. In memoriam of these soldiers of both the Union and Confederate armies, Finch paints a picture of common loss, equal splendor, and the remembrance of soldiers by visiting their graves."
...
Comments (3)
Here you go Mic