Public-domain ebook
Language: en1,358 downloads on Project Gutenberg
Subjects
In: Poetry·Biographies·American Literature
Public-domain ebook sourced from Project Gutenberg #30420.
The volume is a curated anthology of poems and illustrations that honor Abraham Lincoln, assembled by Osborn H. Oldroyd in 1915 to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the president’s death. The editor’s foreword explains the painstaking effort to locate and attribute works that have appeared in countless periodicals, many of which bear conflicting author names or lack copyright notices. After securing permissions from major publishers such as Houghton Mifflin, Charles Scribner’s Sons, and J. B. Lippincott, Oldroyd selected what he deemed “gems” from a thousand Lincoln‑related verses, arranging them largely in chronological order of the events they commemorate. The book pairs these poems with a wealth of portraits, photographs, and sketches of Lincoln’s life, from his log‑cabin origins to his funeral, offering a richly illustrated tribute to the “Martyred President.”
The anthology reflects the formal, reverent tone of early‑twentieth‑century American literary culture, with a voice that blends scholarly annotation and patriotic sentiment. Its contributors range from well‑known poets such as John G. Whittier, James Russell Lowell, and Walt Whitman to lesser‑known lyricists, all writing in the lyrical and often solemn style typical of the period. Readers who appreciate historical poetry, Civil‑War era literature, or the cultural memory of Lincoln will find the collection’s blend of verse, illustration, and contemporary commentary especially rewarding.
The opening · free to read
No great man has ever been spoken of with such tender expressions of high regard as has been Abraham Lincoln. Especially is this true of the tributes of esteem made by the poets to his memory. It is therefore desirable that these should be preserved for future generations, and at this time, the fiftieth anniversary of his untimely death, it is peculiarly proper that they should be presented to the public.
Although they are chiefly the productions of American authors, quite a number are from the pens of appreciative citizens of other countries. From the thousand of meritorious poems which have been written about Lincoln, the compiler, after serious consideration, has selected those within as appearing to be gems; although there were others which he would have been glad to include if space permitted.
The poems and illustrations are arranged largely in the chronological order of their application to the events in the life of Lincoln. The intense sympathy and warm appreciation portrayed therein for our Martyred President, as well as their artistic merit assure the poems a sacred place in the heart of every patriotic American.
The large number of selected portraits and illustrations of events connected with his life, service, death and burial, with brief sketches of authors of the following poems, also forms a compilation of rich material for all readers of Lincoln literature.
The object in publishing this compilation is to assist in preserving the collection of memorials now contained in the house in which Lincoln died, 516 Tenth Street, Washington, D. C.
The volume will be sent postpaid by the Editor at the above address, upon receipt of its price, $1.00.
OSBORN H. OLDROYD.
Washington, D. C., September twelve, Nineteen hundred and fifteen.
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