On Display in the State Library - Poetry Month!

When you think of the State Library, a large poetry collection might not come to mind. And while poetry isn’t exactly one of our strongest collecting areas, we do have a respectable number, including some volumes that date from the 1700s and 1800s. This month, in celebration of April’s designation as Poetry Month, we’ve selected a few of those older volumes to share in our Collection Spotlight case. Visit us throughout the month to see The Boston Book, Being Specimens of Metropolitan Literature, The Waif: A Collection of Poems, and Astraea: The Balance of Illusion on display in our reading room.

National Poetry Month was established by the Academy of American Poets and held its first celebration in 1996. Through local events held throughout the country, displays within libraries and bookstores, and educational resources for schools, Poetry Month is a time to celebrate works of poetry (either already published or your own original creation) and the role of poets in society. In addition to the historical volumes displayed in our Collection Spotlight case, here at the State Library we are also sharing some contemporary publications, including the poetry winners from the Mass Book Awards, on the shelves when you first enter the library. Find more information about Poetry Month on the Academy’s website.

Within our Collection Spotlight case, you will find three volumes that date to the early-to-mid 1800s. The first is The Boston Book, which was published in Boston in 1837. This is the second in a series whose aim was to provide a compilation of examples of “the modern literature of the Metropolis of the North.” It is not entirely comprised of poetry, but is a mixture of essays, fiction, and poetry. We are displaying the volume open to the poem “New England” by John Greenleaf Whittier (1807-1892), who was a Quaker poet born in Haverhill, Massachusetts. Whittier was an abolitionist and is part of the group of poets referred to as the “fireside poets,” known for their themes of morality and domesticity, and the wide appeal of their topics, hence the whole family could gather around the fireplace to enjoy them together. In “New England” Whittier describes the landscape of his homeland in romanticized terms, like the stanza transcribed here: “Land of the forest and the rock – / Of dark blue lake and mighty river – / Of mountains reared aloft to mock / The storm’s career, the lightning’s shock – / My own green land forever!”

 
The Waif: A Collection of Poems was published in 1845 in Cambridge (MA) and was edited by Cambridge resident and poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. The volume begins with Longfellow’s poem “Proem” but it is a collection of primarily British poetry dating from the 1700s into the 1800s. Given the time of year, we’ve chosen to display the volume open to a poem titled “April” by an anonymous author. The poem describes April’s rainy tendencies, as well as the buds and blooms that burst forth as a result. One stanza reads, “I stood to hear – I love it well – / The rain’s continuous sound; / Small drops, but thick and fast they fell, / Down straight into the ground.” And another, “The very earth, the steamy air, / Is all with fragrance rife; / And grace and beauty everywhere / Are flushing into life.” We think this is an apt description of April’s weather!

Lastly, we are displaying Astraea: The Balance of Illusion, which is a poem by Massachusetts’ own Oliver Wendell Holmes. It was presented before the Phi Beta Kappa Society at Yale College on August 14, 1850, and published by Ticknor, Reed, and Fields of Boston in the same year. Holmes (1809-1894) is known as a polymath, or someone who has a wide-ranging knowledge. Among his many accolades, he was a graduate of Harvard University, a physician, author, and poet. One of his poems is “Astraea,” whose title refers to the Greek goddess Astraea, who represents justice, purity, innocence, and precision. Some interpretations of this poem are that Holmes was reflecting on changing times and was reminiscent of an idealized past. Within its lines, we found a section that speaks on the changing seasons and the coming spring, which has a hopeful tone, “Winter is past; the heart of Nature warms / Beneath the wrecks of unresisted storms; / Doubtful at first, suspected more than seen, / The southern slopes are fringed with tender green; / On sheltered banks, beneath the dripping eaves, / Spring’s earliest nurslings spread their glowing leaves.”

Stop by the library from March 29 through April 25 to see these volumes on display, and for more Poetry Month reading, check out some of our past blog posts: Poets of the Commonwealth and Poetry for Boston.

Elizabeth Roscio

Preservation Librarian