John Brown’s Body
Stephen Vincent Benét, 1928
A Pulitzer-winning verse novel of the Civil War that moves from John Brown's raid to Appomattox, mixing real voices, soldiers' dread, and the strange intimacy of a country at war with itself.
Stephen Vincent Benét
1898–1943
Benét wrote much of the poem in Paris and dedicated it to his wife, Rosemary, who typed and edited the manuscript as it grew.
Feels like dread, war and freedom.
Love as a hawk you feed your own heart to.
Sally Dupré, from the high porch of her houseStared at the road. They would be here soon enough.She had waved a flag the last time they went away.This time she would wave her hand or her handkerchief.That was what women did. The column passed byAnd the women waved, and it came back and they waved,And, in between, if you loved, you lived by a dullClock of long minutes that passed like sunbonneted womenEach with the same dry face and the same set hands.I have read, they have told me that love is a pretty godWith light wings stuck to his shoulders. They did not tell meThat love is nursing a hawk with yellow eyes,That love is feeding your heart to the beak of the hawkBecause an old woman, gossiping, uttered a name. Books by Stephen Vincent Benét
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