One of the main characters of my new novel Brookhaven has been a major admirer of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow since he was a child. It’s unusual, because the character is born and raised in Mississippi, and abolitionist Mr. Longfellow was not a popular poet. And Longfellow’s poems, in fact, play a not insignificant role throughout the entire book.
We recently rewatched the Angel Films movie “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day,” which tells the story of Longfellow and his family during the Civil War, and how he came to write the poem that became the Christmas carol. The movie takes only minor liberties with the real story. Some years back, Meg Groeling at Emerging Civil War told that story, and it’s every bit as fascinating as the movie.
The Other Christmas Truce – Joanna Guldin at Military.com.
The Cross and the Machine – Paul Kingsnorth at The Free Press.
York Buildings Stairs and the Watergate – A London Inheritance.
The Bard at Christmas – Jaspreet Singh Boparai at The Critic Magazine.
Boat Prayer – Karla Van Vliet at Every Day Poems.
“In the Bleak Midwinter,” poem by Christina Rossetti – Sally Thomas at Poems Ancient and Modern.
The First Noel – poem by Seth Lewis.
Hell by the Acre: A Narrative History of the Stones River Campaign, November 1862-January1863 by Daniel Masters – review at Civil War Books and Authors.
Photograph: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow about 1860.
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