Mr. Lincoln has a 200th birthday

And I’m sure you’ll find articles about Lincoln everywhere today.

Kentucky in particular is having a big Lincoln bicentenniel celebration this year, trying to reclaim our bit of Lincoln heritage.

For myself, I want to draw your attention to this Flickr set of Abraham Lincoln photos from the Library of Congress. The one I’ve pulled out here is a campaign button from 1860. Via

And, of course, the grandfather of all American occasional poems:

O Captain, My Captain

O CAPTAIN! my Captain! our fearful trip is done;
The ship has weather�d every rack, the prize we sought is won;
The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,
While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring:
    But O heart! heart! heart!
      O the bleeding drops of red,
        Where on the deck my Captain lies,
          Fallen cold and dead.   

2

O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells;
Rise up�for you the flag is flung�for you the bugle trills;
For you bouquets and ribbon�d wreaths�for you the shores a-crowding;
For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning;
    Here Captain! dear father!
      This arm beneath your head;
        It is some dream that on the deck,
          You�ve fallen cold and dead.   

3

My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still;
My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will;
The ship is anchor�d safe and sound, its voyage closed and done;
From fearful trip, the victor ship, comes in with object won;
    Exult, O shores, and ring, O bells!
      But I, with mournful tread,
        Walk the deck my Captain lies,
          Fallen cold and dead. 

— Walt Whitman, from Whitman, Walt. Leaves of Grass. Philadelphia: David McKay, [c1900]; Bartleby.com, 1999.

Possibly related posts:

Mr. Whitman has a birthday

Abraham Lincoln

Mr. Warren has a birthday

Mr. Faulkner has a birthday

Welcome to North Carolina

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