Page:Southern Life in Southern Literature.djvu/520

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SOUTHERN LIFE IN SOUTHERN LITERATURE


Montrose: James Graham, Marquis of Montrose, of the seventeenth century, a supporter of Charles I. the old Romance: Malory s

"Morte d Arthur." Tristram: a knight of King Arthur s Round Table who was the lover of Iseult, wife of his uncle, King Mark of Cornwall.

QUESTIONS, i. What is the poet s dream? 2. What determination

does he express in the last stanza?

CHRISTMAS NIGHT OF 62 (PAGE 256)


QUESTIONS, i. What details of the soldier s bivouac are suggested?

2. What are the poet s thoughts on this Christmas night?

JOHN PEGRAM (PAGE 258)

General Pegram was a distinguished Confederate cavalry leader who was killed at the head of his division near Hatcher s Run, Virginia, in February, 1865, aged thirty-three.

QUESTION. What tribute is paid to Pegram as a man and as a

soldier?

JOHN WILLIAMSON PALMER


STONEWALL JACKSON S WAY (PAGE 259)

This poem was written at Oakland, Maryland, September 17, 1862, while the battle of Antietam was in progress. It is probably the most graphic and condensed pen portrait of Jackson ever made.

"Blue-light Elder": Presbyterian elder. Banks: a general in the Federal army. Massa: a nickname among the soldiers for General Jackson. pray: it was General Jackson s custom never to begin a battle without a prayer, and after a victory to give public thanks to God. In forma pauperis: as a poor man. Hill: A. P. Hill, a prominent Confederate general. Pope: John Pope, a general in the Federal army. Stuart: General J. E. B. Stuart, a Confederate cavalry commander.

QUESTIONS, i. What characteristics of General Jackson are pre

sented? 2. Is the touch of humor in this poem an advantage or not?