[994] The Gift Outright
Guest poem submitted by Sara G, <sarag@>:
The land was ours before we were the land's.
She was our land more than a hundred years
Before we were her people. She was ours
In Massachusetts, in Virginia,
But we were England's, still colonials,
Possessing what we still were unpossessed by,
Possessed by what we now no more possessed.
Something we were withholding made us weak
Until we found out that it was ourselves
We were withholding from our land of living,
And forthwith found salvation in surrender.
Such as we were we gave ourselves outright
(The deed of gift was many deeds of war)
To the land vaguely realizing westward,
But still unstoried, artless, unenhanced,
Such as she was, such as she would become.
-- Robert Frost
|
Written in 1942, recited at JFK's inauguration in 1961.
How can you not have this poem yet? Frost wrote a longer poem, "Dedication"
for the inauguration, but the glare of the sun on the snow blinded him (he
was 86 years old) and he recited this, which he knew by heart. The
inaguration was on a freezing day, the whole northeastern coast was snowed
in. As an 11 year old living in New England, we didn't have school that day
because of the snow, and I remember watching the inauguration on TV.
Sara.
[Minstrels Links]
Robert Frost:
Poem #51, The Road Not Taken
Poem #155, Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
Poem #170, The Need of Being Versed in Country Things
Poem #336, A Patch of Old Snow
Poem #681, The Secret Sits
Poem #730, Mending Wall
Poem #779, Fire and Ice
Poem #917, A Considerable Speck
Poem #985, Once by the Pacific
From: Suresh Ramasubramanian <suresh@>
+++ Abraham Thomas [08/02/02 04:22 +0900]:
> Guest poem submitted by Sara G, <sarag@>:
> How can you not have this poem yet? Frost wrote a longer poem,
> "Dedication"
Dedication ...
Does anybody have a copy of that poem? Searched around, couldn't find it.
It is rather late, however, so my search was a bit cursory to say the least.
That said, I doubt if Frost could have picked a better poem to recite.
Simple, effective - and one of the finest expressions of patriotism ever.
-srs
--
Suresh Ramasubramanian + suresh <@> kcircle.com
Friday@ + http://www.kcircle.com
Everybody is somebody else's weirdo.
-- Dykstra
From: amitc@
I have a big problem with this "The land was ours" (see line 1)
sentiment. It is transparent that Frost does not intend the
word "ours" to include the people who have lived on "The land"
(i.e. America) for millenia. Funnily, these excluded people
were quite definitely "her people" all along (see line 3).
While this poem is well constructed and perhaps even fitting
for the occasion of JFK's inauguration, I have to take it with
a lump of salt as the poetry of vanquishers.
--Amit
From: sara g <sarag@>
It actually is called
"For John F. Kennedy His Inauguration" or Dedication.
There is a photo of the original poem at
http://www.americaslibrary.gov/pages/jb_0120_frost_1_e.html
It is on page 28 of the 1962 edition of "In the Clearing" (Holt, Rinehart
and Winston NY) but it is 3 pages long and I am not going to type it!
I couldn't find it on the web. Maybe someone else will have beter luck,
sara g in israel
sarag@
From: sara g <sarag@>
It actually is called
"For John F. Kennedy His Inauguration" or Dedication.
There is a photo of the original poem at
http://www.americaslibrary.gov/pages/jb_0120_frost_1_e.html
It is on page 28 of the 1962 edition of "In the Clearing" (Holt, Rinehart
and Winston NY) but it is 3 pages long and I am not going to type it!
I couldn't find it on the web. Maybe someone else will have beter luck,
sara g in israel
sarag@
From: "Paul Lillebo" <hpaul@>
Your contributor's story of Frost's recitation at JFK's inauguration differs
from what is usually told. I'll quote from "The Top 500 Poems" - A Columbia
Anthology. Here's editor William Harmon's footnote to "The Gift Outright":
"At the request of John F. Kennedy, Frost read this poem at the Inauguration
of the President in 1961. Kennedy requested that the "would" in the last
line be changed to "will," and Frost went along with the President, although
the printed text was unchanged."
If this poem did in fact replace another that had been intended, it sounds
like it wasn't a spur-of-the-moment replacement.
Regards,
Paul Lillebo
-----Original Message-----
From: Abraham Thomas <ssiyer@>
To: Sitaram Iyer (E-mail) <ssiyer@>
Date: Thursday, February 07, 2002 11:26 AM
Subject: [minstrels] Poem #994: Robert Frost
>Guest poem submitted by Sara G, <sarag@>:
>
> "The Gift Outright"
>
> The land was ours before we were the land's.
> She was our land more than a hundred years
> Before we were her people. She was ours
> In Massachusetts, in Virginia,
> But we were England's, still colonials,
> Possessing what we still were unpossessed by,
> Possessed by what we now no more possessed.
> Something we were withholding made us weak
> Until we found out that it was ourselves
> We were withholding from our land of living,
> And forthwith found salvation in surrender.
> Such as we were we gave ourselves outright
> (The deed of gift was many deeds of war)
> To the land vaguely realizing westward,
> But still unstoried, artless, unenhanced,
> Such as she was, such as she would become.
>
> -- Robert Frost
>
> Written in 1942, recited at JFK's inauguration in 1961.
>
> How can you not have this poem yet? Frost wrote a longer poem,
"Dedication"
>for the inauguration, but the glare of the sun on the snow blinded him (he
>was 86 years old) and he recited this, which he knew by heart. The
>inaguration was on a freezing day, the whole northeastern coast was snowed
>in. As an 11 year old living in New England, we didn't have school that day
>because of the snow, and I remember watching the inauguration on TV.
>
> Sara.
>
>[Minstrels Links]
>
>Robert Frost:
>Poem #51, The Road Not Taken
>Poem #155, Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
>Poem #170, The Need of Being Versed in Country Things
>Poem #336, A Patch of Old Snow
>Poem #681, The Secret Sits
>Poem #730, Mending Wall
>Poem #779, Fire and Ice
>Poem #917, A Considerable Speck
>Poem #985, Once by the Pacific
>
>
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From: "The Fryling Family" <fryling@>
I'm not so sure "The Gift Outright" is a "fine example of patriotism" as
someone said. If you read the last two lines carefully it seems Frost is
actually poking fun American for being "unstoried, artless, and
unenhanced." Such as she was, such as she *would become*. Sounds to me
nothing has changed since we took over the land. Frost was actually a
pretty cynical guy (see "Design", for example) and his poems suffer from
misinterpretation (such as "The Road Not Taken, which everyone things is
about chosing the unusual path in life, but really FRost says the paths
are both equally worn and valid.)
please respond to me at Kevind81@ if you want. Hitting reply
won't get to me. Thx.
From: "Stewart, Douglas C - Contractor (PKI)" <doug.c.stewart@>
I am not sure why you have a problem with the statement "the land was ours".
If you knew the providence of God in those days then you should understand
that it was God's intended purpose to build a nation for His name sake.
Douglas
From: Paul.OConnell@ Wed Jan 25 21:35:59 2006
Here's a link to the text of "Dedication" -
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/inauguration/frost_poem.html