Colonial
"The Wages of Sin" Consider spiritual change.
http://www.loc.gov/teachers/lyrical/poems/wages_sin.html
For people living in North America's British colonies, the news wasn't something
you read about at home—it was something you picked up in the street. During
most of the colonial period, there were no newspapers as we know them today
and no other mass media to bring the larger world into people's homes. Instead,
people learned about current events from broadsides—cheap, quickly printed
single sheets of news, poetry, song, or commentary that were handed out in
public squares or pasted onto coffeehouse walls.
Broadsides were a free-for-all of public opinion: they could be bawdy, gory,
sensationalistic, serious, irreverent, insightful, or packed with outright lies. Since
they could be published anonymously and posted in the dead of night, they were
often the forum for venting unpopular—or illegal—political views, including early
calls for independence from Great Britain.
When any major public event took place, it was usually followed by a flurry of
broadsides, with each writer violently disagreeing with the others and promoting
his or her own point of view. This poem provides commentary on the public
execution of a burglar in Boston and draws some very pointed lessons on the
consequences of crime. As you read it, you might imagine what some other
broadside publishers might say in response.
The Library of Congress Lyrical Legacy The Wages of Sin;
OR,
Robbery justly Rewarded:
A
POEM,
Occasioned by the untimely Death of
Richard Wilson,
Who was Executed on Boston Neck, for Burglary,
On Thursday the 19th of October, 1732.
THis Day from Goal must Wilson be
conveyed in a Cart,
By Providence is strangely
By Guards unto the
brought
Gallows-Tree,
thus far to be reveal’d.
to die as his Desert.
By which we see apparantly,
For being wicked
there is no Places sure,
overmuch,
Where Workers of Iniquity
there for a wicked Crime,
can hide themselves secure.
Must take his fatal Lot with
There is no Man by human
such
Wit,
as die before their Time.
can keep his Sin conceal’d
No human Pardon he can
When he that made him
get,
thinks it fit
by Intercession made;
the same should be
But flee he must unto the
reveal’d.
Pit,
He that gets Wealth in
and by no Man be stay’d.
wicked Ways,
The fatal sad and woful
and slights the Righteous
Case,
Rule,
this awful Sight reveals,
Doth leave them here
Of one whom Vengeance
amidst his Days,
in his Chase
and dies at last a Fool.
hath taken by the Heels.
Here we may see what Men
Here is a Caution in the
for Stealth
Sight,
and Robbing must endure;
to wicked Thieves, and they
And what the Gain of ill
Who break and rob the
got Wealth
House by Night,
will in the End procure.
which they have mark’d by
Here is a Caution high and
Day.
low,
We see the Fall of one that
for Warning here you have,
cast
From one whose Feet are
his Lot in by Decree,
now brought to
With those that wait the
the Borders of the Grave.
Twilight past,
He does bewail his misthat so no Eye may see.
spent Life,
That wicked Action which
and for his Sins doth grieve,
he thought
Which is an hopeful Sign
by Night would be
that he
conceal’d,
a Pardon will receive.
He says, since he forsook
his God,
God has forsaken him,
And left him to this wicked
Crime,
that has his Ruine been.
He calls his Drunkenness a
Sin,
with his neglect of Prayer,
The leading Crimes have
brought him in
to this untimely Snare.
All you that practice cursed
Theft,
take Warning great and
small,
Lest you go on, and so are
left
to such untimely fall.
Repent of all your Errors
past,
and eye the Stroke of Fate,
Lest you thus come to
Shame at last,
and mourn when ’tis too
late.
Remember what the
Scripture saith,
a little honest Wealth,
Is better far than mighty
Store
of Riches got by Stealth.
This Warning foundeth in
our Ear,
this Sentence loud and
Shrill,
O Congregation, hear and fear,
and do no more so ill.
FINIS.
there is no Places sure,
x now brought to
the Borders of the Grave.
He does bewail his mis-spent Life,
and for his Sins doth grieve,
Which is an hopeful Sign that he
a Pardon will receive.
He says, since he forsook his God,
God has forsaken him,
And left him to this wicked Crime,
that has his Ruine been.
He calls his Drunkenness a Sin,
with his neglect of Prayer,
The leading Crimes have brought him in
to this untimely Snare.
All you that practice cursed Theft,
take Warning great and small,
Lest you go on, and so are left
to such untimely fall.
Repent of all your Errors past,
and eye the Stroke of Fate,
Lest you thus come to Shame at last,
and mourn when ’tis too late.
Remember what the Scripture saith,
a little honest Wealth,
Is better far than mighty Store
Revolutionary
Phyllis Wheatley on being brought from Africa (though it's fiercely
accomodationist, it's definitely about change...)
http://memory.loc.gov/cgibin/ampage?collId=ody_rbcmisc&fileName=ody/ody0215/ody0215page.db&recN
um=19
Whitman poem (http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/trm013.html).
Post-Rev through Civil War
Abolition poems:
http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-
bin/ampage?collId=ody_musmisc&fileName=ody/ody0316/ody0316page.db&rec
Num=7
http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-
bin/ampage?collId=ody_musmisc&fileName=ody/ody0316/ody0316page.db&rec
Num=9
Post WWII
Robert Frost, the Gift Outright:
http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/tri050.html
Robert Frost wrote a new poem entitled "Dedication" for delivery at the inauguration of
John F. Kennedy in 1961, but never read it, because the sun's glare upon the snow
blinded Frost from seeing the text. Instead, he recited "The Gift Outright" from memory.
The Library holds Frost's original, working draft of "Dedication" as well as this fair copy
of the more familiar poem. Robert Frost served as the Library's consultant in poetry
(1958-1959) and honorary consultant in the humanities (1958-1963). In addition, Frost
recorded readings of his poetry at the Library in 1948, 1953, and 1959 for the Archive of
Recorded Poetry and Literature.
From the Poetry of Robert Frost, © 1970 by Lesley Frost Ballantine, © 1969 by Henry Holt and Company,
Inc. Reprinted by permission of Henry Holt and Company, Inc.
http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/images/uc005075.jpg
Words Like Freedom
There are words like Freedom
Sweet and wonderful to say.
On my heartstrings freedom sings
All day everyday.
There are words like Liberty
That almost make me cry.
If you had known what I know
You would know why.
-Langston Hughes