LS5663 - Module 4 - Social Studies Poetry - Book Review

Lewis, J. Patrick. 2007. The brothers' war: Civil war voices in verse. Washington, D.C: National Geographic. Photographs by Civil War Photographers. ISBN 9781426300370.

~

~

This very impressive book has a lot to offer in the way of poetry, history, and photography. Each page includes a photo from the civil war showing various scenes, such as Union soldiers, dead soldiers in a battlefield, slaves picking cotton, a portrait of Frederick Douglass, a female nurse tending the wounded in a war hospital, the bare scarred back of a slave, General Sherman's soldiers destroying the railway lines in the deep south, an amputee soldier, etc. These photos are dramatic, powerful, and emotional.

~

Add poetry to these photographs, and this is an incredible book. You really start to feel the history as you simply must read these poems aloud, and then study the pictures. Each page also includes some historical notes about the scene being depicted. This is an ideal book to read to and with social studies students, and to start getting them to understand history. It really happened! These are photographs, not drawings! These are real people, and real emotions! Kids need to have that taste of reality.

~

This book would work very well in an upper elementary classroom, middle, or even high school. Many of the poems rhyme or have an 'easy to feel' rhythm. Others are in a free verse style, with short lines and lots of "white space" around the poem. This keeps the poetry from being intimidating to reluctant readers. The pictures draw the students in, and then the power of the poetry snags them quickly.

~

~

Here is a dramatic poem that describes the raid on Harper's Ferry.

~

The Raider

~

Against a barbarous slave trade,

I swore with my last breath

Twenty-one worthies, black and white

And unafraid of death,

Would take the Armory that night,

We fought outmanned, outgunned,

And could not hold the prize though we

Had permanently stunned

Savage bigots everywhere.

We swung for it, but Lee,

That vile coward, must accept

Responsibility.

Let all the hired guns of hate

Punish this old John Brown.

The dam they opened up will flood

With blood until they drown.

In truth I am a white man

In sympathy a black.

but for this rope, I might have seen

Us win our freedom back.

~

The photo with this poem shows Harper's Ferry after the destruction from the battle started by John Brown and his followers. There is a historical note about who John Brown was and why he planned this attack.

~

This book is an excellent addition to a Civil War history unit. There are so many wonderful fiction and nonfiction books that could be used in conjunction with this. One of my favorites is Jim Murphy's The Boys' War. I am all about trying to get kids interested in history. I don't like dry textbooks, but there are so many wonderful books like these poetry and nonfiction ones that allow students to learn about and understand some of the reasons for this war.

~

The students could use the Internet to search the Library of Congress webpage for other stories, photos, poetry, music, etc. that interested them about the Civil War. They could make notes of their findings, and share and discuss them in small groups. This would allow for all students to participate in the research and the presentation of their new knowledge. Kids hopefully will start to make a connection to this very interesting part of American history.