Ohio History Journal

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Philip Bevan -- Minor Poet of Ohio 213

Philip Bevan -- Minor Poet of Ohio             213

Although Bevan's verse was modeled after the Eng-

lish school and so was representative of that period of

imitation in poetry which possessed American poets at

the opening of the nineteenth century, his frank avowal

of love for the new nation and his delight in the beauty

of the frontier states are reason enough to mark him as

one of the important members of the minor school.

Then, too, the reprinting of "America" will preserve the

contents of what is now a rare book and will give to the

historian of American literature another memento

which might otherwise be lost. This text is printed

from photostatic copy without intentional emendations.

 

AMERICA

ARGUMENT.

Apostrophe to the name of America, and its associations with Columbus--

The New England Fathers--Washington and the worthies of the Revo-

lution--The influence of its institutions, manners, and advantages upon

the people of Europe, and the world--The prospects which they open

to the different tastes and pursuits of men--The backwoodsmen and

hunter--The solitary, and lover of Nature--The husbandman--The

patriarch--The evangelist, and honest exiles of every grade and nation

--The unparalleled emigration, and the success and happiness of the

new settlers, exceeding even the dreams of poets--Concluding address.

Is there a name of nation, or of clime,

That sounds above all other names sublime?

That is a chaunt on every freeman's tongue,

That is a theme by every poet sung:

Sweeter than music's voice that flies around

This woe-worn world, wherever man is bound:

That calls to partial life degenerate slaves

Crouching around their fathers' classic graves,

As if Leonidas and Brutus woke

From ruin'd sepulchres, and once more spoke?

Is there a watchword that has never fail'd

To bring relief and victory where 'tis hail'd--

That exiled Poland echoes with a sigh,

And looks to heaven and clasps her swordless thigh?

Say, can the world produce that name, that land,