Unknown Letter #15
Dublin Core
Title
Unknown Letter #15
Subject
Brother Jerry
Abbie
Description
From Brother Jerry to Abbie
Creator
Brother Jerry (Jerome Peirce)
Source
Jerome Peirce Collection, National Park Service
Publisher
HIST 428 (Spring 2020), University of Mary Washington
Date
Unknown
Contributor
NPS, Civil War Study Group, Josef Rokus (Transcriber)
Rights
For educational purposes with no commercial use. Courtesy of National Park Service, Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania NMP, FRSP 16095-16102 (FRSP-00904).
Language
English
Type
Text
Identifier
Unknown Letter #15
Coverage
Unknown
Text Item Type Metadata
Text
To Abbie
From her affect. [affectionate] “Bro. [Brother] Jerry”
Abbie,
These are some of the gems and I only add his epitaph by himself and an expression during his illness. He died in Italy at the age of 24. You shall see the whole volume sometime. His likeness is the very embodiment of poetry.
Epitaph
“Here lies one whose name was writ in water”
“I feel the flowers growing over me”
(I forgot this)
“Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard are sweeter”
“He ne’er is crowned with immortality who fears to follow where airy voices lead.”
Human Life
“But this is human life, the war the deed
The disappointment, the anxiety
Imagination struggles far and neigh
All human bearing in themselves this good
That they are still the air, the subtle food,
To make useful existence and to show
How quiet death is.”
Vow of Chastity
“In that same void white Chastity shall sit
And monitor me nightly to lone slumber
With [???] lips I vow me the number
Of [???] Sisterhood and kind [???]
With the good help this very night shall
My future days to her [???] consecrate.”
Evening
“The good night blush of Eve was waning slow
And vesper, risen star, began to throe
In the dusk heavens silvery”
Love
“There is not a sound
Melodious howsoever can confound
The heavens and earth in one to such a death
As doth the voice of love. There’s not a breath
Will mingle kindly with the meadow air
Till it is planted round and stole a share
Of passion from the heart.”
Transcriber’s Note: The following note was written on the margin in a different handwriting:
These quotations must be from the poet Keats.
Lucy S. Peirce
From her affect. [affectionate] “Bro. [Brother] Jerry”
Abbie,
These are some of the gems and I only add his epitaph by himself and an expression during his illness. He died in Italy at the age of 24. You shall see the whole volume sometime. His likeness is the very embodiment of poetry.
Epitaph
“Here lies one whose name was writ in water”
“I feel the flowers growing over me”
(I forgot this)
“Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard are sweeter”
“He ne’er is crowned with immortality who fears to follow where airy voices lead.”
Human Life
“But this is human life, the war the deed
The disappointment, the anxiety
Imagination struggles far and neigh
All human bearing in themselves this good
That they are still the air, the subtle food,
To make useful existence and to show
How quiet death is.”
Vow of Chastity
“In that same void white Chastity shall sit
And monitor me nightly to lone slumber
With [???] lips I vow me the number
Of [???] Sisterhood and kind [???]
With the good help this very night shall
My future days to her [???] consecrate.”
Evening
“The good night blush of Eve was waning slow
And vesper, risen star, began to throe
In the dusk heavens silvery”
Love
“There is not a sound
Melodious howsoever can confound
The heavens and earth in one to such a death
As doth the voice of love. There’s not a breath
Will mingle kindly with the meadow air
Till it is planted round and stole a share
Of passion from the heart.”
Transcriber’s Note: The following note was written on the margin in a different handwriting:
These quotations must be from the poet Keats.
Lucy S. Peirce
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE
John Keats (October 31, 1795 – February 23, 1821) was an English Romantic poet. He was one of the main figures of the second generation of Romantic poets, along with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley, despite his works having been in publication for only four years before his death from tuberculosis at the age of 25.
John Keats died in Rome and was buried in the Protestant Cemetery, Rome. His last request was to be placed under a tombstone bearing no name or date, only the words, "Here lies One whose Name was writ in Water."
John Keats (October 31, 1795 – February 23, 1821) was an English Romantic poet. He was one of the main figures of the second generation of Romantic poets, along with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley, despite his works having been in publication for only four years before his death from tuberculosis at the age of 25.
John Keats died in Rome and was buried in the Protestant Cemetery, Rome. His last request was to be placed under a tombstone bearing no name or date, only the words, "Here lies One whose Name was writ in Water."
Original Format
Letter/Paper
Files
Collection
Reference
Brother Jerry (Jerome Peirce) Unknown, Unknown Letter #15, HIST 428 (Spring 2020), University of Mary Washington
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