What Does John Greenleaf Whittier's In School Days Mean

John Greenleaf Whittier captured American hearts with detail of his poem “In School Days”. He was a sickly, but quite famous fireside poet. Living to the epic age of eighty-five, he wrote hundreds upon hundreds of poems. He had poems over many topics, but the most on nature and abolishment of slavery. He wrote in the romanticism time period, which started in the late 18th century and went into the mid-19th century. It was period of enlightenment and self-expression. One of his most famous poems was “In School Days”. It tells the tale of a man looking back at his childhood school days, and remembering young love. The details of the poem are the most important part. He means to show to live for all the positives in life. John Greenleaf Whittier
was an important Romantic era fireside poet, who grabbed many people and other poets attention with political and life based poems like “In School Days”, which show people the importance of the small things in the huge struggle that is life. John Greenleaf Whittier was born December 17th, 1807, in East Haverhill, Massachusetts.
His parents were John, a farmer, and Abigail, a simple housewife. They were both devout Quakers, and Whittier followed in their footsteps. He had one brother and two sisters. He was incredibly frail and weak, and suffered sickness throughout his life. Throughout his childhood, he poured his time into reading. He read many religious books, and was incredibly knowledgeable on the Bible. He lived far from other people on a farm. He enjoyed the nature, but was stressed by the toil of life and work on the farm. Due to this, he also didn’t receive much schooling. Some of his earliest known poems were wrote in his teenage years, remembering his few school days. His mother and one of his sisters encouraged his creative poetry, but his father didn’t care, only thinking and knowing of the strain of the farm life (Scudder xii). His first ever published poem was sent into a newspaper, by his sister without Whittier knowing. Once he saw the poem he was deeply moved and ecstatic. The editor of the paper got him sent to an academy. He worked as a shoemaker to pay every cent for his education. After working with multiple papers he returned to the farm to pay the mortgage and take charge for his dying father. His father died in 1830 and this was incredibly stressful for him because he had to take over the farm. In the late-1830’s and 40’s he did a large amount of political work. He loved politics, but
kept all of his work at home, because traveling and stress risked the safety of his health. However, he still published his views by writing many abolitionist papers and poems. He worked with a variety of papers and publishers over the years. He never received any major awards, but his long narrative Snow-Bound was incredibly famous and sold over 20,000 copies. His last few years he was plagued “intensely from neuralgic disorders” (Scudder xix)., leading to his death on September 7th, 1892. His works helped to define the free-spirited time of Romanticism.
The time period of Romanticism was a unique and powerful movement that swept the world in the late 18th century through most of the 19th century. Romanticism was a “revolt against the man” era, were logic, civilized society and law were battled against. “It praised imagination over reason, emotions over logic, and intuition over science--making way for a vast body of literature of great sensibility and passion” (Mtholyoke). Romanticism exemplifies self-expression, and individual rights, and coincidentally was at the same time as when many authoritarian governments were toppled. Amazed by the variety of topics, and their imagination, “romantic writers in all cultures expanded their imaginary horizons spatially and chronologically” (mtholyoke). They used twisted topics, intense romance and nature that hasn’t been seen since the Middle Ages. Caring for rights, Whittier was an avid abolitionist. Many of his poems and writings are on the topic of nature and freedom. He influenced those around him vastly as he was a famous American fireside poet. They were called this because of their fame. All of the members were all household names, and their poems were so famous they could be memorized and told around a fire. The fireside poets all wrote on the same topics as Whittier. They were the first ever American poets to rival their British counterparts. Whittier was a popular poet in the group, and they had a big 70th birthday party for him. Many famous authors and poets, even Mark Twain, made appearances there. This shows the importance of Whittier and his poetry. such as “In School Days”.
“In School Days” is a calm, and melancholy poem by John Greenleaf Whittier. The poem starts off subtly in a flashback style, talking about a long abandoned school house. It is many years since our character has gone to school is seems. It then talks about kids leaving the school, but one girl is upset and is walking slowly. She approaches a boy whose cap is tilted, and begins to speak to him. She apologizes for beating him in a spelling bee, because she loves him. Suddenly it soars through time to forty years later, and our boy is now an old man. The poem finishes softly, “He lives to learn, in life’s hard school, How few who pass above him, Lament their triumph and his loss, Like her,—because they love him” (Whittier 41-44).
“In School Days” uses detail to go into a deep meaning on life.
Whittier spends the first 3 stanzas describing a old school house, one that people of the time could recognize. Experts say, “Whittier . . . produced literary material that is physically linked to an historical context. . . .” (Leonard), showing how he reaches into everyday people’s history. He describes its rickety, worn, old textures. He then details children anxious to leave school. When the girl says, “‘I’m sorry that I spelt the word: I hate to go above you, Because . . . Because, you see, I love you!’” (Whittier 33-36), she is literally saying that she is sorry for beating him in the spelling bee. When she says this, Whittier exemplifies it by saying, “—the brown eyes lower fell,—” He is showing how the girl is truly upset, and deeply does love him. When it paces ahead to the boys old age, it uses detail to show age, “gray-haired man. . . sweet child-face. . . .”, which helps show the depth of the poem. What this poem literally means is that though the school of life has been hard, there are many positives that can be lived for in life. It is here about the importance of the small things in life, and that they cannot be taken for granted. He means to mourn for all who have truly cherished and put himself before there own
selves.
“In School Days” was a famous poem by John Greenleaf Whittier, a fireside poet of the Romantic Era, who grabbed the attention of America with his poem on life and politics, which show people the meaningfulness of the small things in life. “In School Days” was a famous poem of his. It starts by explaining in deep detail, an abandoned school house. We learn this is the schoolhouse of an old man who is recalling young love. The details help to exemplify the poem. It tells us how we should always live for the small things in life. He lived a sick life, but a long one, living to the age of eighty-five. He spent his days happily writing, as he wrote hundreds upon hundreds of poems and papers. His work landed his name into every household, as his work helped define the Romantic literary movement. Whittier cared for self-expression and freedom, and he provided deep poetry that all can relate to,