Poems

by Alan Seeger

With an introduction by William Archer

Genres: Poetry, Classics

190 pages, Large Print

First published January 1, 1973

About the author

Alan Seeger was born in New York. Seeger entered Harvard in 1906 after attending several elite preparatory schools, including Hackley School. At Harvard, he edited and wrote for the Harvard Monthly.

After graduating in 1910, he moved to Greenwich Village for two years, where he wrote poetry and enjoyed the life of a young bohemian.

Having moved to the Latin Quarter of Paris to continue his seemingly itinerant intellectual lifestyle, on August 24, 1914, Seeger joined the French Foreign Legion so that he could fight for the Allies in World War I (the United States did not enter the war until 1917). He was killed in action at Belloy-en-Santerre, famously cheering on his fellow soldiers in a successful charge after being hit several times himself by machine gun fire. One of his more famous poems, I Have a Rendezvous with Death, was published posthumously. Indeed, a recurrent theme in both his poetic works and his personal writings prior to falling in battle was his desire for his life to end gloriously at an early age.

Seeger's poetry was not published until 1917, a year after his death.

Reviews

[Byren Burdess · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alan Seeger died fighting in WW1 at the age of 28. This free kindle edition of his poetry starts off with a collection of his letters wrote during the war. His almost naïve sense of wonder and love for life is often contagious and I enjoyed that throughout both his letters and poetry. Although, there's plenty melancholy to be enjoyed if you're an emo.

Considering I'm generally not the biggest fan of poetry or war, I feel like I'd happily re-read this one day. Surprisingly, JFK's favourite poem in here isn't even in my top list. Some of his sonnets were among my favourites, and a special shoutout to 'Maktoob'.

[Mike Kanner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Seeger is one of the last of the old-school poets who wrote romantic and lyric verse which will make it difficult for some modern readers.

Although the book focuses on his pre-war poems and sonnets, his war poems are included at the end of the volume. His poems about his experiences in the trenches (and a poem about the 1912 American election) reflect the same lyricism that is evident in his nature poems. Unlike many of the 'war poets' he praises the experience which may be why he is not as popular when looking at the poets of the period such as Owen, Brooke or Graves.

[Jonathan]

American poet who died in WWI at age 28. He joined the French Foreign Legion in order to fight for the Allies before America entered the war. He is the uncle of the American folk singer Pete Seeger. He hoped to die a young death in a glorious battle. After being shot a few times by a machine gun, he cheered his comrades on. The book is a first edition and first printing.