"Abraham Lincoln Walks at Midnight" is a 1914 poem by American poet

Vachel Lindsay Nicholas Vachel Lindsay (; November 10, 1879 – December 5, 1931) was an American poet. He is considered a founder of modern ''singing poetry,'' as he referred to it, in which verses are meant to be sung or chanted. Early years Lindsay was born ...

. It portrays

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...

walking the streets of

Springfield, Illinois Springfield is the capital of the U.S. state of Illinois and the county seat and largest city of Sangamon County. The city's population was 114,394 at the 2020 census, which makes it the state's seventh most-populous city, the second largest o ...

, stirred from his eternal sleep, a man, who even in death, is burdened by the tragedies of the modern world. At the time the poem was written, Lindsay was depressed by knowledge of the blood and death exacted by

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. The poem was included in

Louis Untermeyer Louis Untermeyer (October 1, 1885 – December 18, 1977) was an American poet, anthologist, critic, and editor. He was appointed the fourteenth Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress in 1961. Life and career Untermeyer was born in New Y ...

's anthology, ''Modern American Poetry'', published in 1919 (see

1919 in poetry —From ''A Prayer for My Daughter'' by W. B. Yeats, written on the birth of his daughter Anne on February 26 Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature (for instance, Irish or France). Events * ...

). This poem is now used in many schools and districts as an inspirational figure of the Civil War, as well as United States history.

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In 1953 composer

Roy Harris Roy Ellsworth Harris (February 12, 1898 – October 1, 1979) was an American composer. He wrote music on American subjects, and is best known for his Symphony No. 3. Life Harris was born in Chandler, Oklahoma on February 12, 1898. His ancestry ...

wrote a chamber cantata based upon this poem, scored for

mezzo-soprano A mezzo-soprano or mezzo (; ; meaning "half soprano") is a type of classical female singing voice whose vocal range lies between the soprano and the contralto voice types. The mezzo-soprano's vocal range usually extends from the A below middle C ...

, violin, cello, and piano. Three settings by African American composer

Florence Price Florence Beatrice Price (née Smith; April 9, 1887 – June 3, 1953) was an American classical music, classical composer, pianist, organist and music teacher. Born in Little Rock, Arkansas, Price was educated at the New England Conservatory of Mus ...

were rediscovered in 2009 (a setting for orchestra, organ, chorus, and soloists, premiered on April 12, 2019 by the Du Bois Orchestra and Lyricora Chamber Choir in Cambridge, Massachusetts; a setting for chorus, soloists, and piano, premiered on May 4, 2019 by the Andover Choral Society, North Andover, Massachusetts; and a setting of the Introduction and part of the Overture for very large orchestra).

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Text of ''Abraham Lincoln Walks at Midnight''
{{poem-stub American poems 1914 poems World War I poems Cultural depictions of Abraham Lincoln

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External links