Life, love and literature

This line of poetry is from a book length poem by Stephen Vincent Benet. He undertook the task of telling the story of America in narrative poetry form. I can’t remember how many years he worked on it, but he died before he was able to finish it. He called it WESTERN STAR. I read an excerpt from it that the textbook publisher called “In the House of the Wild Wood.” We had just adopted new textbooks for our American literature classes. I saw that the excerpt was really long and considered skipping it perhaps. I am so glad I didn’t! Benet’s simple description had such an impact on me that I was transported back to 1620 with the Pilgrims and they were alive! I was there when Captain Christopher Jones saved the ship from a dangerous current called Pollock’s Rip; he fought it all day long and was able to reach land.They landed at the tip of Cape Cod first, and several men formed a scouting party to go inland to look for a place to settle. I was there when Dorothy Bradford fell overboard and drowned. No one saw it happen so the poet speculated that it could’ve been deliberate or accidental. I went to Provincetown once and walked down to the harbor where the Mayflower had been anchored. I tried to imagine her thoughts that day or night before she drowned. William Bradford was elected governor for 30 years and kept a diary called OF PLYMOUTH PLANTATION but never wrote about her death. Benet said this was because “some things cannot be written, not with a pen!”Benet felt the pain of Bradford’s loss and made me feel it! I was there when the scouting party was seen returning and the women were anxiously counting the distant figures. Benet said this was the place of the women through all of the waiting and watching and counting as this pioneer spirit settled this country as it expanded. I was there when they moved from Provincetown to Plymouth and made a permanent settlement. I was there when the Billington boys. apparently little trouble makers set off a keg of gunpowder that nearly put a hole in the ship! I was there when three of the wives gave birth, one on the voyage over. This poem is to me an example of literature being life! I don’t know how to tell you how to find a copy of WESTERN STAR if you wanted to. My daughter found me a used one at Amazon. I haven’t read it all and might not ever, but I do want to read about Jamestown and see if those people were human beings!