Item 7: “Good and Evil” Poem written by W[illiam].H[enry]. F[urness]., 1892 March 3
Item — Box: 15, Folder: 7
Series VII: Poetry, 1827-1941
From the Series:
Series VII: Poetry, 1827-1941, is arranged chronologically and features a broad range of mid 19th century to mid 20th century works including poems, booklets, and correspondence of various themes covering the difficult nature of military battles, religious faith, and romance. A main portion of the series highlights poetry and ballads focusing on the natural beauty of the American landscape and contrasting this with the nation's violent past. Featured authors in this series include Fitz-Greene Halleck, an American poet who worked as the personal secretary and advisor to John Jacob Aster, and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, one of the most proficient American poets of the 19th century. Halleck and Longfellow's poems cover religious themes that explore the role that faith plays in determination, its relationship to the land, and how it impacts younger generations. William Henry Furness, American poet who was described by his peers as a theologian, transcendentalist, and an abolitionist, is another author in the collection that explores these religious themes without the nationalistic perspective. Finally, the largest outlier of this series is the romantic poem written by a British Major John Andre who was a major in the British Army and head of its Secret Service in America during the American Revolutionary War. Andre’s poem, The Frantick Lover, is included in a larger booklet with an introduction by Howard H. Peckham, historian and an authority on colonial and early American history, who provides background and historical context on the Major and the development of the poem. Central themes of this work include the destructive effect that feelings of jealousy and obsession can have especially when disguised as feelings of love. This work provides an interesting comparison to the other American poets within the collection.
Dates
- Created: 1892 March 3
Creator
- Furness, William Henry, 1802-1896 (Person)
Disclaimer for Name and Subject Authorities
Some of the name and subject authority tags have been assigned by educated guessing and estimation of persons and subjects by region, age, profession, and familial relationships. They have been thoroughly researched by using primary and secondary sources available digitally, and named in each description, or in some cases linked directly to the person tag.
Access:
All series and subseries within this collection are open for research, with the exception of a few files within the Academia series that are restricted. The Academia series contains financial and sensitive institutional records from Wilkes College, and financial report records from Princeton University that will remain restricted for 80 years upon creation.
Extent
1 items
Language of Materials
From the Collection: English
Type of Material:
Printed Poem.
Condition:
Good.
Measurements:
5.5 x 8.5 in.
Title:
Good and Evil.
Description:
William Henry Furness, 1802-1896, an American poet who was described by his peers as a theologian, transcendentalist, abolitionist, and devout member of the Clergy. Furness published numerous works including a Manual of Domestic Worship, 1840, and a translation of Schiller's Song of the Bell. He wrote a large number of hymns as well and several of them still possess great merit; it is hypothesized that this work “Good and Evil” is one of these. Furness, despite being a devout member, rejected the more traditional beliefs of Christ’s birth that were attributed to magic and instead preferred to view them as natural events. This might have played a role in the descriptions he used in the poem within the collection. There is no mention of mystical properties given to God or the Devil, both are described as “workers” in a sense. The Devil is described as a workman in a world he did not make trying to “blind[s] our eyes” (ll. 5) while God is described frequently as doing “good work” and “His mighty voice” (ll. 17) meant to scatter evil is described and explained through thunder. The poem describes the internal battle of good and evil in terms of the Devil and God. The poem describes both individuals as “workman” of some kind with the Devil trying to lead people astray or “blinds our eyes,” while God’s work is described as “more sure” than the other’s as he builds a world for the “Best alone.”
Transcription:
[Page 1]
xo
Good and Evil
--------------
The Devil is a workman bold,
He works with might and main,
But, in a world he did not make,
He works against the grain
The dust he raises blinds our eyes And, cunning though he be, The noise he makes so stuns our ears We neither hear nor see
How, in a world Himself has made And for the Best alone, More surely than the Evil One’s The good God’s work is done.
In hidden ways, as noiselessly The Temple rose of yore, So His good work is going on And on forevermore
Sometimes indeed His mighty Voice Thunders from shore to shore, And scatters all the Devil’s work : Ecce ! our Civil War. W. H. F.
[Page 2]
Charles E. Dana From his friend W H Furness March 3/’92
- Transcription End -
The dust he raises blinds our eyes And, cunning though he be, The noise he makes so stuns our ears We neither hear nor see
How, in a world Himself has made And for the Best alone, More surely than the Evil One’s The good God’s work is done.
In hidden ways, as noiselessly The Temple rose of yore, So His good work is going on And on forevermore
Sometimes indeed His mighty Voice Thunders from shore to shore, And scatters all the Devil’s work : Ecce ! our Civil War. W. H. F.
[Page 2]
Charles E. Dana From his friend W H Furness March 3/’92
- Transcription End -
Creator
- Furness, William Henry, 1802-1896 (Person)
Repository Details
Part of the Wilkes University Archives Repository
Contact:
84 W South St.
Wilkes-Barre PA 18701 US
570-408-2000
570-408-7823 (Fax)
ask.archives@wilkes.edu
84 W South St.
Wilkes-Barre PA 18701 US
570-408-2000
570-408-7823 (Fax)
ask.archives@wilkes.edu