2 h 0 minAudiobook6 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if a poem asks you not to sit quietly, but to feel its beat in your feet?
Vachel Lindsay treats poetry as something a crowd can hear, clap to, and feel. In The Congo, and Other Poems, rhythm drives the verse forward. The title poem unfolds in three movements, while The Santa-Fe Trail turns toward the American road and West.
In Abraham Lincoln Walks at Midnight, the dead president walks Springfield's streets, troubled by the world's wars. Alongside public tributes and spiritual hunger, the collection brings difficult questions. The Congo's images of Black people and Africa carry dated racial attitudes that call for a critical eye as well as an attentive ear.
What you’ll discover
- Poetry with a pulse Discover verse that invites your voice to follow its beat rather than hurry past.
- The title poem's drumbeat Follow three movements of rolling rhythm, while questioning the assumptions behind their images.
- The American road Turn to The Santa-Fe Trail for a humoresque rooted in the American landscape.
- Lincoln in the night Meet an imagined Lincoln walking Springfield, burdened by wars beyond its streets.
- Words to read aloud Start slowly and let the rhythm catch you as you explore Lindsay's verse.
Who will love it
Readers who love poetry that moves, who enjoy reading aloud, who like American folk song, ragtime rhythm and fairy tales, and who collect the voices of the early twentieth century.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- These poems are scores for the voice
- The Congo moves in three movements
- Cars, bells and fire become music
- Chants for children and public causes
- Faith and the city in the Incense section
- Light verse, toys and tributes
- The moon as a mirror in twenty poems
- War poems and the epilogue of rest
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- Audiobook
- 2 h 0 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 6 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
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- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
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25 languages, side by side
Read and hear Il Congo e altre poesie in 25 languages and switch at any time. Or read two side by side, paragraph by paragraph: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
Il Congo e altre poesie
by Vachel Lindsay · 1914
A broom handle pounds a barrel, and a chant sweeps from the Congo to Kansas roads and fire engines.
Medium level2–5 hours to read25 languages
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In short
What if a poem were a drumbeat you could stand up and perform? You will hear what these poems ask a reader to do, starting with the title poem.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
These poems are scores for the voice
It carries directions such as heavy bass, shrill and high, whispered, faster, or with great deliberation.
Take The Firemen's Ball, where clanging syllables stand in for bells and engines, and the voice grows louder, then sinks to a hush. The Santa Fe Trail asks the reader to speed up with the racing cars and slow down as dusk comes on. In both, the sound is as much the meaning as the words are.
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What is The Congo and Other Poems about?
It is a collection of poems by Vachel Lindsay meant to be chanted or sung. Subjects include the Congo River, Kansas roads, a firemen's ball, children's dances, the moon, love and marriage, faith in the city, and protest against the war of 1914.
What are the moon poems in The Congo and Other Poems?
The fourth section gathers twenty poems in which the moon stands for something different each time. It is the north wind's cooky, a griffin's egg, a gong for fairy ears, and a water keg to a miner. The single image shifts from comic to tender.
Who is Mumbo-Jumbo in The Congo?
Mumbo-Jumbo is the god of the Congo in the poem, a figure whose threat of a hoo-doo curse returns as a refrain in each part. The poem treats him as a power that fades and then whispers again.
The author
Vachel Lindsay
1879–1931 · American poet
Vachel Lindsay was an American poet born in Springfield, Illinois, in 1879. He wrote poetry intended to be spoken aloud and gave public readings. His collections include General William Booth Enters into Heaven and Other Poems (1913) and The Congo and Other Poems (1914). He died in Springfield in 1931.
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