Comments about Alan Seeger

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RTFireflyEsq: But I have a rendezvous with Death At midnight in some flaming town, When Spring trips north again this year And I to my pledged word am true, I shall not fail that rendezvous. Alan Seeger

war_poets: 24 March 1915 The New York Sun publishes an article by Alan Seeger ‘Among so many hours in the soldier’s life that modern warfare makes monotonous and unromantic there come those too when the heart expands with accesses of enthusiasm'

VinayakKariwal: "And I to my pledged word am true, I shall not fail that rendezvous." ~ Alan Seeger

Orgetorix: Alan Seeger (22 June 1888 – 4 July 1916) was an American war poet who fought and died in World War I during the Battle of the Somme, serving in the French Foreign Legion. Seeger was the brother of Charles Seeger, a noted American pacifist and musicologist and the uncle of folk…

relicsofislam: I Have a Rendezvous with Death BY ALAN SEEGER I have a rendezvous with Death At some disputed barricade, When Spring comes back with rustling shade And apple-blossoms fill the air— I have a rendezvous with Death When Spring brings back blue days and fair.

war_poets: 12 March 1915 Alan Seeger writes to his mother ‘From today on, no more letters nor correspondence of any kind goes out until further notice. As this rule seems to apply to all regiments, it is probably motivated by military reasons.'

war_poets: 7 March 1916 Alan Seeger writes to his mother from Biarritz, where he is convalescing ‘I hope you got my letters from the hospital soon enough to be reassured about my not being at Verdun. This ought to have been a comfort to you. Of course, to me it is a matter of great regret'

Hyunwolk: I have a rendezvous with Deathat some disputed barricade. When Spring comes back with rustling shade and apple blossoms fill the air. I have a rendezvous with Death, when Spring brings back blue days and fair. — I Have a Rendez-vous with Death by Alan Seeger.

war_poets: 3 March 1915 Alan Seeger sends a postcard showing French infantry ‘Here is the way we look marching, l’arme à la bataille. After six days repose we are going back again to the trenches tonight.’

war_poets: 26 February 1916 Alan Seeger writes to a friend ‘The things one poignantly regrets are those which seem to us unnecessary, which, we think, might have been different. This is not my case. My being here is not an accident'

war_poets: 26 February 1915 Alan Seeger writes to his father ‘I was shot a few days ago coming in from sentinel duty. I exposed myself for about two seconds at a point where the communication ditch is not deep enough'

war_poets: 17 February 1915 Alan Seeger writes to his mother ‘You are quite wrong about my not realizing what I was going into when I enlisted. I had not been living for two years in Europe without coming to understand the situation very well'

allyngibson: I'm reading a collection of American World War I poetry. I think there's a reason, excepting Alan Seeger, history has forgotten the American poets.

Seraphim090139: Our valiant foe and all his deadly tools, But also that we turn disdainful backs On that poor world we scorn yet die to shield— That world of cowards, hypocrites, and fools. Alan Seeger, 'On Returning to the Front after Leave'

war_poets: 1 February 1916 Alan Seeger writes ‘I am in hospital for the first time, not for a wound unfortunately, but for sickness. Funny I should be ill this winter when we are in the rear, whereas I passed the last from October to July in the trenches without missing a day.’

toothdreams: I have a rendezvous with death/at some disputed barricade/when spring comes back with rustling shade/and apple blossoms fill the air/I have a rendezvous with death/when spring brings back blue days and fair by Alan Seeger who died in WWI. I memorized this poem in 8th grade lol

DCameron84: A few shots from my Saturday hike with my two oldest kids at Alan Seeger Natural Area in Rothrock State Forest, about half an hour outside town. Old growth hemlock forest and serene quiet to savor nature with the kiddos. Maybe a good place for a Lab hike

uzbekmodernist: Tashkent Part 2: everything changes. Everything. We all have an rendezvous w death (Thanks Alan Seeger) Tashkent as we remembered it is gone. We are living on memories and nostalgia can be toxic— ask those who wish to see the return of a Soviet Empire. I do have some hope:

thewardoll: At midnight in some flaming town, When Spring trips north again this year, And I to my pledged word am true, I shall not fail that rendezvous. Alan Seeger, KIA Battle of the Somme

war_poets: 11 January 1915 Alan Seeger writes 'another bomb came over, which exploded among us with a tremendous detonation. In the confusion that followed the attacking party burst in the door that covered a breach in the wall at this spot and poured a volley into our midst'

war_poets: 5 January 1915 Alan Seeger writes ‘I came across another soldier in a black sweater with an American flag pinned to it. I remarked in accosting him that it was the drapeau de mon pays and by so doing made a charming afternoon acquaintance'

war_poets: 31 December 1914 Alan Seeger writes ‘Spent a unique and agreeable kind of Christmas in Cuiry, brightened by thoughtful friends in Paris who sent us all packages laden with everything good to eat and wear. Christmas Day itself was one of the most beautiful of cold winter days

war_poets: 27 December 1915 Alan Seeger writes to his mother ‘the immense secret longing for peace that is the universal undercurrent in Europe now. Only all the nations have waded so deep in blood now that they think it less costly to go right over than to return where they started from'

war_poets: 22 December 1914 Alan Seeger writes ‘Am feeling perfectly happy and contented. This life agrees with me; there will be war for many years to come in Europe and I shall continue to be a soldier as long as there is war.’

TheosophyP: "Among the many composers influenced by Theosophy we find Henry Cowell, Arthur Farwell, William Grant Still, Dane Rudhyar, Katherine Ruth Heyman, Alan Hovhaness, Cyril Scott, Luigi Russolo, Ruth Crawford-Seeger, Edgard Varèse, and others.' Matt Marble

war_poets: 19 December 1915 Alan Seeger writes to his mother ‘you must not worry about lapses like this, for we are not on the front now and will only take part in the big actions, after which I will see that you are notified by telegraph. There is no news here. Life is uneventful.’

war_poets: 14 December 1914 The New York Sun publishes an article by Alan Seeger ‘We have been camping in the woods for the last three days. These intervals of rest between our periods of service in the trenches are usually passed in cantonment at X---, a few kilometers behind the lines.

war_poets: 8 December 1914 Alan Seeger writes ‘[we] marched up the hill in single file under the winter stars. Passing the second line trenches we walked for some time down a road, torn up here and there with shell holes and obstructed now and then with shattered trees.’

war_poets: 4 December 1914 Alan Seeger writes ‘Back in the same trenches […] The trenches have been much improved by the last section. The roof has been made water-tight, more barbed-wire has been strung in front, and the earth out of the deepened ditches has been piled round the walls'

rubencaravaca: La lectura de hoy: "Hard Hitting Songs For Hard-Hit People". Doscientas canciones recopiladas por Woody Guthrie, Alan Lomax y Pete Seeger (1940–67)

war_poets: 30 November 1915 Alan Seeger writes ‘I cannot congratulate myself enough on my foresight in choosing to stay with the Legion instead of going into the 170me with the other Americans... it seems they are still on the front in Champagne, in the same desolate sector'

war_poets: 17 November 1914 Alan Seeger writes to his mother ‘Unfortunately I left my MS with a printer in Bruges, which is now in the hands of the Germans and the center of the fiercest fighting. After the war I shall return there and look it up.’

DeadPoetsDaily: Sonnet II on Dead Poets Daily

TruthSeerum: History is never a consistent narrative. After writing I Have A Rendezvous with Death, Alan Seeger died on July 4 (1916). July 4 (1923) memorial for US in Paris shows him. Niece Peggy Seeger got stripped of US citizenship 1957-94. Nephew Pete Seeger got banned from TV 1950s-60s

SeanDurns: I Have a Rendezvous with Death by Alan Seeger | Poetry Foundation

Ill_MadeKnight: Turns out they’re from Broceliande, FR, where Merlin cast a spell of rejuvenation to join his lover Vivienne in a lifetime of bliss (until her inevitable betrayal). So then I’m thinking of the WWI poet Alan Seeger and his poem “Broceliande”

war_poets: 10 November 1914 Alan Seeger writes ‘Fifth day of our second period in the trenches. Five days and nights of pure misery. [..] It is a miserable life to be condemned to, shivering in these wretched holes, in the cold and the dirt and semi-darkness'

war_poets: 9 November 1915 Alan Seeger writes to his mother ‘Your letter naturally made me unhappy, for it is only in thinking of you that any possible doubts can rise in my mind about having done well in coming here.’

war_poets: 4 November 1914 Alan Seeger writes in his diary ‘Back in Cuiry again. Darkness would hardly begin for a fusillade would start from the lines near by, the cry of “Aux armes, aux tranchées!” would run from door to door'

war_poets: 30 October 1915 Having been reported in American newspapers as missing/killed in the Battle of Champagne, Alan Seeger writes to his mother ‘I am writing to you in a little café amid the best of comrades. You must take heart thinking of me as always content and really happy'

war_poets: 29 October 1914 Alan Seeger writes ‘Hope to go into the trenches tonight; they are only four kilometers over the hill from here. We have come to the point where fighting is the only thing to do.’

war_poets: 28 October 1914 Alan Seeger ‘For twenty minutes or so the rifle and mitrailleuse fire was continuous, broken every few seconds by the booming of the artillery, while magnesium lights were shot off from the trenches to light up the battle field. Very impressive in the darkness'

war_poets: 25 October 1914 Alan Seeger writes ‘we sat a long time on the grassy knolls, watching the lines across the valley. Aeroplanes circled continually overhead on reconnaissance and were bombarded with shrapnel from the lines below, without any apparent damage.’

war_poets: 25 October 1915 Alan Seeger describes his part in the battle in Champagne ‘The afternoon of the 28th should have been our turn. We had spent four days under an almost continual bombardment. The regiment had been decimated, though many of us had not fired a shot.'

war_poets: 23 October 1914 Alan Seeger writes in his diary ‘There were three graves by the roadside at a place where we stopped, a post above each and a placard reading: ‘Espion, traitre à son pays. [Spy, a traitor to his country]’.

war_poets: 23 October 1914 Alan Seeger writes to his mother ‘I am feeling fine, in my element, for I have always thirsted for this kind of thing, to be present always where the pulsations are liveliest. Every minute here is worth weeks of ordinary experience.’

richismo77: But I’ve a rendezvous with Death At midnight in some flaming town, When Spring trips north again this year, And I to my pledged word am true, I shall not fail that rendezvous. Rendezvous With Death, Alan Seeger, 1916

war_poets: 22 October 1914 Alan Seeger writes in his diary at Verzy ‘the sergeant returned and announced the extraordinarily unexpected news that we were to stay in Verzy till four o’clock and then leave immediately for the trenches that are only five or ten kilometres beyond here.’

war_poets: 20 October 1914 Alan Seeger ‘All our way has been one immense battle-field, little villages that are nothing but heaps of ruins, fields torn with artillery fire and heaped with the fresh graves of the soldiers, buried where they fell, a rude cross above and the kepi rouge.’

war_poets: 17 October 1914 Alan Seeger writes to his mother ‘I go into action with the lightest of light hearts … I am happy and full of excitement over the wonderful days that are ahead.’

war_poets: 11 October 1914 Alan Seeger writes ‘This morning comes the unexpected news of the fall of Antwerp. This is the most important event of the war to date. It means the entire subjugation of Belgium. The Germans, as far as I can see, occupy all the territory they have coveted’

wtul_playlist: Just played: Alan Feinberg - Crawford Seeger: Piano Study in Mixed Accents (The American Innovator)

war_poets: 4 October 1914 Alan Seeger writes ‘Last night two Germans were found in the woods near here by a patrol. One was dead from hunger and exposure and the other nearly so. He said the reason they had not surrendered was that their officers had told them that they would be shot.

war_poets: 4 October 1915 Alan Seeger writes to his mother ‘The regiment has been in the big action in Ch--- from the beginning – our brigade was the second to leave the trenches. Have been eight days under terrific shell fire. Have taken many prisoners.’

great_thunberg: Hiking Through the Alan Seeger Natural Area in Rothrock State Forest - Uncovering PA

UncoveringPA: Hiking Through the Alan Seeger Natural Area in Rothrock State Forest

war_poets: 28 September 1914 Alan Seeger writes to his mother ‘I hope you see the thing as I do and think that I have done well, being without responsibilities and with no one to suffer materially by my decision’

war_poets: 27 September 1914 In Toulouse, Alan Seeger writes in his diary ‘Fifth Sunday since enlistment. The arbor of a little inn on the highroad running east from Toulouse. Beautiful sunny afternoon. Peace. The stir of the leaves; noise of poultry in the yards near by’

war_poets: 25 September 1915 Alan Seeger ‘we crossed the open space between the lines, over the barbed wire, where not so many of our men were lying as I had feared (thanks to the efficacy of the bombardment) and over the German trench, knocked to pieces and filled with their dead.’

war_poets: 24 September 1915 Alan Seeger writes ‘We are to attack tomorrow morning. I have been waiting for this moment for more than a year… It will be the greatest moment of my life. I shall take good care to live up to it.’

war_poets: 23 September 1915 Alan Seeger writes 'helped disinter three men who had been buried alive. They had taken refuge in a deep trench that had been dug for the purpose. But a big shell had fallen right beside this trench and covered the unfortunate men with dirt.'

war_poets: 21 September 1915 Alan Seeger writes 'we will halt to reform, while the entire 8th Corps, including numerous cavalry, will pass through the breach we have made. These will be sublime moments; there are good chances of success and even of success without serious losses.’

war_poets: 18 September 1915 Alan Seeger writes ‘Here, illumined by the German fusées that shot up continually from their trenches a mile or so off, lay the vast battlefield that in a few days is to see one of the most tremendous actions ever fought.'

war_poets: 16 September 1915 Alan Seeger describes leaving Plancher-Bas and marching to Suippes ‘Do not know whether we are to go up to the trenches or wait here until we go into action. The 2me Etranger ought certainly to be the first’

WoodyGuthrieCtr: NOW READING: “The Leadbelly Songbook: The Ballads, Blues, and Folksongs of Huddie Ledbetter” (1962, Oak Publications). The book contains sheet music, illustrations, and written introductions to Lead Belly’s songs, with essays by Woody, Pete Seeger, Alan Lomax, and more.

war_poets: 1 September 1915 Alan Seeger writes ‘Great and unexpected news this morning at report. All American volunteers in the Legion are to be given the privilege of entering a French regiment. […] I have chosen the 133e de ligne, whose depot is at Belley

war_poets: 28 August 1915 Alan Seeger writes ‘I have pleasant memories of Alsace […] The people are quite German in all outward aspects. The young men are serving in the German army; their little brothers and sisters are learning the “Marseillaise” in the village school.’

mcnaughtongunn: August 24, 1914: Poet Alan Seeger volunteers in French army

war_poets: 24 August 1914 Alan Seeger joins the French Foreign Legion so he could fight for the Allies.

war_poets: 24 August 1915 Alan Seeger writes ‘Likelihood of an offensive in Alsace is not so good now. The reason we came here was to put in six days’ work on the second line defenses, each regiment in the division doing its turn. This done, we return, they say, to Plancher-Bas!’

war_poets: 21 August 1915 Alan Seeger writes ‘In Alsace at last. […] Crossed the old frontier line without demonstration. German road posts. Immediate change in architecture; picturesque houses with white plaster walls and inset beams. The people all speak German and very bad French.

war_poets: 20 August 1915 Alan Seeger writes from Vétrine, near Belfort ‘The boom of the cannon can be heard, more distant now, in Alsace. Two captive balloons are up along the line of the front. An aeroplane returns toward Belfort from a reconnaissance beyond the lines.'

war_poets: 19 August 1915 Alan Seeger writes ‘We are to leave tomorrow, probably for the Front!’

CuckedPusstrami: “I have a rendezvous with Death at some disputed barricade. It may be he shall take my hand and lead me into his dark land and close my eyes and quench my breath. I have a rendezvous with Death and I to my pledged word am true, I shall not fail that rendezvous” — Alan Seeger

war_poets: 16 August 1915 Alan Seeger writes ‘Forty kilometers away could be seen indistinctly the factory chimneys and church spires of Mulhouse. We saw also the Harmannsweilerkopf, where such fierce fighting has taken place this last winter'

war_poets: 14 August 1917 Ivor Gurney writes to Marion Scott ‘We cannot hear the guns at this place, but the flashes are clear enough; to remind us of the reason why we sleep on straw and not “pillowed in silks and scented down” as Alan Seeger wrote.’

alan_seals: Here he is on a tv program hosted by Pete Seeger:

war_poets: 10 August 1915 Alan Seeger writes ‘favored by the fine weather of one day in a hundred, the most beautiful view spread out before us. Southward, 236 kilometers away, Mont-Blanc rose in isolated grandeur'

war_poets: 8 August 1915 Alan Seeger writes to his mother ‘I have always had the passion to play the biggest part within my reach and it is really in a sense a supreme success to be allowed to play this.’

war_poets: 7 August 1915 Alan Seeger writes ‘It is in these villages behind the lines that one gets an idea how the country is suffering. There is more than one young man back here without a leg or an arm.’

jc_nuggets: 04 01 Introduction to Rendezvous With Death, and Alan Seeger

thewardoll: But I’ve a rendezvous with Death. At midnight in some flaming town, When Spring trips north again this year. And I to my pledged word am true, I shall not fail that rendezvous." Alan Seeger, KIA Battle of the Somme.

StrokeJoke: I have a rendezvous with death by Alan Seeger is an intriguing poem…

war_poets: 31 July 1915 Alan Seeger describes his motives for enlisting ‘let it always be understood that I never took arms out of any hatred against Germany or the Germans, but purely out of love for France.'

war_poets: 27 July 1915 Alan Seeger writes ‘Pleasant days here in the rear. Morning and afternoon we generally have exercises, marches militaires, and reviews. But there is always plenty of time on each side of the morning and evening meal to rest, read, or loaf.’

war_poets: 19 July 1915 Alan Seeger writes ‘Once or twice I have fancied that I caught the distant voice of the cannon in Alsace, but in general one feels far removed from the theatre of war.'

koubu6841: I have a Rendezvous with Death by Alan Seeger

war_poets: 17 July 1915 Alan Seeger writes from Plancher-Bas ‘The whole Legion Etrangere is marching with us and every one expects that we are going into action.’

war_poets: 15 July 1915 In Couthenas, Haute-Saône, Alan Seeger writes ‘So now we are back again with the old Moroccan division, the troupes d’élite. We shall be here probably several weeks and then go immediately into some important action.’

war_poets: 12 July 1915 Alan Seeger writes from near Reims ‘Stayed in the trenches only twenty-four hours. […] Was accosted this morning by a corporal in the 75e Territorial, who remembered seeing me in Lavenue’s in Paris, and recognized me, in spite of moustaches and short hair.’

war_poets: 11 July 1915 Alan Seeger writes ‘All Belgians and Russians to leave for the rear immediately! This long-heralded change at last arrived. Great delight amongst those affected. Great cafard among those not'

war_poets: 8 July 1915 Alan Seeger describes his visit to Paris ‘The visit did me good, on the whole, for with all its bringing home the greatness of the sacrifice I am making, it showed me clearly that I was doing the right thing’

rubink: Early British ska to end the week! Did you know that Alan Arkin's father wrote this song? Pete Seeger and Three Dog Night have covered it. Happy Friday.

war_poets: 8 July 1917 Ivor Gurney writes ‘We are having really a pretty easy time now, and this means Over the Top, I think. Alan Seeger’s poems must be interesting. I like “I have a rendezvous with Death” very much…'

war_poets: 4 July 1915 Thanks to American journalists in Paris who petition the Ministry of War, Alan Seeger and 31 other Americans are granted leave to spend the Fourth of July in Paris.

DrPopCultureBG: July 4, 1916: Poet Alan Seeger (age 28), author of "I Have a Rendezvous with Death" is killed by German machine gun fire at Belloy en Santeree, France. A recurrent theme in both his poetic works &his personal writings was his desire for his life to end gloriously at an early age.

war_poets: 5 July 1916 Alan Seeger is buried on the battle-field of Belloy-en-Santerre.

HalfAsHistory: Alan Seeger, American soldier and poet 1916 · 106 years ago

war_poets: 4 July 1916 Alan Seeger and his friend Rif Baer visit Assevillers, ‘picking up souvenirs, postcards, letters, soldiers’ notebooks and chatting all the time, when suddenly a voice called out: “The company will fall in to go to the first line.”

war_poets: 4 July 1916 During the Battle of the Somme Alan Seeger is killed in action at Belloy-en-Santerre, famously cheering on his fellow soldiers in a successful charge after being hit several times by machine gun fire.



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