In this Book
- Blue-Tail Fly
- Book
- 2006
- Published by: Wayne State University Press
summary
The title of Blue-Tail Fly comes from an antebellum song commonly known as “Jimmy Crack Corn.” The blue-tail fly is a supposedly insignificant creature that bites the horse that bucks and kills the master. In this collection, poet Vievee Francis gives voice to “outsiders”-from soldiers and common folk to leading political figures-who play the role of the blue-tail fly in the period of American history between the Mexican American War and the Civil War. Through a diverse range of styles, characters, and emotions, Francis's poems consider the demands of war, protest and resistance to it, and the cross-cultural exchanges of wartime.
More than a narrowly themed text, Blue-Tail Fly is a book of balances, weighing the give-and-take of people and cultures in the arena of war. For lovers of poetry and those interested in American history, Blue-Tail Fly will illustrate the complexities of the American past and future.
Table of Contents
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- The Scale of Empire
- pp. 1-2
- AFTERMATH
- 1880, The Binding Tie
- pp. 5-11
- I
- Ample Cause of War
- p. 16
- Liberation
- pp. 21-22
- By the end
- p. 23
- The Escarpment
- pp. 28-29
- South of Houston
- p. 32
- II
- Civil Beginnings
- p. 35
- Darling Wife
- p. 36
- Grey Jebediah
- p. 37
- The Bone Boiler
- pp. 38-39
- Snake Swamp
- p. 43
- Linsey-Woolsey
- p. 45
- 1864, Dear Mother
- p. 46
- Gettysburg: Blue and Grey
- pp. 47-48
- “If Not for You”
- p. 52
- 1863, Detroit Riots, Again
- pp. 53-54
- 1864, Dear Son
- p. 55
- III
- White Glove Test
- p. 61
- Drummer Boy
- p. 64
- Nigger Pine
- p. 67
- The White Immensities
- pp. 69-74
- Notes on the Poems
- p. 75
Additional Information
ISBN
9780814335215
Related ISBN(s)
9780814333235
MARC Record
OCLC
755621241
Pages
88
Launched on MUSE
2012-01-01
Language
English
Open Access
No