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A Memorial of the Titanic Disaster Portrayed In Rhyme. Founded On Facts.
[N.p.], 1912. 12mo (6.15” x 6.875”), buff wrappers. [5] pp., including text on inside of rear wrapper CONDITION: Good, vertical crease throughout, upper right corner of all leaves chipped. A scarce account in verse of the sinking of the Titanic, composed by a woman and published seven months after the disaster. While the Titanic was officially a ship in the British White Star Line, the company was a subsidiary of the American-owned International Mercantile Marine Co., controlled by titan of finance J.P. Morgan. In addition to British and American passengers, those on board included many would-be Americans and Canadians emigrating from Ireland, Italy, Scandinavia, the Levant and elsewhere. The poem begins by evoking the mistaken sense of invulnerability attending the great passenger ship on her maiden voyage: “the great Titanic sailed away from England’s sunny shore, / It sailed away majestically, alas to return no more. / It sped along quite swiftly making twenty one knots an hour / And rushing through the surging seas, each moment gaining power.” The tragic moment the vessel struck an iceberg is described as follows: “suddenly the scene was changed, a rumbling grating sound, / That shook along most everything, and caused the ship to bound. / At first the passengers did not fear, and took things very calm.” The second half of the poem conjures the terrifying scene of the sinking Titanic and honors the souls who went down with the vessel: Let us close our eyes to that awful scene, which pride and pomp brought on, When no timely warning was allowed to be given, only the sound of the funeral gong. And during all this terrible time, as the ship sank into the deep, The sound of faint music was heard o’er the waves, as it plunged in its downward leap For those grand and bravest of men just knew what surely their doom would be So they played their last tune, in that sweetest of hymns. Which was “Nearer My God To Thee”, Oh what anguish and sorrow. Ending on a solemn and contemplative note, the poem asks readers to “pause and ponder and think awhile, of that awful tragedy. / Which caused the death of rich and poor, far out on the open sea, / Let us ever remember those hero’s[sic] brave, as year after year rolls on / And erect a fitting memorial, for generations to look upon.” The British Library identifies the author as one Annie Lance Clements. She is an obscure figure; neither OCLC nor Newspapers.com yield any information about her. OCLC records just two copies, at Mariner’s Museum in Virginia and the British Library. Google searches yield no further holdings.
Item #9151
Price: $950.00
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