Lincoln Monument: Washington
Lincoln Monument: Washington - meaning Summary
Abe as Timeless Witness
Hughes depicts the Lincoln Monument as both still and speaking. The speaker invites the reader to view "Old Abe" alone in marble and moonlight, emphasizing vast, almost geological quiet that spans eons. Yet that silence contains a persistent moral voice that challenges history and endures beyond temporal walls. The poem compresses reverence and vigilance into a short meditation on memory, legacy, and the ongoing presence of Lincoln's ideals.
Read Complete AnalysesLet's go see Old Abe Sitting in the marble and the moonlight, Sitting lonely in the marble and the moonlight, Quiet for ten thousand centuries, old Abe. Quiet for a million, million years. Quiet-- And yet a voice forever Against the Timeless walls Of time-- Old Abe.
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