{"id":6830,"date":"2016-04-08T17:28:05","date_gmt":"2016-04-08T22:28:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs2.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/?p=6830"},"modified":"2016-04-09T09:56:00","modified_gmt":"2016-04-09T14:56:00","slug":"poetry-and-politics-scott-county-iowa-1896","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/2016\/04\/08\/poetry-and-politics-scott-county-iowa-1896\/","title":{"rendered":"Poetry and Politics: Scott County, Iowa, 1896"},"content":{"rendered":"

In recognition of April as National Poetry Month<\/a>, we look to a Davenport newspaper\u2019s use of a famous German poem to make a point about Scott County voters in early 1896.<\/p>\n

Heinrich Heine\u2019s Die Lorelei<\/em> recounts the legend of a beautiful maiden who would perch\u00a0atop\u00a0the steep banks of the Rhine River and \u201csing the nicest kind of song to allure the passing voyager, who, succumbing to her enchantment, was dashed upon the rocks and devoured by the remorseless waves.\u201d (1) The Davenport Weekly Leader,<\/em> a Democratic newspaper, likened this voyager to the county citizens who voted Republican Francis M. Drake\u00a0into office.\u00a0The newspaper suggested that if a few words in the poem were to be changed, it would accurately describe the Liberal Republicans\u2019 conduct running up to the November 1895 Iowa gubernatorial election and the area voters\u2019 vulnerability to campaign promises.<\/p>\n

Below is an English translation (2) of the Die Lorelei<\/em>\u00a0text appearing in the January 17, 1896 edition of the Weekly Leader<\/em>; the\u00a0substitute\u00a0words and phrases suggested by the\u00a0newspaper\u00a0are in parentheses following the originals.<\/p>\n

I know not if (well) there is a reason
\nWhy I am so sad (tired) at heart.
\nA legend (Liberal Republican promises) of bygone ages
\nHaunts me and will not depart.<\/p>\n

The air is cool under nightfall.
\nThe calm Rhine (Mississippi) courses its way.
\nThe peak of the mountain is sparkling
\nWith evening’s final ray (Liberal Republican \u201cMondschein\u201d= moonlight).<\/p>\n

The fairest of maidens (Liberal Republicanism) is sitting
\nSo marvelous up there,
\nHer golden jewels are shining,
\nShe’s combing her golden hair.<\/p>\n

She combs with a comb also golden,
\nAnd sings a song as well
\nWhose melody binds a wondrous
\nAnd overpowering spell.<\/p>\n

In his little boat, the boatman (Anti-Prohibitionist Voter)
\nIs seized with a savage woe,
\nHe’d rather look up at the mountain (Prohibition Record of the Republican Party)
\nThan down at the rocks below.<\/p>\n

I think that the waves (Prohibition Republicans) will devour
\nThe boatman and boat as one;
\nAnd this by her song’s sheer power
\nFair Lorelei (Scott County Liberal Republican leaders) has (have) done.<\/p>\n

The many German immigrant families in Scott County for whom beer gardens were a way of life (and breweries often a livelihood) had long opposed Prohibition by supporting Democrats. However, the Iowa Republican party\u2019s efforts to disassociate itself from the temperance movement in the early 1890\u2019s (3) had apparently won over some of these voters, much to the chagrin of the Leader<\/em> and Davenport’s two German-language newspapers:\u00a0Der Demokrat<\/em> and Iowa Reform.<\/em><\/p>\n

Although it is unlikely the invitation to \u201cother local poets\u201d to \u201cprepare a campaign song for the next election using the German ballad as a model\u201d had any takers, we\u00a0chroniclers\u00a0of Davenport and Scott County history delight in the Leader<\/em>\u2019s literary turn this National Poetry Month 2016.<\/span><\/p>\n

(posted by Katie)<\/em><\/p>\n

——————————————————————————————————–<\/p>\n

(1) “Liberal Republican Loreleis.”\u00a0Davenport Weekly Leader\u00a0<\/em>January 17, 1896: 12.<\/p>\n

(2) Foreman, A. Z. “Heinrich Heine: The Lorelei (From German)<\/a>.”\u00a0Poems Found in Translation<\/em>. Web. 8 Apr. 2016.<\/p>\n

(3) McDaniel, George W. “The Rocky Road to Nirvana: Iowa and Prohibition in the 19th Century – Essay Read at the German-America[n] Heritage Center, June 10, 2012.<\/a>” McDaniel Talk – German American Heritage Center<\/em>. German American Heritage Center.\u00a0Web. 8 Apr. 2016.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In recognition of April as National Poetry Month, we look to a Davenport newspaper\u2019s use of a famous German poem to make a point about Scott County voters in early 1896. Heinrich Heine\u2019s Die Lorelei recounts the legend of a … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5],"tags":[1542,10,1544,1538,1546,455,1541,1540,11,1537,1543,1539,1326,1545,167,107],"class_list":["post-6830","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-history","tag-beer","tag-davenport","tag-davenport-weekly-leader","tag-democrats","tag-german-american-heritage-center","tag-german-immigrants","tag-german-americans","tag-heinrich-heine","tag-iowa","tag-liberal-republicans","tag-liquor","tag-lorelei","tag-national-poetry-month","tag-poems","tag-prohibition","tag-scott-county"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pd0CXc-1Ma","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6830","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6830"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6830\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6842,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6830\/revisions\/6842"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6830"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6830"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6830"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}