Anyone known poetry? I can't understand it.
This is an excerpt from John Greenleaf Whittier’s 1892 “Brown of Ossawatomie.”
“...The shadows of his stormy life that mo-
ment fell apart;
And they who blamed the bloody hand
forgave the loving heart.
That kiss from all its guilty means re-
deemed the good intent,
And round the grisly fighter's hair the
martyr's aureole bent!...”
This excerpt from Whittier’s poem is in reference to the scene shown in Document Four.
Short-Answer Questions
What does the poet mean by “bloody hand”?
Does the poet think John Brown was a hero or a criminal? How do you know?
