Shaemas O'Sheel (1886–1954)

It's hard to believe that it's been almost twenty years since I first read this little collection of poems, which takes its name from a line by Keats: "let us be Jealous of dead leaves in the bay-wreath crown." It came to me in my late adolescence, through a friend's high school photography teacher, who was then sorting through her grandfather's library, and although I had never heard of the poet, I immediately accepted it, when it was offered me. Some things haven't changed, apparently. show more With the exception of two pieces - They Went Forth to Battle But They Always Fell and He Whom a Dream Hath Possessed - I can't say that it made much of an impression upon my younger self, but after using an O'Sheel quotation in my recent review of Mockingjay, and subsequently getting into a discussion of the poet and his work, I decided to dig it out again. I'm glad I did!

What I discovered was that many of those poems that I read and forgot as a younger woman, had much greater resonance for me now, as I approach my middle age. The feeling of seeking but not finding, in This Is Our Doom; the experience of one's person - one's soul, really - being a battleground of warring impulses and powers, of good and evil, in The Field of Dust; the sense of the inexorable passage of time, in The Pitilessness of Desire, and in Outworn - all felt familiar to me. I can't say that I am suddenly a great devotee of O'Sheel, but I have definitely gained a greater appreciation for his work. There were still a few pieces that were mute for me - perhaps when I am older still? - and one, Women With Shawls, that I actively disliked for its casual misogyny - no, Shaemas O'Sheel, women, even the older, less attractive ones, are not simply "brown clods...A womb and two breasts." Perhaps the flaw lies in your perception of them, rather than in their being? - but overall, I enjoyed Jealous of Dead Leaves.

One note to potential readers: this collection was published in 1928, and contains selections, many of them reworked, from O'Sheel's previous two efforts, The Blossomy Bough (1912) and The Light Feet Of Goats (1915). The author states, in his brief preface, that he no longer stands behind his earlier work, which he describes as a youthful outpouring. show less

From my preface,

I came across “The War of 1920” while doing research for a paper regarding German-American thought for a graduate class. While scouring the German-American Newspaper The Fatherland, I began noticing little bits that referenced an international war in 1920. Given that the particular paper was published in 1915, I was intrigued. As I steadily pieced the various articles together, I came to realize that this was in fact a book.

“The War of 1920,” while ultimately show more propaganda, is notable for the voicing the fears many Americans were feeling in 1915. The country was seething as a result of the Lusitania disaster and seemed to be inching closer to war with the Central Powers as a result. United States intervention in the Mexican Civil War was expanding, and many Americans feared the rumored growing influence of the Japanese within the region. In addition, American munitions trade to the Allies grew by the day, with anti interventionists lamenting the increasingly pro-Allies neutrality the United States was drifting towards. The book references these events often, except with the United States being on the receiving end of them. This was designed to serve as a way to look at the present war with a different lens, and it forces readers to look at how it would seemingly feel to be in the shoes of the Germans.

While the United States would ultimately enter World War I in 1917 after years of prolonged tensions with Germany, “The War of 1920” serves as a fascinating piece of historical writing that conveyed the thoughts and fears many anti-interventionist Americans felt at the time. I hope that present readers will appreciate this rather unique look into the mind of one such author. show less

I read this mostly for Joy Davidman's poems (she married C. S. Lewis). O enjoyed them, and some of the other poets as well, although many of the poems are now dated, since they were politically aligned with events of the 30s and 40s.