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Analysis of Howe’s "Battle Hymn of the Republic"

prepared by Robert Willis Allen

NOTE: Aside from the author’s own opinions, the annotations for this section come primarily from three distinct sources: Garry Wills’s Under God: Religion and American Politics (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1990); Edmund Wilson’s Patriotic Gore: Studies in the Literature of the American Civil War (New York: Oxford University Press, 1966); and Deborah Pickman Clifford’s Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory: A Biography of Julia Ward Howe (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1979). There is no real consensus between these sources, as will be seen. Also Garry Wills’s tendency to overanalyze Mrs. Howe’s poem leads to confusion, although I agree with much of what he says about the poem. For example, Wills (p. 211) insists that Mrs. Howe was inspired to write the "Glory, Glory, Hallelujah" of the chorus by Revelation 19, which contains four "Allelujah"s, and Revelation 4:8 which gave her the "Glory, Glory"s. In the first place, the King James version of Revelation 4:8 and most other versions I have consulted contain the words "Holy, holy, holy," not "Glory, glory." On top of that, the chorus minus the tagline comes directly from the "Say, Brothers" version of the song which first saw print in 1858 and probably predates Julia’s effort by four to six years. This chorus was not published with the poem when it first appeared in February, 1862. Neither is it in the first draft version above. Although I believe, as Wills does, that much of this poem is derived from or suggested by various portions of the Book of Revelation, it is also clear to me that the poem includes many of the sights and sounds she experienced around wartime Washington. It is, therefore, a poetic mixture of biblical apocalyptic writing and scenes from the Army of the Potomac.

1. "Mine eyes have seen the glory..." - These three lines announcing the second coming of Christ most likely come from Revelation 19 which contains three of the principal elements in its verses. In verses 11-13 of that chapter, St. John the Divine of Patmos has a vision of a figure wearing garments stained with blood and riding a white horse. On his thigh (verse 16) is the name "KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS." He is described in verse 15 as treading "the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of God." From the rider’s mouth comes a "sharp sword, that with it he shall smite the nations" (verse 15). It is entirely possible that the four "Allelujah"s preceding these verses, which are somewhat reminiscent of the chorus of "John Brown’s Body," may have led Mrs. Howe to contemplate the rider on the white horse and include a veiled reference to him in the first line of her poem. Wills suggests (pp. 209-210) that the second line of the poem comes from Revelation 14:19-20 which mentions "the great winepress of God’s wrath." Wilson (pp. 92-93) suggests, and Clifford (p. 145) concurs, that Isaiah 63:1-6 is the inspiration of this first verse. The text says, in part, "I have trodden the winepress alone; ... for I will tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my fury; and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment." This was surely the inspiration for John of Patmos, but it is uncertain that it was Howe’s. No mention is made in Isaiah of a sword. It is also possible that the "grapes of wrath" in the second line were suggested to Howe by stacks of artillery ammunition. There is a type of artillery shot called "grape shot" which consists of tightly packed layers of lead balls and gunpowder. By the time of the Civil War, "grape shot" was largely replaced by its more easily loaded but equally deadly cousins: case and canister shot.

2. "I have seen him in the watchfires of an hundred circling camps." - This verse refers to the fires of the Army of the Potomac camped around Washington. According to Milton Meltzer (A Light in the Darkness, p. 208) Julia could see these fires from her room at the Willard Hotel. She makes no note of this in her memoirs. Wills (p. 210) suggests that the second and third lines are a reference to Revelation 1:12 which describes "seven golden candlesticks." He associates the verse with an engraving, the first in the "Apocalypse" series by German artist Albrecht Durer, which depicts seven candles burning on very tall, ornate candlesticks standing before the throne of the Lord. The throne appears to be a rainbow, and God sits on the throne holding a book in his left hand and seven stars in his extended right hand. Fire flashes from God’s eyes and a double-edged sword comes from his mouth. (See Francis Russell, The World of Dürer, 1471-1528 (Alexandria, VA: Time-Life Books, 1967), p. 100.) Julia, who knew a lot about European art, may well have derived inspiration for her first and second verses from Durer’s well-known engraving. Wilson is silent on the source for Julia’s "hundred circling camps," but Clifford (p. 144) associates this verse with the campfires Julia saw while approaching Washington on a train.

There is a popular version of the "Battle Hymn" utilizing a solo singer, chorus, and orchestra which alters the third line of this verse as follows: "I can read his righteous sentence in the dim and flaring lamps." I believe this to be a serious misreading of the poem. I think Julia intended to give the impression that the "dim and flaring lamps" were so bright that she could read by their light. Substituting the preposition "in" for "by" only confuses the meaning of the line. Mrs. Howe always resisted any changes made to this poem in its final form.

3. "I have read a burning gospel..." - The first line of this verse very likely refers to marching rows of Union infantry with bayonets fixed to their rifles. Wills (p. 210) calls the second line a form of the lex taliones or law of retaliation, defined by H. T. D. Rost, The Golden Rule: A Universal Ethic (Oxford: George Ronald, 1986), p. 9, as "Do as you are done by." Here, God promises to grant grace to those who fight against God’s "contemners," i.e. despisers. The last verse about the Hero born of woman is suggested by Chapter 12 of Revelation which speaks at great length about a woman who bears a son who fights against a dragon. Wills (p. 210) points out that, in Genesis 3:15, Adam and his sons tread the serpent under foot. Wilson (p. 95) says that the serpent in the poem is obviously the Confederacy. Clifford (pp. 145-146) states that Julia is here painting a picture of a vengeful God which has little to do with the kind, merciful God of William Ellery Channing of Boston.

Over the years, Southerners have had a very hard time with this verse, to the point that it, along with verse four, has been removed from many modern printings of the song in hymnals and patriotic songbooks. A more recently printed version of the "Battle Hymn" in the Methodist hymnal deletes only the 3rd verse and restores the 6th verse from the original draft. 4. "He has sounded out the trumpet that shall never call retreat..." - At first glance, the first two lines of the original fourth verse suggest bugle calls and beating drums, common sights at army camps, especially at troop reviews like the one Julia saw in Virginia the day before writing these lines. These two verses are also suggested in Revelation 8:5-6, which includes "thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake." Verse six tells of the seven angels who are preparing to "sound" their trumpets. Wills (p. 211) gives Revelation 10:7 as a possible source of inspiration. That verse mentions what will happen when the seventh angel "sound[s] his trumpet." Wilson (p. 95) states that the three verses together are a call for enlistment in the Union Army, and I agree. Clifford (p. 146) indicates that the verses are a sign that Julia has reverted to the strict Calvinist doctrines of her youth.

Mrs. Howe eventually changed the second line to "He is sifting out the hearts of men before his judgment seat." This sifting of hearts at the final judgment is best described in Matthew 25:31-46. The entire Book of Revelation is devoted to the topic of the last judgment.

5. "In the whiteness of the lilies he was born across the sea..." - In the later version of this line, Mrs. Howe made it more specifically about Jesus Christ. Wilson (p. 96) suggests Julia may have been thinking of Easter lilies which are associated with the death and resurrection of Christ rather than his birth. This certainly prepares the reader for the third line of this verse. Wills (p. 211) suggests Revelation 1:13 as the possible inspiration for the vision of the Lord who has "a glory in his bosom that shines out in" or "transfigures you and me." In Revelation 1:13-14, John of Patmos sees the Son of man with white hair and eyes of flame. At 3:4, according to Wills, the transformed saints "will walk with [the Lord] in white." Wills further indicates that the third line might have been inspired by Revelation 12:11 which describes men who "loved not their lives, unto death," and therefore were very effective in fighting against the dragon. It is my own feeling that this verse is a veiled tribute to John Brown, the man who really did put his life on the line to "make men free." In her Reminiscences (p. 254), Mrs. Howe states that her husband once said that Brown intended "to devote his life to the redemption of the colored race from slavery, even as Christ had willingly offered his life for the salvation of mankind."

6. "He is coming like the glory of the morning on the wave...." - Julia eliminated this verse from her poem because she felt it detracted from the drama of the fifth verse. It has since been restored in some versions of the song, such as that in the Methodist hymnals. To my knowledge, no one has ever tried to analyze it before. The verse continues the "second advent" theme started in the first verse. Although I cannot speak with certainty about the possible source of inspiration for the first two lines of this verse, they seem to be an outgrowth of Revelation 5:12-13: "Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing. And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever." The third line is more easily identified. The first part comes from Isaiah 66:1: "The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool." The second part, and here I am less certain, suggests Revelation 18:11-17 which speaks of the merchants of the earth who lament the destruction of a great city. Among other things, these merchants traffic in "slaves, and [the] souls of men." Howe seems to have turned this material inside out and invoked the lex taliones a second time, saying that the slave merchants, who are to her the "soul of wrong," will now be God’s slaves. This, in turn, suggests the old Roman festival called "Saturnalia" during which masters became servants and servants ruled the household for the day. Such reversals of fortune are not unknown in the teachings of Jesus. In Mark 11:31, Jesus is reported as saying "But many that are first shall be last; and the last first."