President Lincoln’s Favorite Poem “Oh! Why Should The Spirit of Mortals Be Proud” by Sedgwick, A. and Knox William

President Lincoln’s Favorite Poem “Oh! Why Should The Spirit of Mortals Be Proud” by Sedgwick, A. and Knox William – Inventory Number: MUS 195

Song based on William Knox's poem "Mortality," which became better known by its first line: "Oh! Why should the spirit of mortals be proud?" According to artist Francis Bicknell Carpenter, Lincoln, who Carpenter often interacted with while painting the picture "First Reading of the Emancipation Proclamation," referred to Knox's poem as his favorite and proceeded to recite all six stanzas to the awed artist.

The poem was set to music following Lincoln's death.

"I would give all I am worth, and go into debt, to be able to write so fine a piece as I think that is. Neither do I know who is the author. I met it in a straggling form in a newspaper last summer, and I remember to have seen it once before, about fifteen years ago, and this is all I know about it." Abraham Lincoln wrote those lines in a letter to a friend, Andrew Johnston (a lawyer in Quincy, Illinois), on April 18, 1846.

The piece Lincoln was referring to was titled Mortality or Oh, why should the spirit of mortal be proud? The author was a Scotsman named William Knox (1789-1825). Dr. Jason Duncan first introduced Lincoln to the poem when the two were living in New Salem. Lincoln memorized the entire poem and recited it so often that some folks mistakenly thought he was the author. The poem's melancholy tone appealed to Lincoln. William Herndon, Lincoln's law partner, thought the poem was (for Lincoln) a remembrance of Ann Rutledge as well as a discourse on the delicate nature of human life.

Comes housed in 12 x 16 riker display case with black velvet and descriptive card

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Inventory Number:  MUS 195