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The Great American Fourth Of July Parade
The Bollingen Prize-winning poet's Bicentennial verse drama centers on Jefferson's and Adams' impassioned concern with and for the meaning and future of America and of true democratic rule
- GenresPoetry
51 pages, Hardcover
First published April 1, 1976
About the author
Archibald MacLeish
309 books55 followersAmerican poet Archibald MacLeish won a Pulitzer Prize for
Conquistador
in 1932, served as librarian of Congress from 1939 and as assistant secretary of state from 1944 to 1945, and won again for
Collected Poems 1917-1952
and the verse play
J.B.
(1958).
The modernist school associates this writer. He received three Pulitzer Prizes for his work.
The modernist school associates this writer. He received three Pulitzer Prizes for his work.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
July 6, 2016
During his entire diversified life Archibald MacLeish has been concerned with what America means and what it means to be an American. The Great American Fourth of July Parade is a further sounding on these thoughts. This verse play for radio was the Bicentennial Selection of the International Poetry Forum.
It begins, Emcee: “Quiet! We’re on the Air.” Two unidentified older men: ”Who’d be standing by at four A.M.? I’ll tell you laddie. All New England. (pause) Yes, waiting for the daylight! For the great two hundredth anniversary.“ (pause)
The story of the two hundredth anniversary of the United States begins with all the church bells in New England ringing. A carillon of synthetic chimes rings out. “No, that’s not it, that‘s not what the bells of New England sounded like in 1776. There were real bells in real towers of the church with a man in the apse below pulling a rope down and then up, down and up and they made real chimes with the clapper hitting the iron creating a descending frequency of music to be heard for miles around. The bells rang out from New England down through New York into Pennsylvania and into Maryland and Delaware and Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia.
The play now shifts to two men talking-they are both in their 80’s and in dark clothes with what seems to be smoke in the air though you could not see that on radio. These men have been dead for 150 years both dying on the same day. They are further members of the same set that was President of the United States. The tall one, Thomas Jefferson was the third president and from the state of Virginia and the short man was John Adams, the second president, from Massachusetts.
But while the men were in the government and politics at the same time, their political philosophies were opposite one another. Adams speaks first, “It must be almost morning in Massachusetts-almost day. You know what day, sir!” (There is silence with only the sound of the wind blowing), “I said you know what day.” ( silence and then the second man begins to speak) “This” (the crash of the bow on the strings of a fiddle and a blast from a trumpet), “is The Fourth of July, Mr. Adams! (pause) “The Fourth of July! . . . .When you and I and a host of worthies from all the states gathered in Philadelphia and we annulled the ancient bondage of humanity – changed the world.” (silence and then Adams and Jefferson speak among themselves but what they say does not reach the microphone). Now Jefferson speaks, “After a lifetime of our love and hate for each other it was you, Mr. Adams, who said, We ought not to die before we had explained ourselves to one another.” Jefferson says. “I kept that charge at heart and obeyed you—fourteen years of letters back and forth and when you made an end of it, and I too ended, we died together on the same day.” You got the last word, Mr. Adams, you said just before you died, Thomas Jefferson lives. Today we end the second century and begin the third, but you will not hear me. Adams speaks and says he hears Jefferson but there is something else he hears. He hears a fiddler playing a tune, he loves the fiddler but only tolerates the tune. Jefferson replies, “the music? But that’s Beethoven himself, the great new man. Beethoven. His Eroica.” Adams retorts, “the piece he dedicated to that rogue, Napoleon,” Jefferson comes back, “Undedicated when Napoleon took the crown.” Adams asks who was Beethoven’s hero then? And Jefferson replies - “Mankind!” it is through this scene and others where MacLeish attempts to teach us a little history. But only a little. He does not mention that while Jefferson was President in 1803, he purchased from Napoleon “The Louisiana Purchase”, almost doubling the size of the United States.
Jefferson and Adams make statements of the times when their views opposed the other man. Each states his reason for his position and proposes why it was superior to the former. These two men were explaining large parts of their history when they were in power, the history they lived and the powers they had to change history. But it is civil debating to and fro. Maybe the fourteen years of writing to each other helped them to see the other man’s position and to respect it but not to change his own position.
A little later in their discussion, Adams and Jefferson are drowned out by the Emcee for the day as he begins to announce the main speaker for the day, The Right Honorable . . . . .Adams says, “the Honorable someone, I didn’t hear the name. Some dignitary from the capitol in Washington. D. C. When he starts speaking you will be able to hear him in Monticello,” The orator thanks the crowd for receiving a round of applause and begins to make his statement. Jefferson and Adams are making asides to each other. The orator says he has only one message to give to the crowd. And as he prefaces his one point, he begins to speak why this is his point. It becomes apparent that his one point is that the United States is number one in the world in all things. And while he talks the crowd wanders off to other places, his crowd dwindles quickly. They have no interest in a speaker that only speaks platitudes. They know this is how the former Nations of Rulers became ex-rulers of the world. The message of this book is that we must listen to the people who came before us and the hard lives they lived to better themselves and in that way to better the nation where they live.
It is a lesson we have been given many times and still we ignore it. We can only ignore it so long and the time that passes may have already taken us down the wrong road. History can be a starting point and also an ending point. Okay I have gone overboard on the moral of this verse play. I still give the story four stars. MacLeish has done a great job in coming up with a verse play with a specific theme (the fourth of July, but not just any fourth of July- he has come up with the fourth of July for 1976, the bicentennial of the Declaration of the United States of America.
It begins, Emcee: “Quiet! We’re on the Air.” Two unidentified older men: ”Who’d be standing by at four A.M.? I’ll tell you laddie. All New England. (pause) Yes, waiting for the daylight! For the great two hundredth anniversary.“ (pause)
The story of the two hundredth anniversary of the United States begins with all the church bells in New England ringing. A carillon of synthetic chimes rings out. “No, that’s not it, that‘s not what the bells of New England sounded like in 1776. There were real bells in real towers of the church with a man in the apse below pulling a rope down and then up, down and up and they made real chimes with the clapper hitting the iron creating a descending frequency of music to be heard for miles around. The bells rang out from New England down through New York into Pennsylvania and into Maryland and Delaware and Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia.
The play now shifts to two men talking-they are both in their 80’s and in dark clothes with what seems to be smoke in the air though you could not see that on radio. These men have been dead for 150 years both dying on the same day. They are further members of the same set that was President of the United States. The tall one, Thomas Jefferson was the third president and from the state of Virginia and the short man was John Adams, the second president, from Massachusetts.
But while the men were in the government and politics at the same time, their political philosophies were opposite one another. Adams speaks first, “It must be almost morning in Massachusetts-almost day. You know what day, sir!” (There is silence with only the sound of the wind blowing), “I said you know what day.” ( silence and then the second man begins to speak) “This” (the crash of the bow on the strings of a fiddle and a blast from a trumpet), “is The Fourth of July, Mr. Adams! (pause) “The Fourth of July! . . . .When you and I and a host of worthies from all the states gathered in Philadelphia and we annulled the ancient bondage of humanity – changed the world.” (silence and then Adams and Jefferson speak among themselves but what they say does not reach the microphone). Now Jefferson speaks, “After a lifetime of our love and hate for each other it was you, Mr. Adams, who said, We ought not to die before we had explained ourselves to one another.” Jefferson says. “I kept that charge at heart and obeyed you—fourteen years of letters back and forth and when you made an end of it, and I too ended, we died together on the same day.” You got the last word, Mr. Adams, you said just before you died, Thomas Jefferson lives. Today we end the second century and begin the third, but you will not hear me. Adams speaks and says he hears Jefferson but there is something else he hears. He hears a fiddler playing a tune, he loves the fiddler but only tolerates the tune. Jefferson replies, “the music? But that’s Beethoven himself, the great new man. Beethoven. His Eroica.” Adams retorts, “the piece he dedicated to that rogue, Napoleon,” Jefferson comes back, “Undedicated when Napoleon took the crown.” Adams asks who was Beethoven’s hero then? And Jefferson replies - “Mankind!” it is through this scene and others where MacLeish attempts to teach us a little history. But only a little. He does not mention that while Jefferson was President in 1803, he purchased from Napoleon “The Louisiana Purchase”, almost doubling the size of the United States.
Jefferson and Adams make statements of the times when their views opposed the other man. Each states his reason for his position and proposes why it was superior to the former. These two men were explaining large parts of their history when they were in power, the history they lived and the powers they had to change history. But it is civil debating to and fro. Maybe the fourteen years of writing to each other helped them to see the other man’s position and to respect it but not to change his own position.
A little later in their discussion, Adams and Jefferson are drowned out by the Emcee for the day as he begins to announce the main speaker for the day, The Right Honorable . . . . .Adams says, “the Honorable someone, I didn’t hear the name. Some dignitary from the capitol in Washington. D. C. When he starts speaking you will be able to hear him in Monticello,” The orator thanks the crowd for receiving a round of applause and begins to make his statement. Jefferson and Adams are making asides to each other. The orator says he has only one message to give to the crowd. And as he prefaces his one point, he begins to speak why this is his point. It becomes apparent that his one point is that the United States is number one in the world in all things. And while he talks the crowd wanders off to other places, his crowd dwindles quickly. They have no interest in a speaker that only speaks platitudes. They know this is how the former Nations of Rulers became ex-rulers of the world. The message of this book is that we must listen to the people who came before us and the hard lives they lived to better themselves and in that way to better the nation where they live.
It is a lesson we have been given many times and still we ignore it. We can only ignore it so long and the time that passes may have already taken us down the wrong road. History can be a starting point and also an ending point. Okay I have gone overboard on the moral of this verse play. I still give the story four stars. MacLeish has done a great job in coming up with a verse play with a specific theme (the fourth of July, but not just any fourth of July- he has come up with the fourth of July for 1976, the bicentennial of the Declaration of the United States of America.
July 13, 2022
This was a fun read as a play for the radio. I’m actually very glad I came across this, it was a short play but it felt very patriotic about what it means to be an American and how us newer generations don’t really get it... but there is hope for us yet 🇺🇸
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews