Read Marianne Moore's poem "Enough: Jamestown" (1957) [you have to scroll down the page to find the relevant poem], pick 2-3 lines, investigate and comment on clues concerning the first English settlements in the 17th century and the subsequent claims to territory and sovereignty leading to the quest for independency in the 18th century.
Here is a map of Virginia published in Captain John Smith's The Generall Historie of Virginia (1624), where you can see, in the right-hand corner a depiction of the native Indian King Powhatan.
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In the lines "Marriage, tobacco, and slavery, / initiated liberty / when the Deliverance brought seed / of that now controversial weed - ", the author is referencing John Rolfe's role in the establishment of these first English settlements - the "initiation of liberty". John Rolfe was the first colonist to grow tobacco in America, having in fact arrived in Virginia with tobacco seeds acquired in a previous voyage to Trinidad - hence the reference to tobacco, and hence the reference to slavery, as tobacco plantations were strongly associated with slave labor - so much so that the demand for cheap tobacco labor contributed to an increase in slave population in the 1700's. The lines "when the Deliverance brought seed / of that now controversial weed - " might even be a reference to the actual tobacco seeds brought over by Rolfe. This gives "seed" a double meaning - on the one hand, it references historical events; on the other hand, it is a metaphor for the birth of the English idea of colonizing the New World, an idea "planted" in the minds of late 16th century puritans. And because this is a poem about Jamestown, an "experiment gone wrong", the "seed" eventually grew into a "controversial weed" - a starving, pestilent, and belligerent land.
In the poem, John Rolfe is directly mentioned in lines 19 to 22, where his marriage to Pocahontas, Powhatan's daughter, is briefly narrated. It is this marriage the author refers to when she claims that it, along with "tobacco and slavery", initiated liberty, as Rolfe's union with Pocahontas assured peace between the colonists and Powhatan's tribe for several years. The social stability created by this marriage (which took place in 1614) along with the successful harvesting of tobacco by Rolfe (also in 1614) allowed settlers in Jamestown to overcome the havoc wreaked by "The Starving Time" of 1609-1610 (referenced in lines 31 to 34) and to secure their longed-for "liberty".
Jamestown colony was located in Virginia, the same city in which John Rolfe and his wife Pocahontas lived in and also the same place where Rolfe had his tobacco crop. When the English first arrived in 1607, unlike what they thought they would find there was nothing but common land. Confronted with this reality the English got their hope and dreams crushed by the reality which was a " too earthly paradise/ a paradise in which hope dies" (line 3 to 4). In lines 17-18 "John Rolfe fell in love/ with her" primarily indicates that Rolfe married Pocahontas and that with this marriage not only did Pocahontas got baptized and had her "renounce[d] her name" (line 19) to Rebecca but it also resulted in the couple living together in Virginia where Rolfe's crops were.
In the lines:
“The crested moss-rose casts a spell;
and bud of solid green as well;”
the author describes a type of rose, the moss-rose.
This flower is a genetic mutation of Centifolia, that was made in the 17th century and developed in the next two centuries.
Rosa Centifolia is also called cabbage rose and has 100 petals.
The moss-rose has no thorns and has a strong pine scent.
Many rose species are native to North America: Rosa virginiana, Rosa setigera, Rosa carolina, the "Prairie Rose", the "Pasture Rose", Rosa woodsii, Rosa californica, the "Swamp Rose" and Rosa palustris.
Captain John Smith, in his book, mentions that the Indians inhabiting the James River Valley grew wild roses as ornamental plants.
William Penn was the founder of Pennsylvania. When he returned to America in 1699 he carried 18 different rose bushes. He was interested in the therapeutic proprieties of roses and wanted to help the settlers to fulfill their medical requirements.
Nos versos "Tested until so unnatural/ that one became a cannibal" Marianne Moore refere-se a especulações sobre canibalismo por parte dos colonizadores de Jamestown, que vieram a ser confirmadas recentemente. No rigoroso Inverno de 1609-10, dois anos após a chegada dos primeiros barcos a esta colónia na Virgínia, os colonizadores de James Fort- parte mais antiga de Jamestown, estavam sob cerco por parte das populações Indígenas, resultando em escassez de alimentos. A advir a este problema, também o frio fez com que os colonizadores, desesperados, recorressem ao canibalismo. Arqueologistas encontraram carcaças de cães, gatos, cavalos e ratos, mas também de uma rapariga Inglesa de 14 anos. Este período ficou conhecido como "The Starving Time". Ao fim de seis meses de cerco, quando Lord De La Warr chegou a Jamestown com alimentos e novos colonizadores só 60 das inicias 300 pessoas que tinham inicialmente povoado aquela terra tinham sobrevivido.
"Captain John Smith. Poor Powhatan / was forced to make peace, embittered man". Starting at the begining, Captain John Smith was a colonist, known for his charisma and tales. One of his most prominent interactions with the so called "Chesapeake Indians" was with the tribe leader Powhatan. Powhatan was the acknowledged leader of thrirty tribes, one of which (said to likely have been the Opechancanough) brought Smith to him. The captain later reported that the chief had threatened to kill him, but had later decided against it.
Instead, a month after John Smith returned to the colony of Jamestown with a deal that stated that Powhantan would provide the colony with food.
As for the "forcer to make peace" part, the chief wanted to incorporate the English into his chiefdom. The English, of course, had other plans. They wanted to crown Powhatan, and make him pledge alligiance to king James I. He refused to go to the colony, instead telling Smith that their leader should come to him isntead. The English eventually met Powhatan instead, still forcing a crown on his head (which created a power struggle).
This made the chief an "embittered man" because, as the definitio of the word would suggest,the chief was angry with what had happened to his plans, having been cohersed by the English into a different arrangement.
In lines 20-22 of the poem, it mentions that John Rolfe, a british explorer and one of the first colonizers of Virginia, fell in love with Pocahontas, a native-american Powhatan princess, when she was kept captive by the English in "Jamestown" (old Virginia), making clear reference to the poem's subtitle. Due to the fact that Pocahontas was native-american they had to write a letter to the Pope to be able to get married, making her convert to Cristianism, which led up to her changing her name to Rebecca. (line 21)
However the fact that she learned english, got married to John Rolfe, changed her name and her religion, didn't change her prisioner status for another year, making "her status not too tame".
The poem covers different steps in the English settlement process that started – as the first lines describe – in the worst way. Moore obviously refers to Jamestown, the first permanent English colony, as a “paradise”(line 3). The “Promised Land” should have brought to the settlers that bright metal they were there for; among the ones that made it to Jamestown, there were mainly members from the aristocracy and artisans in quest for gold. However, their inability to farm, fish or haunt – together with the terrible winter between 1609 and 1610 - led to starvation and, eventually, episodes of cannibalism. Therefore, “hope” is not the only thing dying in this so-called paradise (line 4), despite John Smith’s leadership and guidance.
In the verse: "...Captain Dale became kidnaper- the master..." (lines 11-12) it is possible to understand the reference made to Thomas Dale, who was sent by the Virginia Company of London to act as the governor of the Virginia Colony. When he arrived on May 19th of 1611 he found that the conditions of the colony were not proper and needed a lot of improvements. One of the noticeable things he did during his administration was a code, written mostly by himself, called: "Articles, Lawes, and Orders Divine, Politique, and Martiall", better known as: Dale's Code. This code was rather severe and is believed to have influenced the way the justice system worked, particularly in the governing and punishment of slaves.
This poem starts by naming the three ships that sailed to Virginia, bringing the English settlers that came to create Jamestown in a land that was considered 'the Promised Land'. This is, therefore, a land in which they saw a bright future.
Soon after they arrived, however, they came to discover that, rather than the paradise they expected, they "found pests and pestilence instead,/the living outnumbered by the dead." These lines of the poem highlight the devastating outcome they came to find, as many of them, unprepared to do the labour that was necessary to construct a lasting settlement, died not long after their arrival.
Jamestown new-comers had been dealt a tough hand by the swampy site which they chose to settle. With poor drinking water and prevalence of mosquito-transmitted diseases such as malaria and yellow fever. It also did not help that the Joint Stock Companies had the pressure to turn profits rather quickly so that instead of the settlers--who were already ill-equipped to handle tough terrain for they were not farmers or frontier people but lawyers and teachers--building settlements, digging wells or planting crops, they went looking for gold, raiding lands which the Native American tribe Powhatan claimed as theirs. "Poor Powhatan was forced to make peace, embittered man.Then teaching-insidious recourse enhancing Pocahontas, flowered of course in marriage." Pocahontas´marriage to John Rolfe was of course a political marriage meant to end the First Anglo-Powhatan War in 1614. But this "peace" only lasted another 18 years. In 1622 the tribe struck again in a series of attacks that left John Rolfe himself dead. These conflicts are of paramount importance to understanding colonial America and the often forgotten banishment of Chesapeake Native American from their lands when colonists no longer needed them for food or knowledge.
In the lines "found pests and pestilence instead,/the living outnumbered by the dead" refers to the disaster that befell Jamestown. After the English settlers arrived and established their colony, their crops were destroyed due to a long, harsh winter and a drought. Due to the drought also, there was a lack of fresh water supply. Combined with the fact that most of the settlers were actually upper-class Englishmen with little knowledge about farming (and being unfamiliar with the land), this easily brought sickness to the people. With a disease plaguing them, death soon came after.
There's an alliteration with "pest" and "pestilence", similar to a hissing sound. Since "they" were looking for an "earthly paradise" and instead found disaster, it is like the story of Paradise (the 'Promised Land') and the Snake (the "pest and pestilence"). Since "they" found it, the number dead people began to overpopulate over the living.
Lines chosen: "found their too earthly paradise,/ a paradise in which hope dies,"
There is not a great deal of literature before the revolution. Most settlers were Puritan, therefore the literature produced was very practical and rigid. After the first settlements, very descritptive texts about how excellent the new world is and rallies englishmen to take the trip to the New World. One example of this encouranging writing is William Bradford's Journal.
Although the first settlers argue that the New World was a gift from heaven, not every settlement was sucessful. In this poem, the poet presents the most famous failure: Jamestown. The author condemns the selling of this land as Paradise due to the fact most settlers that lived in Jamestown died. Indian Atacks, pests, food shortages. If Paradise is a hopeful place, full of bliss, with plenty of food and resources, why did it not provide for these settlers? In spite of being a New World, it destroys hope just as the old one. It is an hopeless place, filled with danger and calamities, but announced as the long expected Promised Land.
"Captain John Smith. Poor Powhatan/was forced to make peace, embittered man."
Estes dois versos referem-se ao Capitão John Smith, que fazia parte do concelho que governava Jamestown. Enquanto Smith explorava a região de "Chickahominy River", em Dezembro de 1607, foi raptado pelo chefe da tribo Powhatan e, de acordo com a lenda, a filha do chefe, Pocahontas, libertou o capitão.
Estes dois versos podem relacionar-se com outros dois: "Marriage, tobacco, and slavery,/ initiated liberty". Em 1614 Pocahontas casou com John Rolfe, o que trouxe alguns anos de paz e prosperidade a Jamestown. John Rolfe foi quem introduziu o tabaco na colónia.
The Birth of America
Ocean across they came, the new faces ready for life
of gold in search, in search of new of new
and El Dorado was all settlers knew,
for ignorant were they of future strife.
For paradise lost in needs and wanting hands
did they, for more disease and more scarcity,
with locals trade, lying, raiding, sure to be
inheritors of that all all mightiest lands.
Experience conquerors by the threats did loom
in politics very wise, in warfare strong —
— belligerent tribes controlled and did them wrong
for them the better, plus the Alter’s Doom.
And an old Native American thinks of worth:
«Is such what such people call the America’s birth?»
The very first lines of Moore's poem "Some in the Godspeed, the Susan C.,/ others in the Discovery" refer, as it was mentioned in class, to the fleet of the English settlers( which consisted in these three ships). The lines "found their too earthly paradise,/ a paradise in which hope dies and found pests and pestilence instead/ the living outnumbered by the dead" refer to the site found by the colonizers, which was too poor for agriculture since it was swampy, offered limited space, was plagued by mosquitoes and the water was not suitable for drinking. The ample wetlands on the island proved to be a breeding ground to parasites and bacteria, leading to many deaths. Instead of finding a paradise-type land, the colonizers were met with plagues and inevitable deaths.
The lines "Three acres each, initiative, / six bushels paid back, they could live" refer to an initiative by Captain Dale, which consisted in assigning three acre plots to early colonists and smaller plots to earlier colonists, in order to increase the profitability and efficiency of the colony.
Francisca Matos
KANSU EKİN TANCA
In this poem, the first English settlements and the settlers’ lives are described. In the third and fourth line, in addition to the real events, there is also a metaphorical reference to what was happening at that time.
"found their too earthly paradise,
a paradise in which hope dies,"
Although the first settlers took this journey with great expectations, they faced so many difficulties from the beginning of their travel. In the ship, they were longing for the land and their only will was to land on the "earthly paradise" and start cultivating. However, the lands that they imagined as "earthly paradise" did not provide them what they wanted. The seeds that they carried did not grow as they had expected. The land was not suitable for their work.
These two lines also alludes to the fact they were not content in those lands at first. The first English settlers believed that their life would change and they would live a better life in these new lands. However, their hopes gradually died, as they found out that they had to deal not only with the agricultural problems but also with the diseases and conflicts that were going on. Therefore, this poem should be analyzed line by line by connecting the ideas with its history as it carries so many important details.
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