Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth. Autograph manuscript poem signed ("Henry W. Longfellow"). ...

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Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth. Autograph manuscript poem signed ("Henry W. Longfellow"). Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth. Autograph manuscript poem signed ("Henry W. Longfellow"), 1 page (7 x 8.9 in.; 178 x 226 mm.), "Sail On, O Ship Of State!", originally published in book form in 1850, The Building of the Ship. Mounting remnants on verso with areas exhibiting lighter text. Poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow writes the poem used ninety years later by FDR to rally the allies to resist the Axis Powers. Longfellow writes in full: Thou, too, sail on, O Ship of State! Sail on, O Union, strong and great! Humanity with all its fears, With all the hopes of future years, Is hanging breathless on thy fate! We know what Master laid thy keel, What Workmen wrought thy ribs of steel, Who made each mast, and sail, and rope, What anvils rang, what hammers beat, In what a forge and what a heat, Were shaped the anchors of thy hope! Fear not each sudden sound and shock, 'T is of the wave and not the rock; 'T is but the flapping of the sail, And not a rent made by the gale! In spite of rock and tempest's roar, In spite of false lights on the shore, Sail on, nor fear to breast the sea! Our hearts, our hopes, are all with thee, Our hearts, our hopes, our prayers, our tears, Our faith triumphant o'er our fears, Are all with thee,-are all with thee! Henry W. Longfellow On 9 February 1941, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill delivered his "Give us the tools and we will finish the job" speech to his people. Churchill urged the Americans, not yet at war with Germany, to lend a hand to his country's battle to fight against the terror then gripping the globe. Churchill intoned: ...The other day President Roosevelt gave his opponent in the late Presidential election a letter of introduction to me, and in it he wrote out a verse in his own handwriting from Longfellow, which, he said, "applies to you people as it does to us." Here is the verse: "Sail on, O Ship of State! Sail on, O Union, strong and great! Humanity with all its fears, With all the hopes of future years, Is hanging breathless on thy fate!" What is the answer that I shall give in your name to this great man, the thrice-chosen head of a nation of 130,000,000? Here is the answer which I will give to President Roosevelt. Put your confidence in us. Give us your faith and your blessing, and under Providence all will be well. We shall not fail or falter; we shall not weaken or tire. Neither the sudden shock of battle nor the long-drawn trials of vigilance and exertion will wear us down. Give us the tools and we will finish the job." This Longfellow poem also struck the heart of another great leader. A famous story concerning the poem is related by Sandburg in his biography of Abraham Lincoln: "Early in the war a newspaper clipping of a speech delivered in New York came to Lincoln's hands, and at its close his eyes caught stanzas...beginning: 'Thou, too, sail on, O Ship of State!...' Nicolay was surprised at the way these lines hit the President. He seemed to be reading them for the first time. Nicolay had memorized the piece at school he recited it for Lincoln to the last lines: 'Our hearts, our hopes, our prayers, our tears, Our faith triumphant o'er our fears.' They stirred something deep in Lincoln. 'His eyes filled with tears, and his cheeks were wet,' said Nicolay. 'He did not speak for some minutes, but finally said with simplicity: "It is a wonderful gift to be able to stir men like that". After the President's endorsement, the poem became the watchword of Union hopes. A fantastic piece of literary history that served the country in two wars spanning two centuries. This is the only handwritten copy of this poem by Longfellow that we have ever encountered.