Revisiting a revolution through poetry

There are several narratives surrounding the American Revolution, a well-traveled and -documented series of events leading to the drafting and signing of the Declaration of Independence and the war that followed.

MIT philosopher Brad Skow is taking a new approach to telling this story: a collection of 47 poems about the former American colonies' journey from England's imposition of the Stamp Act in 1765 to the war for America's independence that began in 1775.

When asked why he chose poetry to retell the story, Skow, the Laurence S. Rockefeller Professor in the Department of Linguistics and Philosophy, said he "wanted to take just the great bits of these speeches and writings, while maintaining their intent and integrity." Poetry, Skow argues, allows for that kind of nuance and specificity.

"American Independence in Verse," published by Pentameter Press, traces a story of America's origins through a collection of vignettes featuring some well-known characters, like politician and orator Patrick Henry, alongside some lesser-known but no less important ones, like royalist and former chief justice of North Carolina Martin Howard. Each is rendered in blank verse, a nursery-style rhyme, or free verse.

The book is divided into three segments: "Taxation Without Representation," "Occupation and Massacre," and "War and Independence." Themes like freedom, government, and authority, rendered in a style of writing and oratory seldom seen today, lent themselves to being reimagined as poems. "The options available with poetic license offer opportunities for readers that might prove more difficult with prose," Skow reports.

Skow based each of the poems on actual speeches, letters, pamphlets, and other printed materials produced by people on both sides of the debate about independence. "While reviewing a variety of primary sources for the book, I began to see the poetry in them," he says.

In the poem "Everywhere, the spirit of equality prevails," during an "Interlude" between the "Occupation and Massacre" and "War and Independence" sections of the book, British commissioner of customs Henry Hulton, writing to Robert Nicholson in Liverpool, England, describes the America he experienced during a trip with his wife:

The spirit of equality prevails.

Regarding social differences, they've no

Notion of rank, and will show more respect

To one another than to those above them.

They'll ask a thousand strange impertinent

Questions, sit down when they should wait at a table,

React with puzzlement when you do not

Invite your valet to come share your meal.

Here, Skow, using Hulton's words, illustrates the tension between agreed-upon social conventions - remnants of the Old World - and the society being built in the New World that animates a portion of the disconnect leading both toward war. "These writings are really powerful, and poetry offers a way to convey that power," Skow says.

The journey to the printed page

Skow's interest in exploring the American Revolution came, in part, from watching the Emmy Award-winning play "Hamilton." The book ends where the play begins. "It led me to want to learn more," he says of the play and his experience watching it. "Its focus on the Revolution made the era more exciting for me."

While conducting research for another poetry project, Skow read an interview with American diplomat, inventor, and publisher Benjamin Franklin in the House of Commons conducted in 1766. "There were lots of amazing poetic moments in the interview," he says. Skow began reading additional pamphlets, letters, and other writings, disconnecting his work as a philosopher from the research that would yield the book.

"I wanted to remove my philosopher hat with this project," he says. "Poetry can encourage ambiguity and, unlike philosophy, can focus on emotional and non-rational connections between ideas."

Although eager to approach the work as a poet and author, rather than a philosopher, Skow discovered that more primary sources than he expected were themselves often philosophical treatises. "Early in the resistance movement there were sophisticated arguments, often printed in newspapers, that it was unjust to tax the colonies without granting them representation in Parliament," he notes.

A series of new perspectives and lessons

Skow made some discoveries that further enhanced his passion for the project. "Samuel Adams is an important figure who isn't as well-known as he should be," he says. "I wanted to raise his profile."

Skow also notes that American separatists used strong-arm tactics to "encourage" support for independence, and that prevailing narratives regarding America and its eventual separation from England are more complex and layered than we might believe. "There were arguments underway about legitimate forms of government and which kind of government was right," he says, "and many Americans wanted to retain the existing relationship with England."

Skow says the American Revolution is a useful benchmark when considering subsequent political movements, a notion he hopes readers will take away from the book. "The book is meant to be fun and not just a collection of dry, abstract ideas," he believes.

"There's a simple version of the independence story we tell when we're in a hurry; and there is the more complex truth, printed in long history books," he continues. "I wanted to write something that was both short and included a variety of perspectives."

Skow believes the book and its subjects are a testament to ideas he'd like to see return to political and practical discourse. "The ideals around which this country rallied for its independence are still good ideals, and the courage the participants exhibited is still worth admiring," he says.