Language and imagery expressing Whittier's scorn for Daniel Webster in Ichabod

John Greenleaf Whittier's "Ichabod"

To understand the poem "Ichabod," it is necessary to understand the historical context that led John Greenleaf Whittier to write it. Whittier was a poet who lived in New Hampshire during the 1800s, during a time when the slavery issue in the United States was a matter of serious and heated debate. Although he was white, Whittier was very strongly against slavery. However in New Hampshire, which had originally been a slavery state, there were many people who were still in favor of it. The poem was written in 1850 after a speech was delivered by the politician Daniel Webster, who publicly announced that he was in favor of a law known as the Missouri Compromise.

The Missouri Compromise was a law that would allow the practice of slavery to continue, and Whittier felt angry and betrayed by Webster for his decision to support the act. His anger was particularly severe because he had once considered Webster a friend. In addition to this, Webster's personal stand was against slavery; yet despite his own beliefs, he supported a law which would allow this practice to continue. For Webster, the support of this measure was the lesser evil; he felt that it would keep the Union together. Apparently, for Whittier and many like him, it was the most heinous of treacheries to go against one's one convictions to support an inhumane practice. Because of this, Whittier wrote the poem to express all the negative emotions he felt towards Webster ("Whittier's Anti-Slavery Ode to New Hampshire").

The bitter language of glory lost and the sting of betrayal can be seen throughout the poem. The first stanza of the poem opens with the words "So fallen! so lost!" These reflect the loss of respect and esteem Whittier felt for his former friend after hearing him deliver a speech in favor of the Missouri Compromise. The fact that he once felt respect for Webster is clear in the lines "the light withdrawn/Which he once wore! The glory from his gray hairs gone/Forevermore!" In the second stanza, Whittier implies that Webster has fallen so far from grace, that even "scorn and wrath" are too good for him. Rather, all that Webster deserves are "pitying tears."

In the third stanza we can get a feeling of the former respect that Whittier had for Webster. He refers to his former friend as "he who might/Have lighted up and led his age." The word "might" here is important; it expresses what Webster had the potential to do, but failed. Instead of leading his age, Whittier writes that he "Falls back in night."

In the third stanza, Whittier continues his attack. Here, he refers to Webster's soul, which was once "bright," but is now "driven,/Fiend-goaded, down the endless dark./From hope and heaven!" The impression here is that Webster is now haunted and must travel in darkness, away from all that is good: hope and heaven. Once again, the former greatness of his friend is compared to the desolation he must now feel because he has betrayed his fellow New Hampshire residents, the people of the United States, and most of all, his friend Whittier.