A Confederacy Lost

"I can hardly remember my father's look, I cannot
Answer his voice as he calls farewell in the misty
Mounting where riders gather at gates.
He was old then--I was a child--his hand
Held out for mine, some daybreak snatched away,
And he rode out, a broken man. Now let
His lone grave keep, surer than cypress roots,
The vow I made beside him. God too late
Unseals to certain eyes the drift
Of time and the hopes of men and a sacred cause.
The fortune of the Lees goes with the land
Whose sons will keep it still. My mother
Told me much. She sat among the candles,
Fingering the Memoirs, now so long unread.
And as my pen moves on across the page
Her voice comes back, a murmuring distillation
Of old Virginia times now faint and gone,
The hurt of all that was and cannot be."

Donald Davidson's "Lee in the Mountains"

I find this poem very interesting because in reality this is a poem written about General Lee's son who edited and published General Lee's memoirs. The first person speaker is Lee's son, and he describes his father's nature, his father's endeavors, his father's life. The poem provides a look into General Robert E. Lee's life, and a son's admiration. In fact, Robert E Lee's son loved his father greatly, thus he speaks so highly of him in this poem. The son has never witnessed the wartime brutality, yet he speaks of his father's life, almost vicariously living through his memories. It seems the poem is about a son's devotion and love for his father, a love for what his father stands for--a Southern way of life. The excerpt is pivotal in understanding the son's anguish because he never truly knew his father, but he has his memoirs, the sole remaining evidence of who his father truly was and the South as it used to be. Robert E Lee was a true Southern Confederate, a thing of the past, a memory that has no voice.

General Lee's life and story are not remembered by the many. He fought and died in vain. He fought for a place which admonished change and new influence, a place of conservative thought and understanding. General Lee is gone as is the Southern confidence of his time. The poem highlights a son's struggle to be at peace with himself and his father's legacy. Throughout the poem there are various undertones about the historical Southern past, and of times which used to be, and he notes "old Virginia times now faint and gone." The speaker even notes the old Confederate cry, the march of the armies, the young going to fight for their long-instilled Southern beliefs and ideals, only to die. The speaker references various facets of the old South, and a time that used to be, but can no longer hold true in current society. Thus, the poem highlights an implied view of Southern life, and its gradual detriment.

Discussion Question: How does the death of Robert E. Lee and his failures prove pivotal to the detriment of the Southern mentality in the poem? Although there is a clear split between Northern ideals and Southern conservatism, why does the poem highlight aspects of Southern Life to be a thing of the past, a dream forbidden?