DESTINY AND DUTY : THE LIFE OF ACADEMY ALUM ALAN SEEGER (1888-1916)

Part II
Looking back on the live of those who attended the Academy over the last 120 years, one finds that past students of the Academy have embodied our mission statement, “…fostering intellectual, creative, social and physical development…in an educational community that promotes ethical leadership, self-reliance and critical thinking…we celebrate the …individual interests and personal talents of our student body.”  

Two important literary figures, Alan Seeger and James Gould Cozzens, once roamed the halls and grounds of the Academy. Both were young men of creativity and independence, and each cultivated their personal talents to the end. In the, the second part of a two-part series written by Academy teacher Gail Larkin, we take a look at the life of poet Alan Seeger. Part 1: James Gould Cozzens was published in the winter edition of “Reflections,” the school magazine.    

Alan Seeger, famous World War I poet and uncle of folk singer/song writer Pete Seeger, sought to share the romanticism and idealism of his youth with the world in his verse.  

Born in 1888, Seeger attended Staten Island Academy and lived on the then rural Staten Island with his parents, sister Elizabeth, and brother Charles who would later become a noted musicologist and Pete Seeger's father. The family sugar refining business relocated the family from Staten Island to Mexico in 1900 where Alan continued to be inspired by his surroundings as noted in one of his earlier verses, “An Ode to the Antares.”  

In 1906, Seeger entered Harvard where he studied alongside fellow writers including T.S. Eliot. Critics are quick to point out that Seeger's taste and talents in poetry were quite different from other poets of the time. Seeger maintained his youthful romanticism and passion, which reflects the idealism of that era and comes through in his poetry. While at Harvard, Seeger helped edit the “Harvard Monthly,” where he published many of his poems.  

After graduation in 1910, much to the disappointment and puzzlement of his parents, Seeger moved to Greenwich Village in Manhattan in search of the beauty and idealism of the poet's life. Barely two years later, disillusioned and restless, he left for Paris. His love for France grew and when war broke out between Germany and France in 1914, Seeger enlisted in the French Foreign Legion. True to his beliefs and feeling a deep social commitment, he felt it was his duty and honor to defend his beloved France.  

Later in the War, such poets as John Peale Bishop, David Funk, Gertrude Stein, John Allan Wyeth, Edmund Wilson, Edith Wharton and other American poets all spent time in France-some serving in the armed forces and others as volunteers for the Cause. However, none were more dedicated than young Alan Seeger.  

Seeger's poetry, according to experts, was read those waging war in the trenches. In 1916, the American Colony in Paris asked Seeger to compose and read a poem at its Memorial Day/May 30 ceremony at the statue of Washington and Lafayette in the Placedes Etats-Unis. His reading of the poem was not to be. A clerical error prevented his attendance at the ceremony and on July 4, 1916, Seeger was mortally wounded on the battle field. The poem he had penned, Rendezvous With Death, proved to be prophetic.  

"...Yet sought they neither recompense nor praise, Nor to be mentioned in another breath Than their blue coated comrades whose great days It was their pride to share -- ay, share even to the death! Nay, rather, France, to you they rendered thanks (Seeing they came for honor, not for gain), Who, opening to them your glorious ranks, Gave them that grand occasion to excel, That chance to live the life most free from stain And that rare privilege of dying well."  

In his book, “The Face of War,” John Keegan tells of Seeger's last written communication to a friend. Seeger writes: “June 28, 1916: We go up to the attack tomorrow. This will probably be the biggest thing yet. We are to have the honor of marching in the first wave. I will write you soon if I get through all right. If not, my only earthly care is for my poems. I am glad to be going in first wave. If you are in this thing at all it is best to be in to the limit. And this is the supreme experience.  

His friend takes the scene from there: “Two battalions were to attack Belloy-en-Santerre, our company being the reserve of battalion. The companies forming the first wave were deployed on the plain. Bayonets glittered in the air above the corn, already quite tall. The first section (Alan's section) formed the right and vanguard of the company and mine formed the left wing. After the first bound forward, we lay flat on the ground, and I saw the first section advancing beyond us and making toward the extreme right of the village of Belloy-en-Santerre. I caught sight of Seeger and called to him, making a sign with my hand. He answered with a smile. How pale he was! His tall silhouette stood out on the green of the cornfield. He was the tallest man in his section. His head erect, and pride in his eye, I saw him running forward, with bayonet fixed. Soon he disappeared and that was the last time I saw my friend. . . ."  

"I have a rendezvous with Death At some disputed barricade When Spring comes round with rustling shade And apple blossoms fill the air. I have a rendezvous with Death When Spring brings back blue days and fair.  

It may be he shall take my hand And lead me into his dark land And close my eyes and quench my breath; It may be I shall pass him still. I have a rendezvous with Death On some scarred slope of battered hill, When Spring comes round again this year And the first meadow flowers appear.  

God knows 'twere better to be deep Pillowed in silk and scented down, Where love throbs out in blissful sleep, Pulse night to pulse, and breath to breath, Where hushed awakenings are dear . . . But I've a rendezvous with Death At midnight in some flaming town, When Spring trips north again this year, And I to my pledged word am true, I shall not fail that rendezvous."  

The French people still honor Alan Seeger, who so lovingly fought for them, giving the ultimate in defense of freedom. On some level, Seeger lives on. In his commitment to live life on his own terms, Seeger immortalizes so much of what Staten Island Academy stands for--independence, integrity and achievement. Alan Seeger's likeness graces the monument at the Place des Etats-Unis in France (dedicated on July 4, 1923.) The monument, which is topped by a statue of Alan Seeger, is dedicated to American volunteers who were killed fighting for France. His life was short but he lived it fully striving to reach his potential in creativity and in honor.    

Note: Part I was published in the Sring 2005 issue of Staten Island Academy's Reflections magazine.