Audio
Ranger Reflections: The Statue
Transcript
Lincoln Statue
Hello. I’m Park Ranger Jerry Hawn of the National Mall and Memorial Parks. I want to tell you something of the grand statue of Lincoln.
As people pass the tall Colorado yule marble columns and enter the chamber of our nation’s memorial to Abraham Lincoln, they will, with little doubt, be awe-struck by Daniel Chester French’s enormous marble carving of our nation’s sixteenth president.
But what part of the Georgia marble figure draws the eye first? Possibly, the eye will go to the American flag wrapped behind Lincoln, a reminder of the nation that Lincoln was trying to preserve through the critical time of Civil War. Per chance, the sheer size of the statue is what is most striking to the eye. The statue, though, is made up of not just one stone, but 28 blocks placed together to make one figure, just like our nation and just as Lincoln believed, to be one nation, it takes all the states connected together to make the whole.
Maybe eyes attention will go to the rods wrapped together in the arms of Lincoln’s chair. The chair is just like the nation. It would not stand if any of the rods fell out. Lincoln wanted to keep the states bound together as one.
However, in final analysis, what might draw the eye most about the statue could be something as simple as his hands and these may tell us the most about who he was. Carl Sandberg, one of America’s greatest writers and one of Abraham Lincoln’s most well-known biographers, described Mr. Lincoln as a man of both steel and velvet. The hands that Mr. French carved seem to reflect Sandberg’s portrayal.
One hand is clinched in a manner depicting the notion of determination. Lincoln was determined to fight this war to its end regardless of the bloodshed that was going on. The other hand is open and relaxed. When the war was over, Lincoln wanted to bring the southern states back into the union in a peaceful way without revenge.
Lincoln may have been a great president because he held two sides to his personality.
Description
Be awe-struck by Daniel Chester French’s enormous marble carving of our nation’s sixteenth president as Park Ranger Jerry Hawn wants to share some thoughts on the grand statue of Lincoln.
Duration
2 minutes, 20 seconds
Date Created
04/23/2015
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