Lincoln's favorite poetry to be presented Saturday at Lincoln Tomb

New event: 'To Write So Fine a Piece'

[October 08, 2009]  SPRINGFIELD -- Abraham Lincoln's favorite poetry will be performed during "To Write So Fine a Piece," a new special event scheduled for Saturday at 2 p.m. at Lincoln Tomb State Historic Site. The event is free and open to the public.

The one-hour program will include several poems that Lincoln had committed to memory: Herman Melville's "The Martyr," Henry W. Longfellow's "A Psalm of Life" and "The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere," and Thomas Hood's "The Haunted House." Works from other poets will also be featured: William Shakespeare, Robert Burns, Edgar Allen Poe, William Knox and Thomas Campbell.

Speech students from Glenwood High School, the theater director from Glenwood High and Lincoln Tomb volunteers will be readers.

Chairs will be set up on the lawn at the caretaker's house, just west of the tomb, and lawn chairs will also be welcome. The event will be canceled if there is inclement weather.

Lincoln Tomb State Historic Site, administered by the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, is the final resting place of the 16th president, his wife and three of their four sons. It is located in Springfield's Oak Ridge Cemetery and is open Tuesday through Saturday for free public tours.

[Text from file received from the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency]