The Song of the Stone Wall

By Helen Keller

Poem, first published in 1910. According to Wikipedia: "Helen Adams Keller (June 27, 1880 – June 1, 1968) was an American author, political activist and lecturer. She was the first deafblind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree.[1][2] The story of how Keller's teacher, Anne Sullivan, broke through the isolation imposed by a near complete lack of language, allowing the girl to blossom as she learned to communicate, has become known worldwide through the dramatic depictions of the play and film The Miracle Worker. A prolific author, Keller was well traveled and was outspoken in her opposition to war. She campaigned for women's suffrage, workers' rights, and socialism, as well as many other progressive causes."

• Language: English
• Publisher: Seltzer Books
• Release date: Mar 1, 2018
• ISBN: 9781455321117

Helen Keller

Helen Keller (1880-1968) was an American author, activist, and lecturer. Born in Tuscumbia, Alabama, Keller suffered a sudden illness at nineteen months old that left her both deaf and blind. Her parents brought her to Baltimore to consult with Alexander Graham Bell, then a teacher for deaf children. He referred them to the Perkins Institute for the Blind, which paired Keller with Anne Sullivan, a visually impaired instructor who would remain by Helen’s side for the next half century as her governess and companion. With Sullivan’s help, she learned to read and write, as well as to speak using the Tadoma method. Between 1888 and 1900, Keller attended specialist schools for the deaf and blind before being admitted to Radcliffe College, then Harvard University’s school for women. In 1903, she published her autobiography, The Story of My Life, with the help of Sullivan and her husband John. A year later, Keller became the first deafblind person to graduate with a Bachelor of Arts. She joined the Socialist Party of America in 1909 and spent the next twelve years speaking and writing on topics such as women’s suffrage, pacifism, and workers’ rights. In addition, she joined the Industrial Workers of the World in 1915. Keller was also a prominent activist for African American civil rights, supporting the NAACP and joining the American Civil Liberties Union. From 1924 on, she dedicated herself to lecturing and organizing for the American Foundation for the Blind, traveling to thirty-five countries and across the United States to speak on behalf of those living with blindness. Major written works include Out of the Dark (1913), a collection of essays on socialism, and My Religion (1927), a spiritual autobiography expressing her relationship with the teachings of Emanuel Swedenborg.

Book preview

cover.jpg

THE SONG OF THE STONE WALL BY HELEN KELLER

published by Samizdat Express, Orange, CT, USA

established in 1974, offering over 14,000 books

Books by Helen Keller available from us:

The Song of the Stone Wall

The Story of My Life

The World I Live In

Two Books and a Poem

feedback welcome: [e-mail]

visit us at samizdat.com

1910

Copyright, 1909, 1910.

Published October, 1910.

DEDICATION

When I began The Song of the Stone Wall, Dr. Edward Everett Hale was still among us, and it was my intention to dedicate the poem to him if it should be deemed worthy of publication. I fancied that he would like it; for he loved the old walls and the traditions that cling about them.

As I tried to image the men who had built the walls long ago, it seemed to me that Dr. Hale was the living embodiment of whatever was heroic in the founders of New England. He was a great American. He was also a great Puritan. Was not the zeal of his ancestors upon his lips, and their courage in his heart? Had they not bequeathed to him their torch-like faith, their patient fervor of toil and their creed of equality?

But his bright spirit had inherited no trace of