Hymn to the Chesapeake: Collector's Hardcover Edition

The Chesapeake region has inspired and nurtured humanity for millennia. Long before the crossing of the Mayflower to this region, native Americans lived in harmony with the bounty of the land and seascape. The Pilgrims sought refuge in the new country when they landed in the marshes of the Chesapeake. Challenged by the thick forests, the climate, disease, the incredibly strong nature, the early settlements nearly died out. Humanity has been drawn to the natural beauty and bounty of the Chesapeake for as long as we can remember. Pirates, settlers, presidents, inventors, artists, poets, writers, musicians, farmers, fishermen, immigrants, people seeking refuge, livelihood, homestead, a way of life, their place.

Robert P. Arthur may be the finest poet ever to target the Eastern Shore of Virginia and the Chesapeake Bay. Growing up in the small town of Melfa, he absorbed Eastern Shore language, culture, and bloodline. He says that knowledge of the water and people, storms at sea and sinking islands was "thrust" upon him; but leaving the shore as often as he did left him a preservationist at heart--this book his edifice. Into these poems he has poured not only himself but also half-forgotten towns, unpredictable stretches of water, watermen and waterwomen, oyster wars, moonshiners, and pirates, as well as sea grasses, water fowl, the photography of A. Aubrey Bodine and voices of the bay not his own.

So many doomed things are held in place in this book. So many shinings.

Author: Robert P. Arthur
Publisher: Rolling Olive Press
Published: 04/09/2019
Pages: 106
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.40lbs
Size: 8.50h x 11.00w x 0.44d
ISBN: 9780933316454

About the Author
Arthur, Robert P.: - Robert P. Arthur may be the finest poet ever to target the Eastern Shore of Virginia and the Chesapeake Bay. Growing up in the small town of Melfa, he absorbed Eastern Shore language, culture, and bloodline. He says that knowledge of the water and people, storms at sea and sinking islands was "thrust" upon him; but leaving the shore as often as he did left him a preservationist at heart-this book his edifice. Into these poems he has poured not only himself but also half-forgotten towns, unpredictable stretches of water, watermen and waterwomen, oyster wars, moonshiners, and pirates, as well as sea grasses, water fowl, the photography of A. Aubrey Bodine and voices of the bay not his own. Arthur is the author of over twenty books, including poem/plays, poems, and plays, many of which focus on the Chesapeake region. His works have been performed nationally and internationally, notably in St. Petersburg, Russia. He was a finalist for Poet Laureate of Virginia in 2008 and 2010. This edition of Hymn to the Chesapeake is a full realization of the author's vision of the Hymn to the Chesapeake begun in 1973 and published by Road Publishers in 1991. The original was the best-selling book in the history of Road Publishers.Bodine, A. Aubrey: - A. Aubrey Bodine was a painter with the camera rather than a conventional photojournalist; he favored a soft focus, somewhat analogous to Arthur's remembrances, and he was likewise, a romantic rather than an objective chronicler. A pictorialist, whose first concern was fine art rather than just a hard-edged photographic record, he worked from 1927 to 1970 for the Baltimore Sunday Sun, where its Sun Magazine became his gallery. His genius in the darkroom has long been legendary. He heavily retouched elements of his photos, deepened shadows, and manipulated images.

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