Chants for the Boer — Context and Discussion

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In Category - Adventure Picaresque Fiction

Authors: Miller, Joaquin, 1837-1913 Digital Source: Project Gutenberg Gutenberg Release Year: 2023 First Publication Year: Not confirmed

Key Word: South African War, 1899-1902 -- Poetry Target Reader: Readers of public-domain and historical texts

Book Edition: Project Gutenberg digital edition Book Language: en

Edition facts

Words 7,620

Reading time 34 min

Text sections 17

Before opening Chants for the Boer — Context and Discussion, the edition data offers a quick orientation: 7,620 words, 34 min estimated reading time, and 17 detected text sections.

The text analysis averages about 20.2 words per sentence, while the detected sections provide another way to judge how the source is divided.

Project Gutenberg metadata also associates the work with “South African War, 1899-1902 -- Poetry,” connecting these edition facts with the source record’s subject description.

Source: Project Gutenberg record #71889

Joaquin Miller's 1900 verse collection rallies support for the Boer cause through martial chants, a prose preface defending the Boers, and satirical poems like 'Fight a Boy of Your Size' that critique British imperialism.

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Description quality20 pts
Title & short description10 pts
Source metadata20 pts
Text length15 pts
Chapters / structure15 pts
EPUB file integrity20 pts

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File: pg71889

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“_And whether on the scaffold high, Or in the battle’s van, The fittest place for man to die Is where he dies for man._”

San Francisco The Whitaker & Ray Company (Incorporated) 1900

TO THE BOERS. TO YE FIGHTING LORDS OF LONDON TOWN. MOTHER EGYPT. ANGLO-SAXON ALLIANCE. INDIA AND THE BOERS. AT THE CALEND’S CLOSE. AS IT IS WRITTEN. TO OOM PAUL KRUGER. USLAND TO THE BOERS. THAT USSIAN OF USLAND. FIGHT A BOY OF YOUR SIZE.

_For the right that needs assistance, For the wrong that needs resistance, For the glory in the distance, For the good that we can do._

Find here not one ill word for brave old England; my first, best friends were English. But for her policy, her politicians, her speculators, what man with a heart in him can but hate and abhor them? England’s best friends to-day are those who deplore this assault on the farmer Boers, so like ourselves a century back. Could any man be found strong enough to stay her hand with sword or pen in this mad hour? That man would deserve her lasting gratitude. This feeling of abhorrence holds in England as well as here. Take for example the following from her ablest thinker to a friend in Philadelphia:

“I rejoice that you and others are bent on showing that there are some among us who think the national honor is not being enhanced by putting down the weak. Would that age and ill health did not prevent me from aiding.

“No one can deny that at the time of the Jameson Raid the aim of the Outlanders and the raiders was to usurp the Transvaal Government, and he must be willfully blind who does not see what the Outlanders failed to do by bullets they hope presently to do by votes, and only those who, while jealous of their own independence, regard but little the independence of people who stand in their way, can fail to sympathize with the Boers in their resistance to political extinction.

“It is sad to see our Government backing those whose avowed policy is expansion, which, less politely expressed, means aggression, for which there is a still less polite word readily guessed. On behalf of these, the big British Empire, weapon in hand, growls out to the little Boer Republic, ‘Do as I bid you.’

“I have always thought that nobleness is shown in treating tenderly those who are relatively feeble and even sacrificing on their behalf something to which there is a just claim. But, if current opinion is right, I must have been wrong.”

“_For Freedom’s battles once begun, Bequeathed from bleeding sire to son, Though baffled oft, are ever won._”

The Sword of Gideon, Sword of God Be with ye, Boers. Brave men of peace Ye hewed the path, ye brake the sod, Ye fed white flocks of fat increase Where Saxon foot had never trod; Where Saxon foot unto this day Had measured not, had never known Had ye not bravely led the way And made such happy homes your own.

I think God’s house must be such home. The priestess Mother, choristers Who spin and weave nor care to roam Beyond this white God’s house of hers, But spinning sing and spin again. I think such silent shepherd men Most like that few the prophet sings-- Most like that few stout Abram drew Triumphant o’er the slaughtered Kings.

Defend God’s house! Let fall the crook. Draw forth the plowshare from the sod And trust, as in the Holy Book, The Sword of Gideon and of God; God and the right! Enough to fight A million regiments of wrong. Defend! Nor count what comes of it. God’s battle bides not with the strong; And pride must fall. Lo, it is writ!

Great England’s Gold! how stanch she fares Fame’s wine cup pressing her proud lips-- Her checkerboard of battle squares Rimmed round by steel-built battleships! And yet meanwhiles ten thousand miles She seeks ye out. Well, welcome her! Give her such welcome with such will As Boston gave in battle’s whir That red, dread day at Bunker Hill.

SAN FRANCISCO, September, 1899.

TO YE FIGHTING LORDS OF LONDON TOWN.

CHRISTMAS MORNING, 1899.

“_The equipment of the Maine hospital ship by our American cousins warrants us in saying at least that they wish us well._”

Continue Reading →

Joaquin Miller's Chants for the Boer opens with a prose preface that immediately establishes a defensive, yet respectful, tone toward England. Miller declares he harbors 'not one ill word for brave old England,' but sharply condemns its politicians and speculators for the 'assault on the farmer Boers.' He quotes Herbert Spencer at length, who calls the conflict a 'mad hour' and accuses the British Empire of 'putting down the weak.' This framing—separating the English people from their government—sets the stage for the poems that follow, which blend martial exhortation, satire, and a distinctly American perspective on the South African War.

A Poet's Preface: The Case Against Expansion

Before any verse appears, Miller presents a prose argument that functions as an editorial note. He aligns the Boers with American revolutionaries, calling them 'so like ourselves a century back.' The preface includes a lengthy letter from Herbert Spencer, who denounces the Jameson Raid and the Outlanders' aim to 'usurp the Transvaal Government.' Spencer's language—'aggression,' 'political extinction'—reinforces Miller's own stance. This opening is not poetry but polemic, inviting readers to view the subsequent chants as evidence of a moral position rather than mere artistic expression.

Martial Rhythms and Biblical Echoes

The first poem, 'To the Boers,' invokes 'The Sword of Gideon, Sword of God' and quotes Byron on freedom's battles. Miller adopts a prophetic voice, blessing the Boers as 'brave men of peace' who 'hewed the path' where 'Saxon foot had never trod.' The language is deliberately archaic and resonant, pairing Old Testament imagery with frontier American ideals. The poem's structure—short, emphatic lines—creates a chant-like quality suited to oral recitation. Miller positions the Boers as righteous farmers defending their land, a trope familiar to his American audience from narratives of westward expansion.

Satirical Swagger: 'That Ussian of Usland'

In a shift from earnest praise, Miller introduces a comic persona in 'That Ussian of Usland.' The speaker, an 'Ussian' (a neologism for an American), confronts 'Mister Bull'—John Bull, the British personification. The poem plays with language: 'Ussian' is derived from 'Us,' as Miller explains in the preface: 'Why not say Usman, as Frenchman, German?' The Ussian boasts, 'I want the earth, / And all Alaska, too,' and warns, 'Hands off the Land of Us!' The tone is blustering and defiant, using dialect and exaggerated threats to mock British imperialism. This poem lightens the collection's mood while reinforcing its anti-expansionist theme.

The Schoolyard Parable: 'Fight a Boy of Your Size'

The final poem in the excerpts, 'Fight a Boy of Your Size,' shifts to a fable-like allegory. Miller recalls a backwoods school of 'Lincoln, Grant and the great we prize,' where boys fought fairly: 'You must fight a boy of your size.' A 'big boy' (clearly England) bullies smaller opponents, until the 'good Schoolmaster' intervenes, spanking the bully with a board 'of considerable size.' The moral is explicit: 'Beware the bully, of his words beware, / His triangular lips are a nest of lies.' The poem's simple meter and repetitive structure make it memorable, closing the collection with a direct call for fair play and a critique of imperial overreach.

Reading Chants for the Boer sequentially reveals Miller's strategy: a prose preface establishes the political context, followed by poems that alternate between heroic elevation and satirical deflation. The collection's brevity—seventeen text sections, estimated at 34 minutes' reading—invites multiple passes. Pay attention to Miller's use of American vernacular and frontier imagery; he consistently frames the Boer cause as a mirror of American revolutionary ideals. The poems are best understood as occasional verse, meant to stir sympathy and indignation rather than to achieve lasting literary complexity.

I kept thinking how Miller’s chants, meant to stiffen spines before battle, had their own kind of earthly music. Then my mind drifted to that other journey, where souls climb not to fight, but to be purged. It felt like two different prayers for the same tired heart. Both are companions for long, quiet afternoons, like Divine Comedy, Cary's Translation, Purgatory — Edition Insights, each verse a step to somewhere lighter.