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The Alamo
Famous Authors on the Alamo
Republished with the kind permission of Dr. Paul McQuien & Dr. Kim G. Hochmeister. See more San Antonio literary references here.
Long before the epic 1960 John Wayne film “The Alamo,” the iconic shrine and the legendary battle that helped win Texas independence had already captured America’s imagination. Just look at some of the images, metaphors and descriptions offered by famous writers over the passage of more than a century.
WALT WHITMAN
(1819-1892)
Poet, essayist, journalist
Works include “Song of Myself” and “I Sing the Body Electric”
Although Walt Whitman never visited Texas, he knew about the Alamo and alluded to it in Section 34 of his famous poem “Song of Myself.” From the 1881 edition of Leaves of Grass:
Now I tell what I knew in Texas in my early youth,
(I tell not the fall of the Alamo,
Not one escaped to tell the fall of Alamo,
The hundred and fifty are dumb yet at Alamo)
OSCAR WILDE
(1854–1900)
Poet, novelist, playwright, short story writer
Works include “The Picture of Dorian Gray” and “The Importance of Being Earnest”
During his American lecture tour in 1882, Oscar Wilde visited San Antonio in June and pronounced the Alamo a noble structure. Lamenting that it was not better preserved, he used the word "monstrous."
O. HENRY
(1862–1910)
Short story writer
Works include “The Gift of the Magi” and “The Ransom of Red Chief”
In his 1895 short story "The Enchanted Kiss," set exclusively in San Antonio, O. Henry imaginatively reconstructed the downtown plaza where the Alamo is located:
A few years before, their nightly encampments upon the historic Alamo Plaza, in the heart of the city, had been a carnival, a saturnalia that was renowned throughout the land. Then the caterers numbered hundreds; the patrons thousands. Drawn by the coquettish señoritas, the music of the weird Spanish minstrels, and the strange piquant dishes served at a hundred competing tables, crowds thronged the Alamo Plaza all night. Travellers, rancheros, family parties, gay gasconading rounders, sight-seers and prowlers of polyglot, owlish San Antone mingled there at the centre of the city's fun and frolic. The popping corks, pistols, and questions; the glitter of eyes, jewels, and daggers; the ring of laughter and coin--these were the order of the night.
STEPHEN CRANE
(1871–1900)
Novelist, short story writer, poet, journalist
Works include “The Red Badge of Courage,” “The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky" and “The Open Boat”
Stephen Crane was enchanted with the Alamo, which for him, had become "the patriot shrine of Texas." In an 1895 essay, he insisted:
It remains the greatest memorial to courage which civilization has allowed to stand.
ROBERT FROST
(1874–1963)
Poet, playwright
Works include “The Road Not Taken” and “Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening”
Robert Frost made his first lecture tour to Texas in 1922 and returned in 1936-1937. Coming to San Antonio with the idea of enjoying greater solitude than wintering grounds such as Florida and Southern California, he wrote in a letter:
I am deep in Texas history and don’t want to be bothered by any but the ghosts of Goliad and the Alamo
JOHN STEINBECK
(1902-1968)
Novelist, short story writer
Works include "The Grapes of Wrath,” “East of Eden” and “Of Mice and Men”
When John Steinbeck wrote the 1962 “Travels with Charley in Search of America,” he devoted a couple of chapters to his sojourn across Texas and mentioned San Antonio’s famous shrine: Again – the glorious defense to the death of the Alamo against the hordes of Santa Anna is a fact. The brave bands of Teixans did indeed wrest their liberty from Mexico, and freedom, liberty, are holy words.
© 2000-2009 Paul McQuien and Kim G. Hochmeister
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