John

Publication Instance Details #3181

Publication Overview

Translation	Is Multilingual	Explicit Irish Context?	Ekphrasis	Has Paratext?	Reference to News, Media or Technology
No	No	No	No	No	Yes

Details

Human Rights Issues	Death Penalty/Unlawful Detention/Incarceration Torture
Languages	English
Genre	Long (narrative) Poem
Medium	Print Collection
Notes	This is the second section of the long narrative poem 'Firehead' - Lola Ridge's magnum opus, published in 1929. 'Firehead' is based on the story of the crucifixion. In this section, titled 'John', John the Baptist's role is recounted: he stood at the foot of the cross to witness Jesus' trial, torture, and death, and ran to the tomb following the Resurrection to confirm it was empty. 'Firehead' is often understood to be, in part at least, a response to the unfair trial and conviction of Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti in 1921 and their execution by electric chair in 1927. Lola Ridge attended a public protest in 1927 that took place outside of the Massachusetts Prison where the immigrants Sacco and Vanzetti were held and were to be executed. Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were Italian immigrant anarchists who were controversially accused of murdering Alessandro Berardelli and Frederick Parmenter, a guard and a paymaster, during the April 15, 1920, armed robbery of the Slater and Morrill Shoe Company in Braintree, Massachusetts, United States. The collection 'Firehead' is divided into nine parts and addresses an array of themes including violence, gender, racism, and freedom of conscience - themes that had clear contemporary resonances. This particular section can be read as a conflation of the figure of John the Baptist with Ridge herself as witness to violence and injustice.