Alan Seeger
Alan Seeger was an American poet born in New York City in 1888, known for his romantic and idealistic poetry. He was raised in a privileged environment, spending part of his childhood in Mexico City and later attending prestigious schools, culminating in a B.A. from Harvard University. Seeger's passion for poetry led him to Greenwich Village, where he immersed himself in the bohemian lifestyle before relocating to Paris. When World War I began, he enlisted in the French Foreign Legion, where he continued to write, focusing on themes of nobility and camaraderie rather than the grim realities of war. His most famous work, "I Have a Rendezvous with Death," reflects his fatalistic view of military glory. Tragically, Seeger was killed in battle on July 4, 1916, and was laid to rest in a mass grave in France. He received posthumous honors from the French, including the Croix de Guerre and the Medaille Militaire, and remains a celebrated figure in the literary world for his contributions to war poetry.
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Subject Terms
Alan Seeger
- Born: June 22, 1888
- Birthplace: New York, New York
- Died: July 4, 1916
- Place of death: Belloy-en-Santerre, France
Biography
Alan Seeger was born in New York City in 1888, the son of a wealthy New York businessman who had interests in Mexican sugar refining. Seeger’s youth was divided between a comfortable and cultured early period on Staten Island and a period living with his family in Mexico City. He attended excellent preparatory schools and in 1910 received a B.A, from Harvard University.
Seeger’s love for poetry and penchant for the Romantics was already apparent at Harvard and after graduating, much to his father’s consternation, he moved to New York City’s Greenwich Village to pursue the poetic life. He spent two bohemian years there living out his dream through such activities as sleeping on the sofa of his friend, the writer and revolutionary John Reed. After two years, however, Seeger tired of New York and, using funds lent by magnanimous friends, embarked for Paris. Seeger was well suited to life in Paris. When France entered World War I, he enlisted in the French foreign legion.
During his military service, he continued to write poetry while pursuing a fatalistic vision of military glory. Unlike other war poets such as Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen, Seeger did not dwell on the sordid aspects of war, preferring instead to write about the nobility and camaraderie of soldiering. He is remembered today primarily for his poem “I Have a Rendezvous with Death,” perhaps because war took his life before he had a chance to develop as a poet. Seeger was killed on July 4, 1916, when he was shot in the stomach during a raid on Belloy-en-Santerre, France. He was buried there in a mass grave. The French, who posthumously awarded him the Croix de Guerre and the Medaille Militaire, continue to honor Seeger’s memory and his poetry.