The Blood of Rachel, a Dramatization of Esther, and Other Poems

by Cotton Noe

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Pages: 76

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About this book

At the Persian court in Shushan, royal ceremony conceals a dispute over dignity, duty and power. Cotton Noe opens his verse drama with a poet and a jester arguing about a king absorbed in feasting while his people bear heavy taxes. Vashti refuses an order to appear before the banquet guests, insisting that her position as queen deserves respect. The scene then moves forward six years, when Esther speaks to Mordecai about the loneliness of palace life.

The volume pairs this treatment of the Esther story with shorter poems about home, memory, ambition and cultural change. In the rural recollections, household work and evenings around the hearth carry moral weight. "The Age Electric" turns to motorcycles, moving pictures and the demand for efficiency. Readers interested in dramatic verse and arguments about modern life can follow the contrast between public authority, private feeling and the habits of an older generation.