Bravo, Paris Exposition! explained

What happens

Themes in this chapter

• America and Its People

  America is personified as sending its collective sentiment, applause, and goodwill to France, highlighting national pride and international connection.

Characters to notice

• America

  America sends its applause, love, memories, and good-will to the Paris Exposition.

• Narrator

  The narrator speaks as part of 'we' representing America's sentiment.

Key passages

• “Bravo, Paris Exposition! Add to your show, before you close it, France, With all the rest, visible, concrete, temples, towers, goods, machines and ores, Our sentiment wafted from many million heart-throbs, ethereal but solid, (We grand-sons and great-grand-sons do not forget your grand-sires,) From fifty Nations and nebulous Nations, compacted, sent oversea to-day, America’s applause, love, memories and good-will.”

  Hooray for the Paris Exposition! Before it ends, France, include in your exhibition—alongside all the tangible displays of temples, towers, goods, machines, and ores—the intangible yet solid sentiment from millions of American hearts. We descendants do not forget your ancestors, and today we send across the ocean the applause, love, memories, and goodwill of America, gathered from fifty nations and beyond.

  The poem conveys America's collective emotional tribute to France's grand exhibition, blending material and spiritual offerings.