Battle+Hymn+of+the+Republic+&+Grapes+of+Wrath

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord:He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored;He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword:His truth is marching on.

(**Chorus**)[|Glory], glory, [|hallelujah]!Glory, glory, hallelujah!Glory, glory, hallelujah!His truth is marching on.

I have seen Him in the watch-fires of a hundred circling camps,They have builded Him an altar in the evening dews and damps;I can read His righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps:His day is marching on.

(**Chorus**)Glory, glory, hallelujah!Glory, glory, hallelujah!Glory, glory, hallelujah!His day is marching on.

I have read a fiery [|gospel] writ in burnished rows of steel:"As ye deal with my contemners, so with you my grace shall deal;Let the Hero, born of woman, crush [|the serpent] with his heel,Since God is marching on."

(**Chorus**)Glory, glory, hallelujah!Glory, glory, hallelujah!Glory, glory, hallelujah!Since God is marching on.

He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat;He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment-seat:Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer Him! be jubilant, my feet!Our God is marching on.

(**Chorus**)Glory, glory, hallelujah!Glory, glory, hallelujah!Glory, glory, hallelujah!Our God is marching on.

In the beauty of the lilies [|Christ] was born across the sea,With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me:As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free,While God is marching on.

(**Chorus**)Glory, glory, hallelujah!Glory, glory, hallelujah!Glory, glory, hallelujah!While God is marching on.

He is coming like the glory of the morning on the wave,He is Wisdom to the mighty, He is Succour to the brave,So the world shall be His footstool, and the soul of Time His slave,Our God is marching on.

(**Chorus**)Glory, glory, hallelujah!Glory, glory, hallelujah!Glory, glory, hallelujah!Our God is marching on.

While writing the "Grapes of Wrath" Steinbeck had a difficult time devising a title for his book. His wife ended up suggesting the title that had been derived from the sing "Battle Hymn of the Republic," as seen above, feeling that it was an appropriate title.

Steinbeck may chose this title for a variety of reasons that can be taken both literally and figuratively. One reason is that California was known for its grapes at the time and many of the farmers who moved there due to the Dust Bowl were forced to pick grapes for wages that they could barely make a living off of. This may also be the reason behind the "Wrath" that is in the title, because of course the low wages as well as oppression would cause anger among the farmers.

These lyrics also pertain to a passage in the bible, "And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs." This is also referenced in the book when it says "//...and in the eyes of the hungry there is a growing wrath. In the souls of the people **the grapes of wrath** are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage."//