# "Why Don't You Speak for Yourself, John?"

- By: John Rogers (born Salem, MA 1829-died New Canaan, CT 1904)
- Date: patented 1885
- Medium: painted plaster
- Classification: Sculpture
- Dimensions: 21 3/4 x 17 1/2 x 12 3/4 in. (55.3 x 44.5 x 32.3 cm)
- Credit line: Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Genevieve Wisel in memory of Dan Wisel
- Museum: [Smithsonian Institution](https://americanart.si.edu/collections/search/artwork/?id=21162)
- Rights: [CC0 (Smithsonian Open Access)](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
- Picture: https://invisiblenetwork.ai/thumbs/web/3f83b20ce86b45d60b7123f45e8a78df.jpg
- Who can see it: Teens profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

This group illustrates a line from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem The Courtship of Miles Standish. In the poem, Captain Miles Standish asks his friend John Alden to propose to Priscilla on his behalf. John goes to visit Priscilla and does as requested, even though he is in love with her himself. This sculpture shows the moment when Priscilla guesses John’s true feelings and declares, “Why don’t you speak for yourself, John?”