Apathy and Enthusiasm I
O the clammy cold November,And the winter white and dead,And the terror dumb with stupor,And the sky a sheet of lead;And events that came resoundingWith the cry that All was lost,Like the thunder-cracks of massy iceIn intensity of frost--Bursting one upon anotherThrough the horror of the calm.The paralysis of armIn the anguish of the heart;And the hollowness and dearth.The appealings of the motherTo brother and to brotherNot in hatred so to part--And the fissure in the hearthGrowing momently more wide.Then the glances ’tween the Fates,And the doubt on every side,And the patience under gloomIn the stoniness that waitsThe finality of doom.
Words in this poem
- massy a.
- Compacted into, or consisting of, a mass; having bulk and weight ot substance; ponderous; bulky and heavy; weight; heavy; as, a massy shield; a massy rock.
- dearth n.
- Scarcity which renders dear; want; lack; specifically, lack of food on account of failure of crops; famine. [OE. derthe, fr. dere. See Dear.]
- stoniness n.
- The quality or state of being stony.
- finality n.
- The state of being final, finished, or complete; a final or conclusive arrangement; a settlement. Baxter. [L. finalitas the being last.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Apathy and Enthusiasm I is in the public domain. This text is taken from Battle-Pieces and Aspects of the War, Project Gutenberg ebook #12384; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Herman Melville, Apathy and Enthusiasm I, in Battle-Pieces and Aspects of the War (1866), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12384, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/melville-battle-pieces/apathy-and-enthusiasm-i.html, id L00906.
Form and metre
Apathy and Enthusiasm I is 23 lines in a single stanza. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic tetrameter.
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 -A-A-B-BC--D-CCD-EFEGFG november · deadA · stupor · leadA · resounding · lostB · ice · frostB · anotherC · calm · arm · heartD · dearth · motherC · brotherC · partD · hearth · wideE · fatesF · sideE · gloomG · waitsF · doomG
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| O the clammy cold November, | 8 | ··/˘·˘/˘ |
| And the winter white and dead, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| And the terror dumb with stupor, | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| And the sky a sheet of lead; | 7 | ······· |
| And events that came resounding | 8 | ·˘/··˘/˘ |
| With the cry that All was lost, | 7 | ······· |
| Like the thunder-cracks of massy ice | 9 | ··/˘··/˘· |
| In intensity of frost-- | 7 | ·˘/˘˘·· |
| Bursting one upon another | 8 | /˘···˘/˘ |
| Through the horror of the calm. | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| The paralysis of arm | 7 | ·˘/˘˘·· |
| In the anguish of the heart; | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| And the hollowness and dearth. | 7 | ··/˘˘·· |
| The appealings of the mother | 8 | ·˘/˘··/˘ |
| To brother and to brother | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| Not in hatred so to part-- | 8 | ··/˘˘··· |
| And the fissure in the hearth | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Growing momently more wide. | 7 | /˘/˘˘·· |
| Then the glances ’tween the Fates, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| And the doubt on every side, | 8 | ····/˘˘· |
| And the patience under gloom | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| In the stoniness that waits | 7 | ··/˘˘·· |
| The finality of doom. | 7 | ·˘/˘˘·· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.