In the Prison Pen
Listless he eyes the palisadesAnd sentries in the glare;’Tis barren as a pelican-beach--But his world is ended there.
Nothing to do; and vacant handsBring on the idiot-pain;He tries to think--to recollect,But the blur is on his brain.
Around him swarm the plaining ghostsLike those on Virgil’s shore--A wilderness of faces dim,And pale ones gashed and hoar.
A smiting sun. No shed, no tree;He totters to his lair--A den that sick hands dug in earthEre famine wasted there,
Or, dropping in his place, he swoons,Walled in by throngs that press,Till forth from the throngs they bear him dead--Dead in his meagreness.
Words in this poem
- listless a.
- Having no desire or inclination; indifferent; heedless; spiritless. [OE. listles, lustles. See Lust.]
- glare v. i.
- To shine with a bright, dazzling light. [OE. glaren, gloren; cf. AS. glær amber, LG. glaren to glow or burn like coals, D. gloren to glimmer; prob. akin to E. glass.]
- recollect v. t.
- To recover or recall the knowledge of; to bring back to the mind or memory; to remember. [Pref. re- + collect: cf. L. recolligere, recollectum, to collect. Cf. Recollet.]
- plaining a.
- Complaining. Bryant.
- hoar v. t.
- To become moldy or musty. [AS. harian to grow gray.]
- lair n.
- A place in which to lie or rest; especially, the bed or couch of a wild beast. [OE. leir, AS. leger; akin to D. leger, G. lager couch, lair, OHG. laga, Goth. ligrs, and to E. lie. See Lie to be prostrate, and cf. Layer, Leaguer.]
- famine n.
- General scarcity of food; dearth; a want of provisions; destitution. [F. famine, fr. L. fames hunger; cf. Gr. hani loss, lack, ha to leave.]
- meagreness n.
- The state or quality of being meager; leanness; scantiness; barrenness.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
In the Prison Pen 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, In the Prison Pen, in Battle-Pieces and Aspects of the War (1866), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12384, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/melville-battle-pieces/in-the-prison-pen.html, id L19109.
Form and metre
In the Prison Pen is 20 lines in 5 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%).
See other poems in common measure.
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 palisades · glareA · beach · thereA
- 2 -A-A hands · painA · recollect · brainA
- 3 -A-A ghosts · shoreA · dim · hoarA
- 4 -A-A tree · lairA · earth · thereA
- 5 -A-A swoons · pressA · dead · meagrenessA
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 common measure. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Listless he eyes the palisades | 8 | /˘····˘/ |
| And sentries in the glare; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| ’Tis barren as a pelican-beach-- | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| But his world is ended there. | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Nothing to do; and vacant hands | 8 | /˘···/˘· |
| Bring on the idiot-pain; | 7 | ···/˘˘· |
| He tries to think--to recollect, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| But the blur is on his brain. | 7 | ······· |
| Around him swarm the plaining ghosts | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Like those on Virgil’s shore-- | 6 | ···/˘· |
| A wilderness of faces dim, | 8 | ·/˘˘·/˘· |
| And pale ones gashed and hoar. | 6 | ······ |
| A smiting sun. No shed, no tree; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| He totters to his lair-- | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| A den that sick hands dug in earth | 8 | ········ |
| Ere famine wasted there, | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| Or, dropping in his place, he swoons, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Walled in by throngs that press, | 6 | ······ |
| Till forth from the throngs they bear him dead-- | 9 | ········· |
| Dead in his meagreness. | 6 | ······ |
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