On the Photograph of a Corps Commander
Ay, man is manly. Here you seeThe warrior-carriage of the head,And brave dilation of the frame;And lighting all, the soul that ledIn Spottsylvaniaa’s charge to victory,Which justifies his fame.
A cheering picture. It is goodTo look upon a Chief like this,In whom the spirit moulds the form.Here favoring Nature, oft remiss,With eagle mien expressive has enduedA man to kindle strains that warm.
Trace back his lineage, and his sires,Yeoman or noble, you shall findEnrolled with men of Agincourt,Heroes who shared great Harry’s mind.Down to us come the knightly Norman fires,And front the Templars bore.
Nothing can lift the heart of manLike manhood in a fellow-man.The thought of heaven’s great King afarBut humbles us--too weak to scan;But manly greatness men can span,And feel the bonds that draw.
Words in this poem
- remiss n.
- The act of being remiss; inefficiency; failure.
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- knightly a.
- Of or pertaining to a knight; becoming a knight; chivalrous; as, a knightly combat; a knightly spirit. [AS. cnihtlic boyish.]
- afar adv.
- At, to, or from a great distance; far away; -- often used with from preceding, or off following; as, he was seen from afar; I saw him afar off. [Pref. a-.(for on or of) + far.]
- humbles n.
- Entrails of a deer. Johnson. [See Nombles.]
- scan v. t.
- To mount by steps; to go through with step by step. [L. scandere, scansum, to climb, to scan, akin to Skr. skand to spring, leap: cf. F. scander. Cf. Ascend, Descend, Scale a ladder.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
On the Photograph of a Corps Commander 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, On the Photograph of a Corps Commander, in Battle-Pieces and Aspects of the War (1866), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12384, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/melville-battle-pieces/on-the-photograph-of-a-corps-commander.html, id L00915.
Form and metre
On the Photograph of a Corps Commander is 24 lines in 4 stanzas of 6 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.0 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 29% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 -ABA-B see · headA · frameB · ledA · victory · fameB
- 2 -ABA-B good · thisA · formB · remissA · endued · warmB
- 3 AB-BA- siresA · findB · agincourt · mindB · firesA · bore
- 4 AA-AA- manA · manA · afar · scanA · spanA · draw
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Ay, man is manly. Here you see | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The warrior-carriage of the head, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| And brave dilation of the frame; | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| And lighting all, the soul that led | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| In Spottsylvaniaa’s charge to victory, | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Which justifies his fame. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| A cheering picture. It is good | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| To look upon a Chief like this, | 8 | ········ |
| In whom the spirit moulds the form. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Here favoring Nature, oft remiss, | 8 | ·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| With eagle mien expressive has endued | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘·˘/ |
| A man to kindle strains that warm. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Trace back his lineage, and his sires, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Yeoman or noble, you shall find | 8 | /˘·/˘··· |
| Enrolled with men of Agincourt, | 8 | ˘/···/˘· |
| Heroes who shared great Harry’s mind. | 8 | /˘···/˘· |
| Down to us come the knightly Norman fires, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘/ |
| And front the Templars bore. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Nothing can lift the heart of man | 8 | /˘······ |
| Like manhood in a fellow-man. | 8 | ·/···/˘· |
| The thought of heaven’s great King afar | 9 | ···/˘··˘/ |
| But humbles us--too weak to scan; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| But manly greatness men can span, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| And feel the bonds that draw. | 6 | ······ |
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.