Presentation to the Authorities, by Privates, of Colors Captured in Battles Ending in the Surrender of Lee
Presentation to the Authorities,by Privates, of Colors captured in Battles ending in theSurrender of Lee.
These flags of armies overthrown--Flags fallen beneath the sovereign oneIn end foredoomed which closes war;We here, the captors, lay beforeThe altar which of right claims all--Our Country. And as freely we,Revering ever her sacred call,Could lay our lives down--though life beThrice loved and precious to the senseOf such as reap the recompenseOf life imperiled for just cause--Imperiled, and yet preserved;While comrades, whom Duty as strongly nerved,Whose wives were all as dear, lie low.But these flags given, glad we goTo waiting homes with vindicated laws.The Returned Volunteer to his Rifle.
Words in this poem
- reap n.
- A bundle of grain; a handful of grain laid down by the reaper as it is cut. Wright. [Cf. AS. rip harvest. See Reap, v.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Presentation to the Authorities, by Privates, of Colors Captured in Battles Ending in the Surrender of Lee 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, Presentation to the Authorities, by Privates, of Colors Captured in Battles Ending in the Surrender of Lee, in Battle-Pieces and Aspects of the War (1866), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12384, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/melville-battle-pieces/presentation-to-the-authorities-by-privates-of-colors-captured-in-battles-ending-in-the-surrender-of-lee.html, id L26276.
Form and metre
Presentation to the Authorities, by Privates, of Colors Captured in Battles Ending in the Surrender of Lee is 20 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 79%).
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 -AA authorities · theA · leeA
- 2 --AABCBCDDEFFGGE- overthrown · one · warA · beforeA · allB · weC · callB · beC · senseD · recompenseD · causeE · preservedF · nervedF · lowG · goG · lawsE · rifle
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Presentation to the Authorities, | 9 | ·˘/˘··˘/˘ |
| by Privates, of Colors captured in Battles ending in the | 15 | ·/˘·/˘/˘·/˘/˘·· |
| Surrender of Lee. | 5 | ˘/˘·· |
| These flags of armies overthrown-- | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Flags fallen beneath the sovereign one | 9 | ·/˘···/˘· |
| In end foredoomed which closes war; | 9 | ······/˘· |
| We here, the captors, lay before | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The altar which of right claims all-- | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Our Country. And as freely we, | 8 | //˘··/˘· |
| Revering ever her sacred call, | 8 | ˘/˘/·/˘· |
| Could lay our lives down--though life be | 8 | ··/····· |
| Thrice loved and precious to the sense | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Of such as reap the recompense | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Of life imperiled for just cause-- | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| Imperiled, and yet preserved; | 8 | ˘/˘˘··˘/ |
| While comrades, whom Duty as strongly nerved, | 10 | ·/··/˘·/˘· |
| Whose wives were all as dear, lie low. | 8 | ········ |
| But these flags given, glad we go | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| To waiting homes with vindicated laws. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| The Returned Volunteer to his Rifle. | 10 | ·˘/·˘/··/˘ |
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.