The Released Rebel Prisoner
Armies he’s seen--the herds of war,But never such swarms of menAs now in the Nineveh of the North--How mad the Rebellion then!
And yet but dimly he divinesThe depth of that deceit,And superstition of vast prideHumbled to such defeat.
Seductive shone the Chiefs in arms--His steel the nearest magnet drew;Wreathed with its kind, the Gulf-weed drives--’Tis Nature’s wrong they rue.
His face is hidden in his beard,But his heart peers out at eye--And such a heart! like mountain-poolWhere no man passes by.
He thinks of Hill--a brave soul gone;And Ashby dead in pale disdain;And Stuart with the Rupert-plume,Whose blue eye never shall laugh again.
He hears the drum; he sees our boysFrom his wasted fields return;Ladies feast them on strawberries,And even to kiss them yearn.
He marks them bronzed, in soldier-trim,The rifle proudly borne;They bear it for an heir-loom home,And he--disarmed--jail-worn.
Home, home--his heart is full of it;But home he never shall see,Even should he stand upon the spot;’Tis gone!--where his brothers be.
The cypress-moss from tree to treeHangs in his Southern land;As weird, from thought to thought of hisRun memories hand in hand.
And so he lingers--lingers onIn the City of the Foe--His cousins and his countrymenWho see him listless go.A Grave near Petersburg, Virginia.
Head-board and foot-board duly placed--Grassed in the mound between;Daniel Drouth is the slumberer’s name--Long may his grave be green!
Quick was his way--a flash and a blow,Full of his fire was he--A fire of hell--’tis burnt out now--Green may his grave long be!
May his grave be green, though heWas a rebel of iron mould;Many a true heart--true to the Cause,Through the blaze of his wrath lies cold.
May his grave be green--still greenWhile happy years shall run;May none come nigh to disinterThe--Buried Gun.
“Formerly a Slave.”An idealized Portrait, by E. Vedder, in the SpringExhibition of the National Academy, 1865.
The sufferance of her race is shown,And retrospect of life,Which now too late deliverance dawns upon;Yet is she not at strife.
Her children’s children they shall knowThe good withheld from her;And so her reverie takes prophetic cheer--In spirit she sees the stir
Far down the depth of thousand years,And marks the revel shine;Her dusky face is lit with sober light,Sibylline, yet benign.
The Apparition.(A Retrospect.)
Convulsions came; and, where the fieldLong slept in pastoral green,A goblin-mountain was upheaved(Sure the scared sense was all deceived),Marl-glen and slag-ravine.
The unreserve of Ill was there,The clinkers in her last retreat;But, ere the eye could take it in,Or mind could comprehension win,It sunk!--and at our feet.
So, then, Solidity’s a crust--The core of fire below;All may go well for many a year,But who can think without a fearOf horrors that happen so?
Words in this poem
- dimly adv.
- In a dim or obscure manner; not brightly or clearly; with imperfect sight.
- defeat v. t.
- To undo; to disfigure; to destroy. [From F. défait, OF. desfait, p. p. ofe défaire, OF. desfaire, to undo; L. dis- + facere to do. See Feat, Fact, and cf. Disfashion.]
- 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,]
- yearn v. t.
- To pain; to grieve; to vex. [Also earn, ern; probably a corruption of OE. ermen to grieve, AS. ierman, yrman, or geierman, geyrman, fr. earm wretched, poor; akin to D. & G. arm, Icel. armr,]
- listless a.
- Having no desire or inclination; indifferent; heedless; spiritless. [OE. listles, lustles. See Lust.]
- rebel a.
- Pertaining to rebels or rebellion; acting in revolt; rebellious; as, rebel troops. [F. rebelle, fr. L. rebellis. See Rebel, v. t.]
- mould n.
- Crumbling, soft, friable earth; esp., earth containing the remains or constituents of organic matter, and suited to the growth of plants; soil. [OE. molde, AS. molde; akin to D. mul, G. mull, mulm, OHG. molt, molta, Icel. mold, Dan. muld, Sw. mull, Goth. mulda, and E. meal flour. See Meal, and cf. Mole a]
- sufferance n.
- The state of suffering; the bearing of pain; endurance. [OE. suffrance, OF. sufrance, soufrance, F. souffrance, L. sufferentia, from sufferens, -entis, p.pr. of sufferre. See Suffer.]
- retrospect v. i.
- To look backward; hence, to affect or concern what is past. [L. retrospicere; retro back + specere, spectum, to look. See Spy, and cf. Expect.]
- strife n.
- The act of striving; earnest endeavor. [OF. estrif. See Strive.]
- reverie n.
- A loose or irregular train of thought occurring in musing or mediation; deep musing; daydream. [F. réverie, fr. rêver to dream, rave, be light-headed. Cf. Rave.]
- sibylline a.
- Pertaining to the sibyls; uttered, written, or composed by sibyls; like the productions of sibyls. Sibylline books. (a) (Rom. [L. sibyllinus.]
- unreserve n.
- Absence of reverse; frankness; freedom of communication. T.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Released Rebel Prisoner 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, The Released Rebel Prisoner, in Battle-Pieces and Aspects of the War (1866), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12384, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/melville-battle-pieces/the-released-rebel-prisoner.html, id L19113.
Form and metre
The Released Rebel Prisoner is 89 lines in 22 stanzas. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%).
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 war · menA · north · thenA
- 2 -A-A divines · deceitA · pride · defeatA
- 3 -A-A arms · drewA · drives · rueA
- 4 -A-A beard · eyeA · pool · byA
- 5 -A-A gone · disdainA · plume · againA
- 6 ABAB boysA · returnB · strawberriesA · yearnB
- 7 -A-A trim · borneA · home · wornA
- 8 -A-A it · seeA · spot · beA
- 9 -A-A tree · landA · his · handA
- 10 ABAB- onA · foeB · countrymenA · goB · virginia
- 11 -A-A placed · betweenA · name · greenA
- 12 -A-A blow · heA · now · beA
- 13 -A-A he · mouldA · cause · coldA
- 14 -A-A green · runA · disinter · gunA
- 16 -A-A shown · lifeA · upon · strifeA
- 17 -A-A know · herA · cheer · stirA
- 18 -A-A years · shineA · light · benignA
- 20 -ABBA field · greenA · upheavedB · deceivedB · ravineA
- 21 -ABBA there · retreatA · inB · winB · feetA
- 22 -ABBA crust · belowA · yearB · fearB · soA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Armies he’s seen--the herds of war, | 8 | /˘······ |
| But never such swarms of men | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| As now in the Nineveh of the North-- | 9 | ····/˘··· |
| How mad the Rebellion then! | 7 | ···˘/˘· |
| And yet but dimly he divines | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| The depth of that deceit, | 6 | ····˘/ |
| And superstition of vast pride | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| Humbled to such defeat. | 7 | /˘˘··˘/ |
| Seductive shone the Chiefs in arms-- | 8 | ˘/˘····· |
| His steel the nearest magnet drew; | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Wreathed with its kind, the Gulf-weed drives-- | 8 | ········ |
| ’Tis Nature’s wrong they rue. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| His face is hidden in his beard, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| But his heart peers out at eye-- | 7 | ······· |
| And such a heart! like mountain-pool | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Where no man passes by. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| He thinks of Hill--a brave soul gone; | 8 | ········ |
| And Ashby dead in pale disdain; | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| And Stuart with the Rupert-plume, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Whose blue eye never shall laugh again. | 8 | ···/··˘/ |
| He hears the drum; he sees our boys | 8 | ······/· |
| From his wasted fields return; | 7 | ··/˘·˘/ |
| Ladies feast them on strawberries, | 8 | /˘···/·˘ |
| And even to kiss them yearn. | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| He marks them bronzed, in soldier-trim, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The rifle proudly borne; | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| They bear it for an heir-loom home, | 8 | ········ |
| And he--disarmed--jail-worn. | 7 | ··˘/˘·· |
| Home, home--his heart is full of it; | 8 | ········ |
| But home he never shall see, | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| Even should he stand upon the spot; | 8 | /······· |
| ’Tis gone!--where his brothers be. | 7 | ····/˘· |
| The cypress-moss from tree to tree | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Hangs in his Southern land; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| As weird, from thought to thought of his | 8 | ········ |
| Run memories hand in hand. | 7 | ·/˘˘··· |
| And so he lingers--lingers on | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| In the City of the Foe-- | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| His cousins and his countrymen | 8 | ·/˘··/˘˘ |
| Who see him listless go. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| A Grave near Petersburg, Virginia. | 9 | ···/˘˘˘/˘ |
| Head-board and foot-board duly placed-- | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Grassed in the mound between; | 7 | ·˘····· |
| Daniel Drouth is the slumberer’s name-- | 9 | /˘······· |
| Long may his grave be green! | 6 | ······ |
| Quick was his way--a flash and a blow, | 9 | ········· |
| Full of his fire was he-- | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| A fire of hell--’tis burnt out now-- | 8 | ·/······ |
| Green may his grave long be! | 6 | ······ |
| May his grave be green, though he | 7 | ······· |
| Was a rebel of iron mould; | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| Many a true heart--true to the Cause, | 8 | /······· |
| Through the blaze of his wrath lies cold. | 8 | ········ |
| May his grave be green--still green | 7 | ······· |
| While happy years shall run; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| May none come nigh to disinter | 8 | ········ |
| The--Buried Gun. | 4 | ·/˘· |
| “Formerly a Slave.” | 5 | /˘˘·· |
| An idealized Portrait, by E. Vedder, in the Spring | 14 | ·˘/˘·/˘··/˘··· |
| Exhibition of the National Academy, 1865. | 11 | ·˘/˘··/˘˘/˘ |
| The sufferance of her race is shown, | 9 | ·/˘˘····· |
| And retrospect of life, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Which now too late deliverance dawns upon; | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| Yet is she not at strife. | 6 | ······ |
| Her children’s children they shall know | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| The good withheld from her; | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| And so her reverie takes prophetic cheer-- | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘· |
| In spirit she sees the stir | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| Far down the depth of thousand years, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And marks the revel shine; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Her dusky face is lit with sober light, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Sibylline, yet benign. | 6 | /˘˘·˘/ |
| The Apparition. | 5 | ··˘/˘ |
| (A Retrospect.) | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Convulsions came; and, where the field | 8 | ˘/˘····· |
| Long slept in pastoral green, | 7 | ···/˘˘· |
| A goblin-mountain was upheaved | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| (Sure the scared sense was all deceived), | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Marl-glen and slag-ravine. | 6 | ····˘/ |
| The unreserve of Ill was there, | 8 | ········ |
| The clinkers in her last retreat; | 8 | ······˘/ |
| But, ere the eye could take it in, | 8 | ········ |
| Or mind could comprehension win, | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| It sunk!--and at our feet. | 7 | ····/˘· |
| So, then, Solidity’s a crust-- | 8 | ··˘/˘˘·· |
| The core of fire below; | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| All may go well for many a year, | 8 | ·····/·· |
| But who can think without a fear | 8 | ········ |
| Of horrors that happen so? | 7 | ·/˘·/˘· |
On this poem
Notes from the edition 1
Herman Melville's own notes to Battle-Pieces and Aspects of the War (1866; Project Gutenberg #12384).
- Stanza 10, line 5 Shortly prior to the evacuation of Petersburg, the enemy, with a view to ultimate repossession, interred some of his heavy guns in the same field with his dead, and with every circumstance calculated to deceive. Subsequently the negroes exposed the stratagem.
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