Analysis of Ball's Bluff: A Reverie
Herman Melville 1819 – 1891
One noonday, at my window in the town,
I saw a sight - saddest that eyes can see -
Young soldiers marching lustily
Unto the wars,
With fifes, and flags in mottoed pageantry;
While all the porches, walks, and doors
Were rich with ladies cheering royally.
They moved like Juny morning on the wave,
Their hearts were fresh as clover in its prime
(It was the breezy summer time),
Life throbbed so strong,
How should they dream that Death in rosy clime
Would come to thin their shining throng?
Youth feels immortal, like the gods sublime.
Weeks passed; and at my window, leaving bed,
By nights I mused, of easeful sleep bereft,
On those brave boys (Ah War! thy theft);
Some marching feet
Found pause at last by cliffs Potomac cleft;
Wakeful I mused, while in the street
Far footfalls died away till none were left.
Scheme | XAXBABA XCCDCDC XEEFEFE |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 111110001 1101101111 110101 1001 110101100 11010101 0111010100 111110101 1101110011 11010101 1111 1111110101 11111101 1101010101 1101110101 111111101 11111111 1101 1111110101 1111001 111011101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 797 |
Words | 148 |
Sentences | 6 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 7, 7, 7 |
Lines Amount | 21 |
Letters per line (avg) | 30 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 211 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 49 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 28, 2023
- 44 sec read
- 64 Views
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"Ball's Bluff: A Reverie" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 11 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/19055/ball%27s-bluff%3A-a-reverie>.
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