Analysis of The College Colonel
Herman Melville 1819 – 1891
He rides at their head;
A crutch by his saddle just slants in view,
One slung arm in splints, you see,
Yet he guides his strong steed - how coldly too.
He brings his regiment home -
Not as they filed two years before,
But a remnant half-tattered, and battered, and worn,
Like castaway sailors, who - stunned
By the surf's loud roar,
Their mates dragged back and seen no more -
Again and again breast the surge,
And at last crawl, spent, to shore.
A still rigidity and pale -
An Indian aloofness lines his brow;
He has lived a thousand years
Compressed in battle's pains and prayers,
Marches and watches slow.
There are welcoming shots, and flags;
Old men off hat to the Boy,
Wreaths from gay balconies fall at his feet,
But to him - there comes alloy.
It is not that a leg is lost,
It is not that an arm is maimed,
It is not that the fever has racked -
Self he has long since disclaimed.
But all through the Seven Days' Fight,
And deep in the Wilderness grim,
And in the field-hospital tent,
And Petersburg crater, and dim
Lean brooding in Libby, there came -
Ah heaven! - what truth to him.
Scheme | XAXA XBXXBBXB XXXXX XCXC XDXD XEXEXE |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11111 0111101101 1110111 1111111101 1111001 11111101 101011001001 1101011 10111 11110111 01001101 0111111 01010001 1100010111 1110101 01010101 100101 11100101 1111101 1111001111 111111 11110111 11111111 111101011 1111101 11101011 01001001 0001101 01001001 11001011 1101111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,069 |
Words | 211 |
Sentences | 8 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 8, 5, 4, 4, 6 |
Lines Amount | 31 |
Letters per line (avg) | 27 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 139 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 35 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 25, 2023
- 1:03 min read
- 129 Views
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"The College Colonel" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/19108/the-college-colonel>.
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