The Portent

Herman Melville 1819 – 1891



Hanging from the beam,
Slowly swaying (such the law),
Gaunt the shadow on the green,
Shenandoah!
The cut is on the crown
(Lo, John Brown),
And the stabs shall heal no more.

Hidden in the cap
Is the anguish none can draw;
So your future veils its face,
Shenandoah!
But the streaming beard is shown
(Weird John Brown),
The meteor of the war.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 14, 2023

19 sec read
457

Quick analysis:

Scheme xaxBccd xaxBxcd
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 347
Words 65
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 7, 7

Herman Melville

Herman Melville was an American writer best known for the novel Moby-Dick. more…

All Herman Melville poems | Herman Melville Books

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