At Home With Herman Melville

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I bought a book of Herman Melville’s Civil War poetry this afternoon, and wanted to share part of a poem he wrote in 1860-61 on the eve of the War Between the States entitled The Conflict of Convictions. One of the reasons I love reading and studying about the War of Northern Aggression is the way that so much of it is “timeless” - its poetry, its music, its battle for might and right, its personalities, and its biblical imagery (both intentional and unintentional on the part of the participants). Enjoy:

“On starry heights

A bugle wails the long recall;

Derision stirs the deep abyss,

Heaven’s ominous silence over all.

Return, return, O eager Hope,

And face man’s latter fall.

Events, they make the dreamers quail;

Satan’s old age is strong and hale,

A disciplined captain, gray in skill,

And Raphael a white enthusiast still;

Dashed aims, at which Christ’s martyrs pale,

Shall Mammon’s slaves fulfill?

(Dismantle the fort,

Cut down the fleet-

Battle no more shall be!

While the fields for fight in eons to come

Congeal beneath the sea.)”

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Tags: Civil War, Herman Melville, Poetry