The Portent
Herman Melville * Track #4 On Battle-Pieces and Aspects of the War
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Album Battle-Pieces and Aspects of the War
The Portent by Herman Melville
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Herman MelvilleAbout
“The Portent” is a poem from Melville’s Battle-Pieces and Aspects of the War, which was published by the Harpers in 1866.
From The Norton Anthology of American Literature:
On October 16, 1859, John Brown (1800-1859) led twenty-one men, including five African Americans, in an attack at Harpers Ferr...
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The Portent Annotated
Hanging from the beam,
Slowly swaying (such the law),
Gaunt the shadow on your 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.