Analysis of Ashes Of Soldiers
Again a verse for sake of you,
You soldiers in the ranks--you Volunteers,
Who bravely fighting, silent fell,
To fill unmention'd graves.
ASHES of soldiers!
As I muse, retrospective, murmuring a chant in thought,
Lo! the war resumes--again to my sense your shapes,
And again the advance of armies.
Noiseless as mists and vapors,
From their graves in the trenches ascending,
From the cemeteries all through Virginia and Tennessee,
From every point of the compass, out of the countless unnamed graves,
In wafted clouds, in myraids large, or squads of twos or threes, or
single ones, they come,
And silently gather round me. 10
Now sound no note, O trumpeters!
Not at the head of my cavalry, parading on spirited horses,
With sabres drawn and glist'ning, and carbines by their thighs--(ah,
my brave horsemen!
My handsome, tan-faced horsemen! what life, what joy and pride,
With all the perils, were yours!)
Nor you drummers--neither at reveille, at dawn,
Nor the long roll alarming the camp--nor even the muffled beat for a
burial;
Nothing from you, this time, O drummers, bearing my warlike drums.
But aside from these, and the marts of wealth, and the crowded
promenade,
Admitting around me comrades close, unseen by the rest, and
voiceless, 20
The slain elate and alive again--the dust and debris alive,
I chant this chant of my silent soul, in the name of all dead
soldiers.
Faces so pale, with wondrous eyes, very dear, gather closer yet;
Draw close, but speak not.
Phantoms of countless lost!
Invisible to the rest, henceforth become my companions!
Follow me ever! desert me not, while I live.
Sweet are the blooming cheeks of the living! sweet are the musical
voices sounding!
But sweet, ah sweet, are the dead, with their silent eyes.
Dearest comrades! all is over and long gone; 30
But love is not over--and what love, O comrades!
Perfume from battle-fields rising--up from foetor arising.
Perfume therefore my chant, O love! immortal Love!
Give me to bathe the memories of all dead soldiers,
Shroud them, embalm them, cover them all over with tender pride!
Perfume all! make all wholesome!
Make these ashes to nourish and blossom,
O love! O chant! solve all, fructify all with the last chemistry.
Give me exhaustless--make me a fountain,
That I exhale love from me wherever I go, like a moist perennial dew,
For the ashes of all dead soldiers.
Scheme | ABXC DXXX DEFCXGF BXXHIX JXKX XXXXLXD XX XXL KEX JXE XDI GGF HAD |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 01011111 110001101 11010101 110101 10110 1110101000101 101010111111 001001110 111010 1110010010 1010011010001 11001101011010011 01010111111111 10111 01001011 111111 110111100010110010 110101011111 1110 1101110111101 1101001 1110101111 101101001110010110 100 10111111010111 10111001110010 01 01001111011010 10 0101001010100101 111111101001111 10 1011110110110101 11111 101101 010010111011010 101101011111 1101011010110100 1010 111110111101 1011110011 11111001111 01110110111010 01111110101 1111010011110 110111011101101 0111110 1110110010 11111111101100 11111010 11011110101110101001 101011110 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 2,637 |
Words | 402 |
Sentences | 32 |
Stanzas | 13 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 7, 6, 4, 7, 2, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3 |
Lines Amount | 52 |
Letters per line (avg) | 35 |
Words per line (avg) | 10 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 141 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 39 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 14, 2023
- 2:01 min read
- 141 Views
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"Ashes Of Soldiers" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 21 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/37972/ashes-of-soldiers>.
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