{"id":347,"date":"2010-04-16T03:34:07","date_gmt":"2010-04-16T03:34:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/?p=347"},"modified":"2010-04-16T03:34:07","modified_gmt":"2010-04-16T03:34:07","slug":"chattanooga-by-herman-melville","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/chattanooga-by-herman-melville\/","title":{"rendered":"Chattanooga by Herman Melville"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Herman Melville (1819-1891)<\/p>\n

Chattanooga by Herman Melville<\/p>\n

A kindling impulse seized the host
\nInspired by heaven’s elastic air;
\nTheir hearts outran their General’s plan,
\nThough Grant commanded there–
\nGrant, who without reserve can dare;
\nAnd, “Well, go on and do your will”
\nHe said, and measured the mountain then:
\nSo master-riders fling the rein–
\nBut you must know your men.<\/p>\n

On yester-morn in grayish mist,
\nArmies like ghosts on hills had fought,
\nAnd rolled from the cloud their thunders loud
\nThe Cumberlands far had caught:
\nTo-day the sunlit steeps are sought.
\nGrant stood on cliffs whence all was plain,
\nAnd smoked as one who feels no cares;
\nBut mastered nervousness intense
\nAlone such calmness wears.<\/p>\n

The summit-cannon plunge their flame
\nSheer down the primal wall,
\nBut up and up each linking troop
\nIn stretching festoons crawl–
\nNor fire a shot. Such men appall
\nThe foe, though brave. He, from the brink,
\nLooks far along the breadth of slope,
\nAnd sees two miles of dark dots creep,
\nAnd knows they mean the cope.<\/p>\n

He sees them creep. Yet here and there
\nHalf hid ‘mid leafless groves they go;
\nAs men who ply through traceries high
\nOf turreted marbles show–
\nSo dwindle these to eyes below.
\nBut fronting shot and flanking shell
\nSliver and rive the inwoven ways;
\nHigh tops of oaks and high hearts fall,
\nBut never the climbing stays.<\/p>\n

From right to left, from left to right
\nThey roll the rallying cheer–
\nVie with each other, brother with brother,
\nWho shall the first appear–
\nWhat color-bearer with colors clear
\nIn sharp relief, like sky-drawn Grant,
\nWhose cigar must now be near the stump–
\nWhile in solicitude his back
\nHeap slowly to a hump.<\/p>\n

Near and more near; till now the flags
\nRun like a catching flame;
\nAnd one flares highest, to peril nighest–
\nHe means to make a name:
\nSalvos! they give him his fame.
\nThe staff is caught, and next the rush,
\nAnd then the leap where death has led;
\nFlag answered flag along the crest,
\nAnd swarms of rebels fled.<\/p>\n

But some who gained the envied Alp,
\nAnd–eager, ardent, earnest there–
\nDropped into Death’s wide-open arms,
\nQuelled on the wing like eagles struck in air–
\nForever they slumber young and fair,
\nThe smile upon them as they died;
\nTheir end attained, that end a height:
\nLife was to these a dream fulfilled,
\nAnd death a starry night.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Herman Melville (1819-1891)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-347","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-1800s"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=347"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}