Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, MISGIVINGS (1860), by HERMAN MELVILLE


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

MISGIVINGS (1860), by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: When ocean-clouds over inland hills
Last Line: The hemlock shakes in the rafter, the oak in the driving keel.
Subject(s): American Civil War; United States - History


When ocean-clouds over inland hills
Sweep storming in late autumn brown,
And horror the sodden valley fills,
And the spire falls crashing in the town,
I muse upon my country's ills --
The tempest bursting from the waste of Time
On the world's fairest hope linked with man's foulest crime.

Nature's dark side is heeded now --
(Ah! optimist-cheer disheartened flown) --
A child may read the moody brow
Of yon black mountain lone.
With shouts the torrents down the gorges go,
And storms are formed behind the storm we feel:
The hemlock shakes in the rafter, the oak in the driving keel.






Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


Other Poems of Interest...
Home: PoetryExplorer.net