Classic and Contemporary Poetry
TWILIGHT ON SUMTER, by RICHARD HENRY STODDARD Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Still and dark along the sea Last Line: Hell shall rise in grim derision and make room! Subject(s): American Civil War; Fort Sumter, South Carolina; U.s. - History | ||||||||
STILL and dark along the sea Sumter lay; A light was overhead, As from burning cities shed, And the clouds were battle-red, Far away. Not a solitary gun Left to tell the fort had won Or lost the day! Nothing but the tattered rag Of the drooping rebel flag, And the sea-birds screaming round it in their play. How it woke one April morn Fame shall tell; As from Moultrie, close at hand, And the batteries on the land, Round its faint but fearless band Shot and shell Raining hid the doubtful light; But they fought the hopeless fight Long and well (Theirs the glory, ours the shame!), Till the walls were wrapped in flame, Then their flag was proudly struck, and Sumter fell! Now -- oh, look at Sumter now, In the gloom! Mark its scarred and shattered walls. (Hark! the ruined rampart falls!) There's a justice that appals In its doom; For this blasted spot of earth Where rebellion had its birth Is its tomb! And when Sumter sinks at last From the heavens, that shrink aghast, Hell shall rise in grim derision and make room! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...OLD OSAWATOMIE by CARL SANDBURG THE BONNIE BLUE FLAG by HARRY MACARTHY LEE'S PAROLE by MARION MANVILLE THE SURRENDER OF NEW ORLEANS by MARION MANVILLE THE LITTLE ODYSSEY OF JASON QUINT, OF SCIENCE, DOCTOR by THOMAS MCGRATH A CANTICLE: SIGNIFICANT OF NATIONAL EXALTATION CLOSE OF WAR by HERMAN MELVILLE A GRAVE NEAR PETERSBURG, VIRGINIA by HERMAN MELVILLE ABRAHAM LINCOLN (1) by RICHARD HENRY STODDARD |
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