- description
- # MONODY
## Overview
"MONODY" is a poem by Herman Melville, presented as a chapter within a larger collection. It was extracted from the file `john_marr_and_other_poems.txt` and is part of the "Melville Complete Works" collection. The poem spans lines 1644 to 1663 of the source text.
## Context
This poem is included in the poetry collection titled "[John Marr and Other Poems](arke:01KG8AJ5CWVMSM9AY2938E996H)". The collection itself was extracted from the file "[john_marr_and_other_poems.txt](arke:01KG89J19Y3FNVN5KWASY78BP4)" and is part of the comprehensive "[Melville Complete Works](arke:01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW)" archive. "MONODY" is preceded by the poem "THE NEW ZEALOT TO THE SUN" and followed by "LONE FOUNTS".
## Contents
The poem "MONODY" reflects on loss and remembrance. It begins with a lament for a departed loved one, expressing the pain of their absence and the finality of death. The verses then shift to a somber depiction of the deceased's resting place, described as a "hermit-mound" covered in snow and ice, emphasizing the cold and lonely end. The poem concludes with a plea for solace, a "little ease," addressed to the speaker's song.
- description_generated_at
- 2026-01-30T20:48:09.780Z
- description_model
- gemini-2.5-flash-lite
- description_title
- MONODY
- end_line
- 1663
- extracted_at
- 2026-01-30T20:47:32.310Z
- extracted_by
- structure-extraction-lambda
- start_line
- 1644
- text
- MONODY
To have known him, to have loved him
After loneness long;
And then to be estranged in life,
And neither in the wrong;
And now for death to set his seal—
Ease me, a little ease, my song!
By wintry hills his hermit-mound
The sheeted snow-drifts drape,
And houseless there the snow-bird flits
Beneath the fir-trees’ crape:
Glazed now with ice the cloistral vine
That hid the shyest grape.
- title
- MONODY