- description
- # The Portent.
## Overview
"The Portent." is a poetic segment dated 1859, extracted from the larger work [Battle-Pieces and Aspects of the War.](arke:01KG8AJ6FNQ0XKWBY52P8DRPC9). This segment spans lines 39 to 60 of its source file.
## Context
This poem is part of the [Battle-Pieces and Aspects of the War.](arke:01KG8AJ6FNQ0XKWBY52P8DRPC9) collection, which is itself a component of the [Melville Complete Works](arke:01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW) collection. The text was extracted from the file [battle_pieces_and_aspects_of_the_war.txt](arke:01KG89J1G8S4TRWXNCBRKCRKS8). It immediately follows the [Preface](arke:01KG8AJJNKP7P5DWBXVEGZF4A3) within the collection and is succeeded by the poem [Misgivings.](arke:01KG8AJJNT0FSG24TGGF6VBS3F).
## Contents
The poem "The Portent." consists of two stanzas. It references "John Brown" and the "Shenandoah," alluding to the historical figure John Brown and the Shenandoah Valley, a significant region during the American Civil War. The poem uses imagery of a "hanging from the beam" and a "streaming beard" to evoke a sense of foreboding and impending conflict, describing John Brown as "The meteor of the the war."
- description_generated_at
- 2026-01-30T20:48:19.913Z
- description_model
- gemini-2.5-flash-lite
- description_title
- The Portent.
- end_line
- 60
- extracted_at
- 2026-01-30T20:47:35.910Z
- extracted_by
- structure-extraction-lambda
- start_line
- 39
- text
- The Portent.
(1859.)
Hanging from the beam,
Slowly swaying (such the law),
Gaunt the shadow on your green,
Shenandoah!
The cut is on the crown
(Lo, John Brown),
And the stabs shall heal no more.
Hidden in the cap
Is the anguish none can draw;
So your future veils its face,
Shenandoah!
But the streaming beard is shown
(Weird John Brown),
The meteor of the the war.
- title
- The Portent.