- description
- # AURORA BOREALIS
## Overview
"AURORA BOREALIS" is a poem by Herman Melville, published in the collection *John Marr and Other Poems*. The poem, dated May 1865, reflects on the dissolution of armies following the end of the American Civil War, using the aurora borealis as a metaphor for the fading spectacle of war.
## Context
This poem is part of the posthumously published collection *[John Marr and Other Poems](arke:01KG8AJ5CWVMSM9AY2938E996H)*, which itself is included in the larger *[Melville Complete Works](arke:01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW)* collection. The text was extracted from the file `john_marr_and_other_poems.txt`. It follows the poem "[REBEL COLOR-BEARERS AT SHILOH](arke:01KG8AJJPS442Z5ZA8C2SJNDEV)" and precedes "[THE RELEASED REBEL PRISONER](arke:01KG8AJJPS18S5DGKGC1BT1Z5T)".
## Contents
The poem consists of two stanzas that draw parallels between the celestial display of the aurora borealis and the disbanding of military forces. It describes the awe inspired by the lights and compares their transient nature to the fading "splendor and terror" of war, ultimately giving way to the dawn. The poem contemplates the divine power behind both the natural phenomenon and the military actions of mustering and disbanding.
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- 2026-01-30T20:48:12.994Z
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- gemini-2.5-flash-lite
- description_title
- AURORA BOREALIS
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- 3178
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- 2026-01-30T20:47:32.310Z
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- start_line
- 3145
- text
- AURORA BOREALIS
_Commemorative of the Dissolution of armies at the Peace_
May, 1865
What power disbands the Northern Lights
After their steely play?
The lonely watcher feels an awe
Of Nature’s sway,
As when appearing,
He marked their flashed uprearing
In the cold gloom—
Retreatings and advancings,
(Like dallyings of doom),
Transitions and enhancings,
And bloody ray.
The phantom-host has faded quite,
Splendor and Terror gone
Portent or promise—and gives way
To pale, meek Dawn;
The coming, going,
Alike in wonder showing—
Alike the God,
Decreeing and commanding
The million blades that glowed,
The muster and disbanding—
Midnight and Morn.
- title
- AURORA BOREALIS