- description
- # THE RELEASED REBEL PRISONER
## Overview
"THE RELEASED REBEL PRISONER" is a chapter of poetry, dated June 1865, extracted from the text file [john_marr_and_other_poems.txt](arke:01KG89J19Y3FNVN5KWASY78BP4). It is part of the larger [John Marr and Other Poems](arke:01KG8AJ5CWVMSM9AY2938E996H) collection.
## Context
This poem is situated within [John Marr and Other Poems](arke:01KG8AJ5CWVMSM9AY2938E996H), a collection by Herman Melville, which is itself part of the [Melville Complete Works](arke:01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW). Chronologically within the collection, it follows the chapter "AURORA BOREALIS" and precedes "FORMERLY A SLAVE". The poem's date, June 1865, places it shortly after the end of the American Civil War, a period reflected in its themes.
## Contents
The poem describes the experience of a former Confederate soldier, recently released from prison, as he observes the post-war landscape and reflects on his past. It contrasts his disarmed, "jail-worn" state with the triumphant return of Union soldiers. The narrative touches upon the loss of his home and brothers, and his lingering presence in the "City of the Foe," evoking a sense of displacement and profound change. The poem also references Confederate figures such as Hill, Ashby, and Stuart.
- description_generated_at
- 2026-01-30T20:48:13.883Z
- description_model
- gemini-2.5-flash-lite
- description_title
- THE RELEASED REBEL PRISONER
- end_line
- 3237
- extracted_at
- 2026-01-30T20:47:32.310Z
- extracted_by
- structure-extraction-lambda
- start_line
- 3179
- text
- THE RELEASED REBEL PRISONER
June, 1865
Armies he’s seen—the herds of war,
But never such swarms of men
As now in the Nineveh of the North—
How mad the Rebellion then!
And yet but dimly he divines
The depth of that deceit,
And superstitution of vast pride
Humbled to such defeat.
Seductive shone the Chiefs in arms—
His steel the nearest magnet drew;
Wreathed with its kind, the Gulf-weed drives—
’Tis Nature’s wrong they rue.
His face is hidden in his beard,
But his heart peers out at eye—
And such a heart! like a mountain-pool
Where no man passes by.
He thinks of Hill—a brave soul gone;
And Ashby dead in pale disdain;
And Stuart with the Rupert-plume,
Whose blue eye never shall laugh again.
He hears the drum; he sees our boys
From his wasted fields return;
Ladies feast them on strawberries,
And even to kiss them yearn.
He marks them bronzed, in soldier-trim,
The rifle proudly borne;
They bear it for an heirloom home,
And he—disarmed—jail-worn.
Home, home—his heart is full of it;
But home he never shall see,
Even should he stand upon the spot:
’Tis gone!—where his brothers be.
The cypress-moss from tree to tree
Hangs in his Southern land;
As weird, from thought to thought of his
Run memories hand in hand.
And so he lingers—lingers on
In the City of the Foe—
His cousins and his countrymen
Who see him listless go.
- title
- THE RELEASED REBEL PRISONER