- description
- # The Temeraire.[3]
## Overview - What this is (type, form, dates, scope)
"The Temeraire.[3]" is a segment of text, a poem, extracted from the larger work, [Battle-Pieces and Aspects of the War.](arke:01KG8AJ6FNQ0XKWBY52P8DRPC9) by Herman Melville. The poem, spanning lines 1109-1185 of the source file, is part of the [Melville Complete Works](arke:01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW) collection. The text was extracted on January 30, 2026, by the structure-extraction-lambda.
## Context - Background and provenance from related entities
This poem is contained within the poetry collection [Battle-Pieces and Aspects of the War.](arke:01KG8AJ6FNQ0XKWBY52P8DRPC9), which was extracted from the file `battle_pieces_and_aspects_of_the_war.txt`. The poem is preceded by "In the Turret." and followed by "A Utilitarian View of the Monitors Fight."
## Contents - What it contains, key subjects and details
The poem "The Temeraire.[3]" reflects on the decline of naval warfare's traditional glory, contrasting it with the rise of ironclad ships. It references the ship HMS Temeraire, celebrating its past battles while acknowledging its obsolescence in the face of modern technology. The poem mourns the loss of the "old and oaken" navies and the changing nature of war.
- description_generated_at
- 2026-01-30T20:48:24.126Z
- description_model
- gemini-2.5-flash-lite
- description_title
- The Temeraire.[3]
- end_line
- 1185
- extracted_at
- 2026-01-30T20:47:35.910Z
- extracted_by
- structure-extraction-lambda
- start_line
- 1109
- text
- The Temeraire.[3]
_(Supposed to have been suggested to an Englishman of the old order by
the fight of the Monitor and Merrimac.)_
The gloomy hulls, in armor grim,
Like clouds o’er moors have met,
And prove that oak, and iron, and man
Are tough in fibre yet.
But Splendors wane. The sea-fight yields
No front of old display;
The garniture, emblazonment,
And heraldry all decay.
Towering afar in parting light,
The fleets like Albion’s forelands shine--
The full-sailed fleets, the shrouded show
Of Ships-of-the-Line.
The fighting Temeraire,
Built of a thousand trees,
Lunging out her lightnings,
And beetling o’er the seas--
O Ship, how brave and fair,
That fought so oft and well,
On open decks you manned the gun
Armorial.[4]
What cheering did you share,
Impulsive in the van,
When down upon leagued France and Spain
We English ran--
The freshet at your bowsprit
Like the foam upon the can.
Bickering, your colors
Licked up the Spanish air,
You flapped with flames of battle-flags--
Your challenge, Temeraire!
The rear ones of our fleet
They yearned to share your place,
Still vying with the Victory
Throughout that earnest race--
The Victory, whose Admiral,
With orders nobly won,
Shone in the globe of the battle glow--
The angel in that sun.
Parallel in story,
Lo, the stately pair,
As late in grapple ranging,
The foe between them there--
When four great hulls lay tiered,
And the fiery tempest cleared,
And your prizes twain appeared,
Temeraire!
But Trafalgar’ is over now,
The quarter-deck undone;
The carved and castled navies fire
Their evening-gun.
O, Tital Temeraire,
Your stern-lights fade away;
Your bulwarks to the years must yield,
And heart-of-oak decay.
A pigmy steam-tug tows you,
Gigantic, to the shore--
Dismantled of your guns and spars,
And sweeping wings of war.
The rivets clinch the iron-clads,
Men learn a deadlier lore;
But Fame has nailed your battle-flags--
Your ghost it sails before:
O, the navies old and oaken,
O, the Temeraire no more!
- title
- The Temeraire.[3]