{"id":"01KG8AJJ0JES0TEMYS2ZKZG147","cid":"bafkreiezahnwill32drnsuljqkmdq52qpnszd33qxh2oncnyvso636kn4y","type":"chapter","properties":{"description":"# THE SWAMP ANGEL\n\n## Overview\n\"The Swamp Angel\" is a chapter containing poetry, extracted from the file `john_marr_and_other_poems.txt`. It is part of the larger collection \"[John Marr and Other Poems](arke:01KG8AJ5CWVMSM9AY2938E996H)\".\n\n## Context\nThis chapter is one of many poems included in the posthumously published collection \"[John Marr and Other Poems](arke:01KG8AJ5CWVMSM9AY2938E996H)\" by Herman Melville. The collection itself is part of the \"[Melville Complete Works](arke:01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW)\" archival project. The text was extracted from the file `john_marr_and_other_poems.txt`. This chapter follows the poem \"ON THE PHOTOGRAPH OF A CORPS COMMANDER\" and precedes \"IN THE PRISON PEN\".\n\n## Contents\nThis chapter contains two distinct poems: \"THE SWAMP ANGEL\" and \"SHERIDAN AT CEDAR CREEK\".\n\n\"THE SWAMP ANGEL\" is a metaphorical poem that describes a destructive, supernatural entity threatening a city. It uses imagery of darkness, fear, and inevitable ruin, personifying the \"Swamp Angel\" as a harbinger of doom.\n\n\"SHERIDAN AT CEDAR CREEK\" is an ode to General Philip Sheridan's actions during the Battle of Cedar Creek in October 1864. The poem recounts Sheridan's famous ride to rally his troops and turn the tide of the battle, celebrating his leadership and the eventual victory. It is structured into four stanzas, each beginning with a command related to preparing a steed for battle or mourning its loss.","description_generated_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:12.524Z","description_model":"gemini-2.5-flash-lite","description_title":"THE SWAMP ANGEL","end_line":2971,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:47:32.310Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"THE SWAMP ANGEL","source_file":"01KG89J19Y3FNVN5KWASY78BP4","start_line":2861,"text":"THE SWAMP ANGEL\r\n\r\n\r\nThere is a coal-black Angel\r\n    With a thick Afric lip,\r\nAnd he dwells (like the hunted and harried)\r\n    In a swamp where the green frogs dip.\r\nBut his face is against a City\r\n    Which is over a bay of the sea,\r\nAnd he breathes with a breath that is blastment,\r\n    And dooms by a far decree.\r\n\r\nBy night there is fear in the City,\r\n    Through the darkness a star soareth on;\r\nThere’s a scream that screams up to the zenith,\r\n    Then the poise of a meteor lone—\r\nLighting far the pale fright of the faces,\r\n    And downward the coming is seen;\r\nThen the rush, and the burst, and the havoc,\r\n    And wails and shrieks between.\r\n\r\nIt comes like the thief in the gloaming;\r\n    It comes, and none may foretell\r\nThe place of the coming—the glaring;\r\n    They live in a sleepless spell\r\nThat wizens, and withers, and whitens;\r\n    It ages the young, and the bloom\r\nOf the maiden is ashes of roses—\r\n    The Swamp Angel broods in his gloom.\r\n\r\nSwift is his messengers’ going,\r\n    But slowly he saps their halls,\r\nAs if by delay deluding.\r\n    They move from their crumbling walls\r\nFarther and farther away;\r\n    But the Angel sends after and after,\r\nBy night with the flame of his ray—\r\n    By night with the voice of his screaming—\r\nSends after them, stone by stone,\r\n    And farther walls fall, farther portals,\r\nAnd weed follows weed through the Town.\r\n\r\nIs this the proud City? the scorner\r\n    Which never would yield the ground?\r\nWhich mocked at the coal-black Angel?\r\n    The cup of despair goes round.\r\nVainly he calls upon Michael\r\n    (The white man’s seraph was he,)\r\nFor Michael has fled from his tower\r\n    To the Angel over the sea.\r\nWho weeps for the woeful City\r\n    Let him weep for our guilty kind;\r\nWho joys at her wild despairing—\r\nChrist, the Forgiver, convert his mind.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nSHERIDAN AT CEDAR CREEK\r\n\r\n\r\nOctober, 1864\r\n\r\n\r\nShoe the steed with silver\r\n    That bore him to the fray,\r\nWhen he heard the guns at dawning—\r\n        Miles away;\r\nWhen he heard them calling, calling—\r\n        Mount! nor stay:\r\n        Quick, or all is lost;\r\n        They’ve surprised and stormed the post,\r\n        They push your routed host—\r\nGallop! retrieve the day.\r\n\r\nHouse the horse in ermine—\r\n    For the foam-flake blew\r\nWhite through the red October;\r\n    He thundered into view;\r\nThey cheered him in the looming.\r\n    Horseman and horse they knew.\r\n        The turn of the tide began,\r\n        The rally of bugles ran,\r\n        He swung his hat in the van;\r\nThe electric hoof-spark flew.\r\n\r\nWreathe the steed and lead him—\r\n    For the charge he led\r\nTouched and turned the cypress\r\n    Into amaranths for the head\r\nOf Philip, king of riders,\r\n    Who raised them from the dead.\r\n        The camp (at dawning lost),\r\n        By eve, recovered—forced,\r\n        Rang with laughter of the host\r\nAt belated Early fled.\r\n\r\nShroud the horse in sable—\r\n    For the mounds they heap!\r\nThere is firing in the Valley,\r\n    And yet no strife they keep;\r\nIt is the parting volley,\r\n    It is the pathos deep.\r\n        There is glory for the brave\r\n        Who lead, and nobly save,\r\n        But no knowledge in the grave\r\nWhere the nameless followers sleep.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r","title":"THE SWAMP ANGEL"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJ5CWVMSM9AY2938E996H","peer_type":"poetry_collection","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J19Y3FNVN5KWASY78BP4","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AJJ0JQS66V67NT5ZKRS5V","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AJJ0JQF692TPESGGM03KN","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"next"}],"ver":3,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:47:35.442Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:12.797Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF5C36SQEVDHC9CBNZZJH9K"}}