{"id":"01KG8AJPZHF488ZNMXR1W3RSBJ","cid":"bafkreidcjsgrcy2q4jcm6maypqhy5p335xrhm3u3fdo3uejpnikoiwhvnm","type":"segment","properties":{"description":"# The Martyr.\n\n## Overview\n\"The Martyr.\" is a segment of poetry, spanning lines 3117 to 3161. It is part of the larger collection \"[Battle-Pieces and Aspects of the War.](arke:01KG8AJ6FNQ0XKWBY52P8DRPC9)\".\n\n## Context\nThis segment was extracted from the file \"[battle_pieces_and_aspects_of_the_war.txt](arke:01KG89J1G8S4TRWXNCBRKCRKS8)\", which is part of the \"[Melville Complete Works](arke:01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW)\" collection. It follows the segment titled \"[The Surrender at Appomattox.](arke:01KG8AJPZH1S0BAWHFJJFJSK5Z)\" and precedes the segment titled \"[“The Coming Storm:”](arke:01KG8AJPZHT7ZM74BQ6V3R6MXF)\".\n\n## Contents\nThe poem reflects on the aftermath of war, focusing on a defeated Confederate soldier. It touches upon themes of rebellion, pride, and defeat, referencing historical figures such as Hill, Ashby, and Stuart. The verses depict the soldier's internal state, his memories of fallen comrades, and the stark contrast between the victorious Union soldiers returning home to celebration and his own disarmed, imprisoned state. The imagery evokes a sense of loss and displacement, with the soldier's Southern homeland described as draped in \"cypress-moss,\" mirroring the somber mood of his memories. The segment concludes with the soldier lingering in the \"City of the Foe,\" unable to return to a home that is irrevocably lost.","description_generated_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:21.115Z","description_model":"gemini-2.5-flash-lite","description_title":"The Martyr.","end_line":3161,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:47:35.910Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"The Martyr.","source_file":"01KG89J1G8S4TRWXNCBRKCRKS8","start_line":3117,"text":"As now in the Nineveh of the North--\r\n  How mad the Rebellion then!\r\n\r\nAnd yet but dimly he divines\r\n  The depth of that deceit,\r\nAnd superstition of vast pride\r\n  Humbled to such defeat.\r\n\r\nSeductive shone the Chiefs in arms--\r\n  His steel the nearest magnet drew;\r\nWreathed with its kind, the Gulf-weed drives--\r\n  ’Tis Nature’s wrong they rue.\r\n\r\nHis face is hidden in his beard,\r\n  But his heart peers out at eye--\r\nAnd such a heart! like mountain-pool\r\n  Where no man passes by.\r\n\r\nHe thinks of Hill--a brave soul gone;\r\n  And Ashby dead in pale disdain;\r\nAnd Stuart with the Rupert-plume,\r\n  Whose blue eye never shall laugh again.\r\n\r\nHe hears the drum; he sees our boys\r\n  From his wasted fields return;\r\nLadies feast them on strawberries,\r\n  And even to kiss them yearn.\r\n\r\nHe marks them bronzed, in soldier-trim,\r\n  The rifle proudly borne;\r\nThey bear it for an heir-loom home,\r\n  And he--disarmed--jail-worn.\r\n\r\nHome, home--his heart is full of it;\r\n  But home he never shall see,\r\nEven should he stand upon the spot;\r\n  ’Tis gone!--where his brothers be.\r\n\r\nThe cypress-moss from tree to tree\r\n  Hangs in his Southern land;\r\nAs weird, from thought to thought of his\r\n  Run memories hand in hand.\r\n\r\nAnd so he lingers--lingers on\r\n  In the City of the Foe--\r","title":"The Martyr."},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJ6FNQ0XKWBY52P8DRPC9","peer_type":"poetry_collection","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1G8S4TRWXNCBRKCRKS8","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AJPZH1S0BAWHFJJFJSK5Z","peer_type":"segment","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AJPZHT7ZM74BQ6V3R6MXF","peer_type":"segment","predicate":"next"}],"ver":3,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:47:40.529Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:21.379Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF5C36SQEVDHC9CBNZZJH9K"}}