Indicative of the passion of the people
on the 15th of April, 1865
Good Friday was the day
Of the prodigy and crime,
When they killed him in his pity,
When they killed him in his prime
Of clemency and calm—
When with yearning he was filled
To redeem the evil-willed,
And, though conqueror, be kind;
But they killed him in his kindness,
In their madness and their blindness,
And they killed him from behind.
There is sobbing of the strong,
And a pall upon the land;
But the People in their weeping
Bare the iron hand:
Beware the People weeping
When they bare the iron hand.
He lieth in his blood—
The father in his face;
They have killed him, the Forgiver—
The Avenger takes his place,
The Avenger wisely stern,
Who in righteousness shall do
What heavens call him to,
And the parricides remand;
For they killed him in his kindness,
In their madness and their blindness.
And his blood is on their hand.
There is sobbing of the strong,
And a pall upon the land;
But the People in their weeping
Bare the iron hand:
Beware the People weeping
When they bare the iron hand.
Traditionally, the three elements of an elegy are lament, praise and admiration for the dead, and consolation and solace. The elegy that I selected deviates noticeably from this path. The piece starts with a briefing on the situation--a martyr, someone who is killed because of certain beliefs, was murdered. This martyr is Abraham Lincoln, which can be inferred from the note at the beginning of the elegy, as April 15th, 1865 was the date of Abraham Lincoln's assassination. According to the elegy, the belief that his assassin set out to abolish was the "yearning...to redeem the evil-willed."
Although it is not the first subject of the piece, the lament that is common in traditional elegies is present in the second stanza, referencing the "sobbing of the strong" and "the People in their weeping." These people who "bare the iron hand," a metaphor for the passion and thirst for revenge, killed Lincoln's assassin--shown by the lines "But they killed him in his kindness, In their madness and their blindness, And they killed him from behind."
The admiration for the dead can be seen in the third stanza--Lincoln is referred to as "the Forgiver." However, due to the want for revenge of the people, the aforementioned "Forgiver" has his place taken by "the Avenger" who "in righteousness shall do What heavens call him to."
The third theme, solace, is absent. There is no mention of the people coming to terms with Lincoln's death--the only satisfaction that was brought on by this situation was that of killing his assassin, which was a rather impulsive, unsatisfactory act--this is supported by the lines "But they killed him...in their madness and their blindness."
Through the elegy, Melville warns the masses of impulsive actions driven by emotions of intense anger. The assassination of the president inculcated a fiery rage in the people's eyes, and the author tells the audience to "Beware the People weeping when they bare the iron hand." Even today, people make awful, life-impacting decisions driven solely by anger and sadness, and Melville used an incredibly important historical event to get this point across.
Melville, Herman. "The Martyr." Poetry Foundation. Poetry Foundation, n.d. Web. 24 Sept. 2014. <http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/244862>.
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