The Magnanimity Baffled
This poem, coming at the end of Melville’s chronological composition of the war, seems to make a statement at the brokenness of the country that followed the closing of the Civil War. Melville portrays the North and South as men, the North going to shake his counterpart’s hand, only to find an utter lack of reaction on the behalf of the South. This is a rather obvious comment on the bitter residual feelings left behind after the war. Still the most perplexing line of the poem comes at the end, when Melville writes, “‘Dumb still? all fellowship fled? / Nay, then, I’ll have this stubborn hand!’ / He snatched it – it was dead.” This line is more open to interpretation. Is Melville arguing that the war had broken the the soul of the South? Or that the war had caused so much physical damage to the Southern countryside and population that the Southern states could never recover? At any rate, it seems obvious that at the end of the war, Melville concludes with an anti-war sentiment. The poem is charged with regret and wonders at the true consequences of the war.
When I first read this poem, I suspected that it was about the war but I wasn’t 100% sure. But now that I’ve read your explanation, I think that I understand it a lot better. I like how Melville personifies the North and South and demonstrates the unwillingness of the South to bend its convictions and make peace. And I think that the most powerful lines in the poem are the last two: Nay, then, I’ll have this stubborn hand!”/ He snatched it – it was dead. I think these two lines showcase the stubbornness of both sides. By not ceasing to fire, the North “forced the handshake” and found the hand dead; the poem alludes to the number of lives lost during the Civil War and the tragic consequences of war.