The Sounds of Silence at Shiloh

I fell in love with Herman Melville's poem "Shiloh: A Requiem" the second year I was teaching American literature.  I remember a wonderful discussion with my students about how the sounds created in the poem -- the repetition of f's and sh -- caused the poem to sound like one big "hush."  It was only because of the poem that I wanted to visit the Shiloh Battlefield, which lies between Memphis and Nashville.  I am not ordinarily one for visiting Civil War sites, but this one had my attention.  More than 23,000 soldiers were killed in a very short battle here in April 1862. 

This past year I discovered a story in the 8th grade textbook written by Ray Bradbury called, "The Drummer Boy of Shiloh."  

The story is short and quite intense, and includes the detail of the peach tree blossoms falling such that they looked like snow.  The peach trees were no longer present at the site, but the area was designated.  The story intensified my interest.

While there we learned about the Hornets Nest -- a battle in the woods where the bullets were so loud they sounded like hornets.  And the Bloody Pond, where both sides came to clean their wounds and quest their thirst.  The grounds are beautiful, but the loss of life on this battlefield is beyond the imagination.

Being at Shiloh is like one big hush.  The best I have to offer are pictures and Melville's beautiful words, which I read out loud on the church property while we were there.

Shiloh: A Requiem

by Herman Melville

Skimming lightly, wheeling still,

The swallows fly low

Over the field in clouded days,

the forest-field of Shiloh --

Over the field where April rain

Solaced the parched ones stretched in pain

Through the pause of night

That followed the Sunday fight

Around the church of Shiloh --

The church so lone, the log-built one,

That echoed to many a parting groan

And natural prayer

of dying foeman mingled there --

Foemen at morn, but friends at eve --

Fame or country least their care:

(What like a bullet can undeceive!)

But now they lie low,

While over them the swallows skim,

And all is hushed at Shiloh.