The Portent Summary

The poem opens with the speaker describing a hanging. The body of the victim sways from a beam as it casts a shadow on the grass below. The hanging takes place in the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia, known for being the boundary that separated the free states from the slave states. The body belongs to noted zealous abolitionist John Brown and is identified by a cut on his head. Brown incurred this wound at Harper's Ferry when he was struck with the hilt of a sword. His face is obscured by a hood. The speaker describes the hanging as Brown's last physical injury but acknowledges that he feels greater pain for failing to end the evil of slavery. The one feature that remains unhidden beneath the hood is Brown's long, overgrown beard, which is thought to have given him the nickname Weird John Brown. Melville compares his beard to a meteor foretelling the war to come. In this image, Melville sees the further violence that will spiral out from this day.