Speaker or Narrator, and Point of View
The action in the poem is told from the perspective of a seemingly objective point of view. The speaker is never named as a character in the poem.
Form and Meter
The poem is written in a loose combination of couplets and ABAB rhyme scheme.
Metaphors and Similes
Alliteration and Assonance
Assonance is present in the line "The swallows fly low," in its use of assonant O sounds. The F sounds in "The forest-field of Shiloh-" are an example of alliteration.
Irony
Genre
War poetry
Setting
The action described takes place during the Civil War in the aftermath of the battle of Shiloh.
Tone
The tone used is a somber one.
Protagonist and Antagonist
The protagonist is the unnamed mass of dying soldiers. The antagonist is war and violence.
Major Conflict
The major conflict in the poem is between the dehumanizing violence of war and the desire to have peace and unity.
Climax
The poem reaches its climax when the dying soldiers momentarily come together in their cries and prayers.
Foreshadowing
Understatement
Allusions
Shiloh is a historical reference to the major battle in the Civil War.
Metonymy and Synecdoche
The phrase "Sunday fight" is a metonymic representation of the battle of Shiloh. Similarly, the word "bullet" metonymically describes the various injuries sustained by the soldiers in battle.
Personification
Hyperbole
The line "Foemen at morn, but friends at eve" is a hyperbolic description of the common ground found between the wounded soldiers as they die.
Onomatopoeia
The word "hushed" is onomatopoeic.
