Victor Galbraith by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
At daybreak beneath the walls of Monterey, bugler Victor Galbraith faces a firing squad, survives its first volley, and begs to be killed to end his pain; a second volley kills him. At night, sentinels hear a bugle and attribute its sound to his wraith.
By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow · Genre: Ballad, Narrative Poetry · 465 words
First lines
Under the walls of Monterey / At daybreak the bugles began to play, / Victor Galbraith! / In the mist of the morning damp and gray, / These were the words they seemed to say: / "Come forth to thy death, / Victor Galbraith!"
Forth he came, with a martial tread; / Firm was his step, erect his head; / Victor Galbraith, / He who so well the bugle played, / Could not mistake the words it said: / "Come forth to thy death, / Victor Galbraith!"
Genres
- Ballad — Seven rhymed stanzas tell of a bugler's execution, repeatedly returning to his name and ending with sentinels identifying a nighttime bugle as his wraith.
- Narrative Poetry — The verse follows Galbraith from his summons at dawn through two volleys of gunfire to the bugle heard after his death.
Tags
military execution · firing squad · buglers · Monterey · apparitions
What this Textopian page supports
Victor Galbraith is listed on Textopian as a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, dated Date unknown.
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- Work type: Poem
- Author: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
- Date: Date unknown
- Language: English
- Genres: Ballad, Narrative Poetry
- Length: 465 words
- Structure: 1 section, 7 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Easy (6th Grade)
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