Summary
In the latter portion of the poem, the cries of the dying soldiers mix impartially, surrounding the earlier-mentioned church. Their prayers and cries are untethered to regional alliance. The swallows continue to hover and eventually the entire field lapses into silence.
Analysis
In the second half of the poem, Melville expands on two images. The first is the humble "log-built" church which functions as a religious symbol in the text. The church is described as a place around which the "parting groan and natural prayer" of the soldiers resound. Melville suggests that the church, despite its simplicity, has the potential to be a site of redemption. This reading gains particular resonance with the speaker's use of the word "mingle" in the context of the soldier's cries. The poem expresses the idea that the soldiers are all alike in their hopes for salvation.
This concept of spiritual commonality also dovetails with the line "foemen at morn, but friends at eve" which proposes that this transcendent moment offers the possibility of unity, even if it is bound by suffering. The following two lines substantiate this notion further: "Fame or country least their care: (What like a bullet can undeceive!)" The "bullet" image demonstrates a grievous wound's ability to tear away individual antagonism, while the "fame or country" sentiment suggests that national identity matters little to a dying man. Melville has not only withheld the scenes of the battle itself, but has refused to show whether the soldiers belong to the Union or Confederacy.
Concluding this thought, Melville writes "But now they lie low." Then, in a circular fashion, he returns to the opening image of the poem as those same "swallows" still "skim" the sky above. While this could be read as a reminder of the impartial eye of the natural world, it primarily appears as a beacon of passing grace. Their flight depicts a sphere outside the battle. The poem does not end on the swallows or the soldiers; instead, it pans out to a more abstract line: "And all is hushed at Shiloh" which indicates a silence both impersonal and peaceful. Melville offers no solutions in these closing lines, but seems to read the wake of the battle as a place that carries the potential for closure and redemption.
Taken as a whole, this section is not exactly offering a vision of coming together. Instead, it reveals the way in which the violence of war strips individuals of affiliation. By invoking the natural (swallows) and spiritual (log-built church) worlds, Melville is constructing a portrait of brief calm. The undeceiving "bullet" has not brought these men together through understanding or sympathy. It has merely yanked away their earthly attachments, reminding them of the sameness of their "prayers" and "groans." Under the watch of the winging sparrows, these dying men are all the same.
