Leaves of Grass · Chapter

Look Down Fair Moon explained

A solemn invocation to the moon to illuminate a scene of death and devastation, highlighting the sacredness of the fallen.

What happens

A solemn invocation to the moon to illuminate a scene of death and devastation, highlighting the sacredness of the fallen.

Death and Immortality
The poem focuses on the dead, their physical remains, and the sacred, eternal quality of the moon's light upon them.

Narrator
The speaker addresses the moon, pleading for its light to reveal the dead.
Death
The dead are central to the scene, described with ghastly, swollen, purple faces.

“Look down fair moon and bathe this scene, Pour softly down night’s nimbus floods on faces ghastly, swollen, purple, On the dead on their backs with arms toss’d wide, Pour down your unstinted nimbus sacred moon.”
Beautiful moon, gaze upon this sight and gently cover it with your night's misty light, illuminating the horrifying, bloated, discolored faces of the dead lying on their backs with arms outstretched; pour down your abundant, sacred mist, moon.
The speaker calls on the moon to sanctify the horrific scene of death with its gentle, sacred light.