"There's the Battle of Burgoyne --"

By Emily Dickinson
[Analysis]
There's the Battle of Burgoyne -- [1]
Over, every Day, [2]
By the Time that Man and Beast [3]
Put their work away [4]
"Sunset" sounds majestic -- [5]
But that solemn War [6]
Could you comprehend it [7]
You would chastened stare -- [8]
Poem 1174 [F1316]
"There's the battle of Burgoyne"
Analysis by David Preest
[Poem]
In September 1777 the English major general Burgoyne was forced to surrender to the American forces after a defeat at Saratoga. Emily
suggests that the battle between good and evil which is fought in each one of us every day is in its way as momentous as the battle which
brought about Burgoyne's surrender. The "Sunset" which ends each day sounds majestic enough, but if you really took in 'the solemn War'
which has gone on that day on the battlefields in the hearts of men, 'you would chastened stare.'
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