The Great Civil War Comet
Poets involved
What happened
The Great Comet of 1861 appeared suddenly in the night sky with spectacular brilliance, possessing a massive tail that spanned over a massive portion of the horizon over Washington, D.C., and the rest of North America. Strikingly, the Earth actually passed directly through the diffuse gases of the comet's tail for several hours. Coming immediately after the outbreak of the American Civil War at Fort Sumter, both Northern and Southern populations widely interpreted the fiery celestial visitor as an explicit omen of immense bloodshed, national fracture, and divine retribution.
Literary impact
The atmospheric presence of this massive comet heavily influenced the poetry of the Civil War era. It appeared prominently in the personal journals, letters, and verses of contemporary writers like Herman Melville and Walt Whitman, who utilized the comet as a dark, apocalyptic literary symbol for the violent tearing apart of the American republic.
Source: Wikipedia
