Who now shall sneer? In a letter to Mr. J.B. Thayer, who had by James Russell Lowell

A strophe is a section or movement within a longer ode — similar to a chapter in a poem. Lowell's Commemoration Ode contains several of these movements, each with a different mood or argument.

Willie was William Lowell Putnam, Lowell's nephew, who tragically lost his life at the Battle of Ball's Bluff in October 1861. In his letter to Thayer, Lowell refers to him to convey the intensity of his emotions in the strophe — he wasn't expressing abstract patriotism but rather pouring out his feelings from a place of immediate sorrow.

A notable segment of the British establishment showed sympathy for the Confederacy, driven in part by economic factors—Southern cotton supplied British textile mills—and in part by class snobbery. The notion that an army composed of tradesmen and laborers could engage in a serious war seemed absurd to some British commentators.

He's addressing his critic regarding the structure of the ode. The anger expressed in this strophe isn't the end of the story—the following strophe provides justification by illustrating what those working-class soldiers accomplished and the significance of their sacrifice. The sneer paves the way for the response.

He's aware of the risk—that's exactly what he admits to Thayer when he refers to it as 'a certain narrowness.' But his anger comes from a real place: seeing men he knew die and then reading foreign newspapers that dismiss those men as social inferiors. That's a specific, human grievance, not just flag-waving.

It's a formal elegy honoring Harvard men who lost their lives in the Civil War, presented at a ceremony in 1865. It navigates through feelings of grief, anger, and democratic idealism, ultimately arriving at a hard-won sense of hope. One of its most celebrated passages pays tribute to Lincoln. This strophe represents one of the more combative moments in the piece.

Repeating the insult verbatim has a greater impact than paraphrasing it. It compels the reader to confront the exact words used against the deceased, making the challenge 'Who now shall sneer?' resonate more deeply.

It's a Pindaric ode, inspired by the grand ceremonial odes of ancient Greece. This form was seen as fitting for significant public events — such as war, loss, and civic memorials. It has a more flexible structure than a sonnet, featuring varying line lengths and sizes of strophes.