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Anonymous Posted 11 years ago
Vocabulary

What is "ranked graves"?

The sentence is this: And now Miss Emily had gone to join the representatives of those august names where they lay in the cedar-bemused cemetery among the ranked and anonymous graves of Union and Confederate soldiers who fell at the battle of Jefferson.

Is that rank of the soldiers?
  

Top answer

It means that graves are placed side by side or in a certain order. But a more important question for me here is whether all the graves are anonymous or not.

— Marquez

  • It means that graves are placed side by side or in a certain order.
  • But a more important question for me here is whether all the graves are anonymous or not.
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9 Answers
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It means that graves are placed side by side or in a certain order. But a more important question for me here is whether all the graves are anonymous or not.
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Yes, I think all of them are anonymous.
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Then, yes, they are arranged in order of their military rank. Perhaps they couldn't identify the remains, but the uniform was present.
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I don't think "ranked" has anything to do with military rank. I think it just means "lined up in rows".
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wilpeter and GPY both have answers that could be correct, I think. What bothers me is the use of 'august names' if they're all unidentified. If had written it I think I'd have said 'august soldiers' or 'august fallen'.
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Philip What bothers me is the use of 'august names' if they're all unidentified. If had written it I think I'd have said 'august soldiers' or 'august fallen'.
I don't think that the "august names" are indviduals in the "ranked and anonymous graves", or that they are even (necessarily) soldiers. I think "among" is just saying that they share the same cemetery.
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Anonymousamong the ranked and anonymous graves of Union and Confederate soldiers
After Googling 'ranked graves' and finding no hits, I reread the post and have changed my mind about the arrangement of graves by rank. Not only is it impractical, it could not be added to later without disruption. Besides, the sentence quoted above indicates that 'ranked and an
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wilpeterBesides, the sentence quoted above indicates that 'ranked and anonymous' describes the soldiers rather than the graves themselves.
Well, but both adjectives modify "graves".
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Anonymous What is "ranked graves"?
graves arranged in rows

CJ
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