“Columbus” follows a traditional rhyme scheme and meter to create a lyric ballad. There are eight “beats” or syllables per line, and the rhyme scheme is ABAB CDCD for each stanza. This creates a fairly consistent and almost “sing-song” rhythm within the poem, which is especially appropriate considering the poem’s setting within a ship at sea: It could almost be sung like a traditional sea shanty. Furthermore, the traditional ballad structure of the poem is in harmony with its traditional views of Columbus: Just as Miller accepts and uses a traditional, conservative poetic form, so too does he accept and reinforce what was (at that time) the traditional—and typically idealized, even into the late 20th century—view of Columbus and his exploits.

The poem is set on Columbus’s ship during his voyage to the New World in 1492. The ship is described as occupying what appears to be an “in-between” state between the known and the unknown, with the Old World somewhere far behind the ship (“Behind him lay the gray Azores / behind the gates of Hercules” (Lines 1-2)) and the vast unknown stretching before the ship (“Before him only shoreless seas” (Line 4)).