War Poetry

[CaptO]

I thought It might be a good time to dust off the War Poetry again.

 

Wilfred Owen was one of the greatest of World War I "Trench" Poets - those who actually slogged through the muck as an infantryman. He was killed only a month before the war ended. He tells the brutally honest truth of the war through his poems as seen in the following example:

 

Parable of the Old Men and the Young

 

So Abram rose, and clave the wood, and went,

And took the fire with him, and a knife.

And as they sojourned both of them together,

Isaac the first-born spake and said, My Father,

Behold the preparations, fire and iron,

But where the lamb for this burnt-offering?

Then Abram bound the youth with belts and straps,

And builded parapets and trenches there,

And stretch\ed forth the knife to slay his son.

When lo! an angel called him out of heaven,

Saying, Lay not thy hand upon the lad,

Neither do anything to him. Behold,

A ram caught in a thicket by its horns;

Offer the Ram of Pride instead of him.

But the old man would not so, but slew his son. . . .

 

A great deal of his works can be seen here: http://www.firstworldwar.com/poetsandprose...20-%20Poems.txt

[verow]

Todd ,

Is a very beautiful poetry !

Thanks for sharing.

 

Vee

[CaptO]

It's been a while since we've had some poetry, so I thought I would add some more.

 

This first one isn't really a war poem, but it is so good (as only Rudyard Kipling can do) that I wanted to share it.

 

Rudyard Kipling

 

If

 

If you can keep your head when all about you

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

But make allowance for their doubting too;

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,

Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,

And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

 

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;

If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;

If you can meet with triumph and disaster

And treat those two imposters just the same;

If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken

Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,

And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools;

 

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,

And lose, and start again at your beginnings

And never breath a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

To serve your turn long after they are gone,

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on";

 

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,

Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch;

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;

If all men count with you, but none too much;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -

Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,

And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!

 

 

 

 

[Walt's Daughter]

That is a wonderfully written poem and filled with such great advice and wisdom. Thanks for a good shot in-the-arm of poetry.