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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE GREAT RACE PASSES, by EDGAR LEE MASTERS Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: They were the fair-haired achaeans Last Line: The great race is passing. Subject(s): Modern Life | |||
They were the fair-haired Achaeans, Who won the Trojan war; They were the Vikings who sailed to Iceland And America. They became the bone of England, And the fire of Normandy, And the will of Holland and Germany, And the builders of America. Their blood flowed into the veins of David, And the veins of Jesus, Homer and AEschylos, Dante and Michael Angelo, Alexander and Caesar, William of Orange and Washington. They sang the songs, They won the wars. They were chosen for might in battle; For blue eyes and white flesh, For clean blood, for strength, for class. They went to the wars And left the little breeds To stay with the women, Trading and plowing. They perished in battle All the way along the stretch of centuries, And left the little breeds to possess the earth -- The Great Race is passing. They went forth to free peoples, White and black. They fought for their own freedom, And perished. They founded America, And perished -- The Great Race is passing. On State street throngs crowd and push, Wriggle and writhe like maggots. Their noses are flat, Their faces are broad, Their heads are like gourds, Their eyes are dull, Their mouths are open -- The Great Race is passing. The meek shall inherit the earth: Crackers and negroes in the South, Methodists and prohibitionists, Mongrels and pigmies Possess the land. A president sits in a wheel chair Sick from the fumes of his own idle dreams -- The Great Race is passing. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...AFTER TENNYSON by AMBROSE BIERCE CANADA: CASE HISTORY: 1945 by EARL (EARLE) BIRNEY THE END OF SCIENCE FICTION by LISEL MUELLER THE MASQUE OF BLACKNESS by JOHN FREDERICK NIMS DOCUMENTAL by CLARIBEL ALEGRIA THE SOCIOLOGY OF TOYOTAS AND JADE CHRYSANTHEMUMS by HAYDEN CARRUTH TWENTIETH-CENTURY BLUES by KENNETH FEARING UNHISTORICAL EVENTS by BOB KAUFMAN SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY: ALEXANDER THROCKMORTON by EDGAR LEE MASTERS |
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