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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
CHRISTMAS, 1917, by BRENT DOW ALLINSON First Line: Is it a mocking jest that christmas bells Last Line: Let nations pass so man himself be free. Subject(s): Christmas; Freedom; Hate; Humanity; Social Protest; War; Nativity, The; Liberty | |||
Is it a mocking jest that Christmas bells Chime in this tragic hour of strife and pain, That in the misery of conflicting wills Breathless, men whisper words of love again? Is it a jest that Europe's stainless snows In beauty mask her burning, bleeding scars, Where man's blaspheming thunder comes and goes? Is this unholiest his last of wars? Is this the freedom that we bought so dear, To live among the wolf-pack in a cage, Spurr'd by a Sycorax to hate and fear Ingenious brutes that cower and kill and rage? Have we no further end, no nobler plan, No subtler vision and no bolder will? Is this the creature that we called a man? Is this the jungle that we live in still? Be dumb! ye bells, nor wake the frosty air With joyful clamor while the nations bleed; Let sorrow's silence speak a people's prayer Whose legion'd sons lie crucified by greed. Be dumb, sweet bells: or ring more wild and clear, Proclaim a sunrise on youth's Calvary! Ring out the madness with the dying year, Let nations pass so Man himself be free. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...LOVE THE WILD SWAN by ROBINSON JEFFERS AFTER TENNYSON by AMBROSE BIERCE QUARTET IN F MAJOR by WILLIAM MEREDITH CROSS THAT LINE by NAOMI SHIHAB NYE EMANCIPATION by ELIZABETH ALEXANDER HARVARD DECLARES WAR by BRENT DOW ALLINSON PRAYER IN THE TRENCHES by BRENT DOW ALLINSON THE HERO OF VIMY; AN INCIDENT OF THE GREAT WAR by BRENT DOW ALLINSON |
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