Classic and Contemporary Poetry
BEHIND THE LINE, by EDMUND CHARLES BLUNDEN Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Treasure not so the forlorn days Last Line: Over the shades of shadows gone. Alternate Author Name(s): Blunden, Edmund Subject(s): World War I; First World War | ||||||||
TREASURE not so the forlorn days When dun clouds flooded the naked plains With foul remorseless rains; Tread not those memory ways Where by the dripping alien farms, Starved orchards with their shrivelled arms, The bitter mouldering wind would whine At the brisk mules clattering towards the Line. Remember not with so sharp skill Each chasm in the clouds that strange with fire Lit pyramid-fosse and spire Miles on miles from our hill; In the magic glass, aye, then their lure Like heaven's houses gleaming pure Might soothe the long-imprisoned sight And put the double storm to flight. Enact not you so like a wheel The round of evenings in sandbagged rooms Where candles flicked the glooms; The jests old time could steal From ugly destiny, on whose brink The poor fools grappled fear with drink, And snubbed the hungry raving guns With endless tunes on gramophones. About you spreads the world anew, The old fields all for your sense rejoice, Music has found her ancient voice, From the hills there's heaven on earth to view; And kindly Mirth will raise his glass With you to bid dull Care go pass -- And still you wander muttering on Over the shades of shadows gone. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...D'ANNUNZIO by ERNEST HEMINGWAY 1915: THE TRENCHES by CONRAD AIKEN TO OUR PRESIDENT by KATHARINE LEE BATES THE HORSES by KATHARINE LEE BATES CHILDREN OF THE WAR by KATHARINE LEE BATES THE U-BOAT CREWS by KATHARINE LEE BATES THE RED CROSS NURSE by KATHARINE LEE BATES WAR PROFITS by KATHARINE LEE BATES THE UNCHANGEABLE by EDMUND CHARLES BLUNDEN ALMSWOMEN by EDMUND CHARLES BLUNDEN |
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