|
Classic and Contemporary Poetry
IN GALLIPOLI, by EDEN PHILLPOTTS Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: There is a fold of lion-coloured earth Last Line: Beside her hero sons, beneath the field and foam. Subject(s): Gallipoli Campaign (1915); World War I; First World War | |||
THERE is a fold of lion-coloured earth, With stony feet in the Ægean blue, Whereon of old dwelt loneliness and dearth Sun-scorched and desolate; and when there flew The winds of winter in those dreary aisles Of crag and cliff, a whirling snow-wreath bound The foreheads of the mountains, and their miles Of frowning precipice and scarp were wound With stilly white, that peered through brooding mist profound. But now the myrtle and the rosemary, The mastic and the rue, the scented thyme With fragrant fingers gladdening the grey, Shall kindle on a desert grown sublime. Henceforth that haggard land doth guard and hold The treasure of a sovereign nation's womb Her fame, her worth, her pride, her purest gold. Oh, call ye not the sleeping place a tomb That lifts to heaven's light such everlasting bloom. They stretch, now high, now low, the little scars Upon the rugged pelt of herb and stone; Above them sparkle bells and buds and stars Young Spring hath from her emerald kirtle thrown. Asphodel, crocus and anemone With silver, azure, crimson once again Ray all that earth, and from the murmuring sea Come winds to flash the leaves on shore and plain Where evermore our deadour radiant dead shall reign. Imperishable as the mountain height That marks their place afar, their numbers shine, Who, with the first-fruits of a joyful might, To human liberty another shrine Here sanctified; nor vainly have they sped That made this desert dearer far than home, And left one sanctuary more to tread For England, whose memorial pathways roam Beside her hero sons, beneath the field and foam. | 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 |
|