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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


IN TIME OF 'THE BREAKING OF NATIONS' by THOMAS HARDY

Poem Explanation Poet Analysis

First Line: ONLY A MAN HARROWING CLODS / IN A SLOW SILENT WALK
Last Line: ERE THEIR STORY DIE.
Subject(s): BIBLE; COUNTRY LIFE; RELIGION; WORLD WAR I; THEOLOGY; FIRST WORLD WAR;

1
Only a man harrowing clods
In a slow silent walk
With an old horse that stumbles and nods
Half asleep as they stalk.

2
Only thin smoke without flame
From the heaps of couch-grass;
Yet this will go onward the same
Though Dynasties pass.

3
Yonder a maid and her wight
Come whispering by:
War's annals will cloud into night
Ere their story die.



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