Classic and Contemporary Poetry
BREAK OF DAY IN THE TRENCHES, by ISAAC ROSENBERG Recitation Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: The darkness crumbles away Last Line: Just a little white with the dust. Subject(s): Soldiers; Soldiers' Writings; World War I; First World War | ||||||||
The darkness crumbles away. It is the same old druid Time as ever, Only a live thing leaps my hand, A queer sardonic rat, As I pull the parapet's poppy To stick behind my ear. Droll rat, they would shoot you if they knew Your cosmopolitan sympathies. Now you have touched this English hand You will do the same to a German Soon, no doubt, if it be your pleasure To cross the sleeping green between. It seems you inwardly grin as you pass Strong eyes, fine limbs, haughty athletes, Less chanced than you for life, Bonds to the whims of murder, Sprawled in the bowls of the earth, The torn fields of France. What do you see in our eyes At the shrieking iron and flame Hurled through still heavens? What quaver -- what heart aghast? Poppies whose roots are in man's veins Drop, and are ever dropping; But mine in my ear is safe -- Just a little white with the dust. | 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 A BALLAD OF WHITECHAPEL by ISAAC ROSENBERG |
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