Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, TWO VOICES, by EDMUND CHARLES BLUNDEN



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TWO VOICES, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: There's something in the air, he said
Last Line: "and still ""we're going south, man,"" deadly near."
Alternate Author Name(s): Blunden, Edmund
Subject(s): World War I; First World War


"THERE'S something in the air," he said
In the large parlour cool and bare;
The plain words in his hearers bred
A tumult, yet in silence there
All waited; wryly gay, he left the phrase,
Ordered the march and bade us go our ways.

"We're going South, man"; as he spoke
The howitzer with huge ping-bang
Racked the light hut; as thus he broke
The death-news, bright the skylarks sang;
He took his riding-crop and humming went
Among the apple-trees all bloom and scent.

Now far withdraws the roaring night
Which wrecked our flower after the first
Of those two voices; misty light
Shrouds Thiepval Wood and all its worst:
But still "There's something in the air" I hear,
And still "We're going South, man," deadly near.





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