Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, TRENCHES: ST. ELOI, by THOMAS ERNEST HULME



Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

TRENCHES: ST. ELOI, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Over the flat slope of st. Eloi
Last Line: Nothing suggests itself. There is nothing to do but keep on.
Alternate Author Name(s): Hulme, T. E.
Subject(s): World War I; First World War


Over the flat slope of St. Eloi
A wide wall of sand bags.
Night,
In the silence desultory men
Pottering over small fires, cleaning their mess-tins:
To and fro, from the lines,
Men walk as on Piccadilly,
Making paths in the dark,
Through scattered dead horses,
Over a dead Belgian's belly.

The Germans have rockets. The English have no rockets.
Behind the line, cannon hidden, lying back miles.
Before the line, chaos:

My mind is a corridor. The minds about me are corridors.
Nothing suggests itself. There is nothing to do but keep on.




Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


Other Poems of Interest...



Home: PoetryExplorer.net