Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE ISLAND OF SKYROS; SONNET, by JOHN MASEFIELD Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Here, where we stood together, we three men Last Line: "war with this force, and breathe, and am its king." Alternate Author Name(s): Masefield, John Edward Subject(s): Skyros (island), Greece; World War I - Casualties | ||||||||
HERE, where we stood together, we three men, Before the war had swept us to the East Three thousand miles away, I stand again And hear the bells, and breathe, and go to feast. We trod the same path, to the selfsame place, Yet here I stand, having beheld their graves, Skyros whose shadows the great seas erase, And Seddul Bahr that ever more blood craves. So, since we communed here, our bones have been Nearer, perhaps, than they again will be, Earth and the worldwide battle lie between, Death lies between, and friend-destroying sea. Yet here, a year ago, we talked and stood As I stand now, with pulses beating blood. I saw her like a shadow on the sky In the last light, a blur upon the sea, Then the gale's darkness put the shadow by, But from one grave that island talked to me; And, in the midnight, in the breaking storm, I saw its blackness and a blinking light, And thought, "So death obscures your gentle form, So memory strives to make the darkness bright; And, in that heap of rocks, your body lies, Part of the island till the planet ends, My gentle comrade, beautiful and wise, Part of this crag this bitter surge offends, While I, who pass, a little obscure thing, War with this force, and breathe, and am its king." | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE MORNING PAPER by KATHARINE LEE BATES FOR THE FALLEN (SEPTEMBER 1914) by LAURENCE BINYON TRAFALGAR SQUARE by ROBERT SEYMOUR BRIDGES 1914: 3. THE DEAD by RUPERT BROOKE 1914: 4. THE DEAD by RUPERT BROOKE BETWEEN THE LINES by WILFRID WILSON GIBSON RUPERT BROOKE by WILFRID WILSON GIBSON |
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