Classic and Contemporary Poetry
A WHISPERED TALE, by SIEGFRIED SASSOON Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: I'd heard fool heroes brag of where they'd been Last Line: Sour jokes for all those horrors left behind. Subject(s): Soldiers' Writings; World War I; First World War | ||||||||
I'D heard fool-heroes brag of where they'd been, With stories of the glories that they'd seen. But you, good simple soldier, seasoned well In woods and posts and crater-lines of hell, Who dodge remembered 'crumps' with wry grimace, Endured experience in your queer, kind face, Fatigues and vigils haunting nerve-strained eyes, And both your brothers killed to make you wise; You had no babbling phrases; what you said Was like a message from the maimed and dead. But memory brought the voice I knew, whose note Was muted when they shot you in the throat; And still you whisper of the war, and find Sour jokes for all those horrors left behind. | 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 |
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