Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


A SOLDIER LISTENS by JEAN STARR UNTERMEYER

Poem Explanation Poet Analysis

First Line: WHAT WAS IT CAME TO DISTRESS YOU?
Last Line: WHO FROM THE CLAMORING DEAD?
Subject(s): DEATH; PAIN; SOLDIERS; WAR; DEAD, THE; SUFFERING; MISERY;

What was it came to distress you?
Who from the restless dead?
As you sat in the slanting shadows
With a heavy head.

The music pressed in among us,
Almost too much—
You quivered and seemed to be startled
By a known touch.

Even when healing cadences
Reached out to you,
Your face looked broken in pieces,
Shot through and through.

As you sat in the slanting shadows
With a heavy head,
What was it came to distress you?
Who from the clamoring dead?



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