Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


THE DYING SOLDIER by ISAAC ROSENBERG

Poet Analysis

First Line: HERE ARE HOUSES, HE MOANED
Last Line: HE MOANED AND SWOONED TO DEATH.
Subject(s): SOLDIERS' WRITINGS; WORLD WAR I; FIRST WORLD WAR;

"Here are houses," he moaned,
"I could reach, but my brain swims."
Then they thundered and flashed,
And shook the earth to its rims.

"They are gunpits," he gasped,
"Our men are at the guns.
Water! . . . Water! . . . Oh, water!
For one of England's dying sons."

"We cannot give you water,
Were all England in your breath."
"Water! . . . Water! . . . Oh, water! "
He moaned and swooned to death.




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