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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


JANUARY FULL MOON, YPRES by EDMUND CHARLES BLUNDEN

Poet Analysis

First Line: VANTAGED SNOW ON THE GRAY PILASTERS
Last Line: TO SOMEONE CRUNCHING THROUGH THE FROZEN SNOWS.
Subject(s): WORLD WAR I; FIRST WORLD WAR;

VANTAGED snow on the gray pilasters
Gleams to the sight so wan and ghostly;
The wolfish shadows in the eerie places
Sprawl in the mist-light.

Sharp-fanged searches the frost, and shackles
The sleeping water in broken cellars,
And calm and fierce the witch-moon watches,
Curious of evil.

Flares from the horse-shoe of trenches beckon,
Momently soaring and sinking, and often
Peer through the naked fire-swept windows
Mocking the fallen.

Quiet, uneasily quiet -- the guns hushed,
Scarcely a rifle-shot cracks through the salient,
Only the Cloth Hall sentry's challenge
To someone crunching through the frozen snows.



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