Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

ST. GEORGE'S DAY - YPRES, 1915 by HENRY JOHN NEWBOLT

Poet Analysis

First Line: TO FILL THE GAP, TO BEAR THE BRUNT
Last Line: IT IS ST. GEORGE'S DAY.
Subject(s): WORLD WAR I - GREAT BRITAIN;
TO fill the gap, to bear the brunt
With bayonet and with spade,
Four hundred to a four-mile front
Unbacked and undismayed—

What men are these, of what great race,
From what old shire or town,
That run with such goodwill to face
Death on a Flemish down?

@3Let be! they bind a broken line:
As men die, so die they.
Land of the free! their life was thine,
It is St. George's Day.@1

Yet say whose ardour bids them stand
At bay by yonder bank,
Where a boy's voice and a boy's hand
Close up the quivering rank,
Who under those all-shattering skies
Plays out his captain's part
With the last darkness in his eyes
And @3Domum@1 in his heart?

@3Let be, let be! in yonder line
All names are burned away.
Land of his love! the fame be thine,
It is St. George's Day.@1



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