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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
BATTLE OF BRITAIN, by CECIL DAY LEWIS Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: What did we earth-bound make of it? A tangle Last Line: Their luck, skill, nerve. And they were young like you. Alternate Author Name(s): Blake, Nicolas Subject(s): Film (photography); Great Britain - History; World War Ii; English History; Second World War | |||
What did we earth-bound make of it? A tangle Of vapour trails, a vertiginously high Swarming of midges, at most a fiery angel Hurled out of heaven, was all we could descry. How could we know the agony and pride That scrawled those fading signatures up there, And the cool expertise of those who died Or lived through that delirium of the air? Grounded on history now, we re-enact Such lives, such deaths. Time, laughing out of court The newspaper heroics and the faked Statistics, leaves us only to record. What was, what might have been: fighter and bomber, The tilting sky, tense moves and counterings; Those who outlived that legendary summer; Those who went down, its sunlight on their wings. And you, unborn then, what will you make of it— This shadow-play of battles long ago? Be sure of this: they pushed to the uttermost limit Their luck, skill, nerve. And they were young like you. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...PORT OF EMBARKATION by RANDALL JARRELL GREATER GRANDEUR by ROBINSON JEFFERS FAMILY GROUP by ARCHIBALD MACLEISH THE BRITISH COUNTRYSIDE IN PICTURES by JAMES MCMICHAEL READING MY POEMS FROM WORLD WAR II by WILLIAM MEREDITH |
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