Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, LETTRES D'UN SOLDAT (1914-1915), by WALLACE STEVENS


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

LETTRES D'UN SOLDAT (1914-1915), by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: No introspective chaos -- I accept
Subject(s): World War I; First World War


Combattre avec ses fr??res, ?? sa place, ?? son rang, avec des yeux dessill??s, sans
espoir de la gloire et de profit, et simplement parceque telle est la loi, voil??
le commandement que donne le dieu au guerrier Arjuna, quand celui-ci doute s'il
doit se d??tourner de l'absolu pour le cauchemar humain de la bataille. . . .
Simplement qu'Arjuna bande son arc avec les autres Kshettryas! (Pr??face d'Andr??
Chevrillon.)
I
Jamais la majest?? de la nuit ne m'apporta autant de consolation qu'en cette
accumulation d'??preuves. V??nus, ??tincelante, m'est une amie. (27 septembre)
The spirit wakes in the night wind-is naked.
What is it that hides in the night wind
Near by it?
Is it, once more, the mysterious beaut??,
Like a woman inhibiting passion
In solace?-
The multiform beauty, sinking in night wind,
Quick to be gone, yet never
Quite going!
She will leap back from the swift constellations,
As they enter the place of their western
Seclusion.
II
Ce qu'il faut, c'est reconna??tre l'amour et la beaut?? triomphante de toute
violence. (22 octobre)
Anecdotal Revery
The streets contain a crowd
Of blind men tapping their way
By inches-
This man to complain to the grocer
Of yesterday's cheese,
This man to visit a woman,
This man to take the air.
Am I to pick my way
Through these crickets?-
I, that have a head
In the bag
Slung over my shoulder!
I have secrets
That prick
Like a heart full of pins.
Permit me, gentlemen,
I have killed the mayor
And am escaping from you.
Get out of the way!
(The blind men strike him down with their sticks.)
III
Jusqu'?? pr??sent j'ai poss??d?? une sagesse de renoncement, mais maintenant je veux
une sagesse qui accepte tout, en s'orientant vers l'action future. (31 octobre)
Morale
And so France feels. A menace that impends,
Too long, is like a bayonet that bends.
IV
Si tu voyais la s??curit?? des petits animaux des bois-souris, mulots! L'autre
jour, dans notre abri de feuillage, je suivais les ??volutions de ces petits
b??tes. Elles ??taient jolies comme une estampe japonaise, avec l'int??rieur de
leurs oreilles rose comme un coquillage. (7 novembre)
Comme Dieu Dispense de Gr??ces
Here I keep thinking of the Primitives-
The sensitive and conscientious schemes
Of mountain pallors ebbing into air;
And I remember sharp Japonica-
The driving rain, the willows in the rain,
The birds that wait out rain in willow trees.
Although life seems a goblin mummery,
These images return and are increased,
As for a child in an oblivion:
Even by mice-these scamper and are still.
They cock small ears, more glistening and pale
Than fragile volutes in a rose sea-shell.
V
J'ai la ferme esp??rance; mais surtout j'ai confiance en la justice ??ternelle,
quelque surprise qu'elle cause ?? l'humaine id??e que nous en avons. (26 novembre)
The Surprises of the Superhuman
The palais de justice of chambermaids
Tops the horizon with its colonnades.
If it were lost in Uebermenschlichkeit,
Perhaps our wretched state would soon come right.
For somehow the brave dicta of its kings
Make more awry our faulty human things.
VI
Bien ch??re m??re aim??e, . . . Pour ce qui est de ton coeur, j'ai tellement
confiance en ton courage, qu'?? l'heure actuelle cette certitude est mon grand
r??confort. Je sais que ma m??re a atteint ?? cette libert?? d'??me qui permet de
contempler le spectacle universel. (7 d??cembre)
There is another mother whom I love,
O ch??re maman, another, who, in turn,
Is mother to the two of us, and more,
In whose hard service both of us endure
Our petty portion in the sacrifice.
Not France! France also serves the invincible eye,
That, from her helmet terrible and bright,
Commands the armies; the relentless arm,
Devising proud, majestic issuance.
Wait now; have no rememberings of hope,
Poor penury. There will be voluble hymns
Come swelling, when, regardless of my end,
The mightier mother raises up her cry:
And little will or wish, that day, for tears.
VII
La seule sanction pour moi est ma conscience. Il faut nous confier ?? une justice
impersonelle, ind??pendante de tout facteur humain; et ?? une destin??e utile et
harmonieuse malgr?? toute horreur de forme. (15 janvier)
Negation
Hi! The creator too is blind,
Struggling toward his harmonious whole,
Rejecting intermediate parts-
Horrors and falsities and wrongs;
Incapable master of all force,
Too vague idealist, overwhelmed
By an afflatus that persists.
For this, then, we endure brief lives,
The evanescent symmetries
From that meticulous potter's thumb.
VIII
Hier soir, rentrant dans -?? ma grange, ivresse, rixes, cris, chants, et
hurlements. Voil?? la vie! (4 f??vrier)
John Smith and his son John Smith,
And his son's son John, and-a-one
And-a-two and-a-three
And-a-rum-tum-tum, and-a
Lean John, and his son, lean John,
And his lean son's John, and-a-one
And-a-two and-a-three
And-a-drum-rum-rum, and-a
Rich John, and his son, rich John,
And his rich son's John, and-a-one
And-a-two and-a-three
And-a-pom-pom-pom, and-a
Wise John, and his son, wise John,
And his wise son's John, and-a-one
And-a-two and-a-three
And-a-fee and-a-fee and-a-fee
And-a-fee-fo-fum-
Voil?? la vie, la vie, la vie,
And-a-rummy-tummy-tum
And-a-rummy-tummy-tum.
IX
La mort du soldat est pr??s des choses naturelles. (5 mars)
Life contracts and death is expected,
As in a season of autumn.
The soldier falls.
He does not become a three-days' personage,
Imposing his separation,
Calling for pomp.
Death is absolute and without memorial,
As in a season of autumn,
When the wind stops.
When the wind stops and, over the heavens,
The clouds go, nevertheless,
In their direction.





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