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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
EPITAPH ON AN ARMY OF MERCENARIES, by ALFRED EDWARD HOUSMAN Poet Analysis Poet's Biography
First Line: These, in the day when heaven was falling
Last Line: And saved the sum of things for pay.
Alternate Author Name(s): Housman, A. E.
Subject(s): Labor & Laborers; World War I; Work; Workers; First World War
First Line: These, in the day when heaven was falling
Last Line: And saved the sum of things for pay.
Alternate Author Name(s): Housman, A. E.
Subject(s): Labor & Laborers; World War I; Work; Workers; First World War
These, in the day when heaven was falling
The hour when earth's foundations fled,
Followed their mercenary calling
And took their wages and are dead.
Their shoulders held the sky suspended;
They stood, and earth's foundations stay;
What God abandoned, these defended,
And saved the sum of things for pay.
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