Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, ON THE DANGER OF WAR, by GEORGE MEREDITH


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

ON THE DANGER OF WAR, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Avert, high wisdom, never vainly wooed
Last Line: To drums whose loudness is their emptiness.
Subject(s): Nations; Social Protest; War


AVERT, High Wisdom, never vainly wooed,
This threat of War, that shows a land brain-sick.
When nations gain the pitch where rhetoric
Seems reason they are ripe for cannon's food.
Dark looms the issue though the cause be good,
But with the doubt 'tis our old devil's trick.
O now the down-slope of the lunatic
Illumine lest we redden of that brood.
For not since man in his first view of thee
Ascended to the heavens giving sign
Within him of deep sky and sounded sea,
Did he unforfeiting thy laws transgress;
In peril of his blood his ears incline
To drums whose loudness is their emptiness.





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