Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE NATION IN ARMS, by ALFRED DENNIS GODLEY


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE NATION IN ARMS, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: This is the tale that is told of an almost universally respected minister
Last Line: Of militarism -- for the plain and simple reason that they'd got to!
Alternate Author Name(s): Godley, A. D.
Subject(s): Militarism


THIS is the tale that is told of an almost universally respected Minister,
Who, being fully aware of the views of Continental Potentates, and their plans ambitious and
sinister,
For the better defence of his native land, and to free her from continual warlike alarms,
Determined that he would popularize the conception (and a very good one too) of a Nation in Arms!
Now this is the way he proceeded to fan the flame of patriot ardour --
(This metre looks at first as easy to write as blank verse, or Walt Whitman, but is in reality
considerably harder), --
He assured his crowded audience that, while every one must deprecate a horrid, militant, Jingoist
attitude,
Not to serve one's country -- at least on Saturday afternoons -- was the very blackest ingratitude:
Death on the battlefield, -- or at least the expense of buying a uniform, -- was the patriot's
chiefest glory:
Dulce et decorum est (said the statesman, amid thunderous cheers) pro patria mori!
Every one should be ready to defend his hearth and home, be it humble cot or family mansion,
Provided always that he discouraged a tendency to Militarism and Imperial Expansion:
That was the habit of mind which a Briton's primary duty to stifle was,
Seeing that the country's salvation lay rather with the intelligent, spontaneous, disinterested
volunteer who didn't care how obsolete the pattern of his rifle was:
Too much skill in shooting or drill was a perilous thing, and he did not mean to acquire it,
For fear of alarming peace-loving Emperors and such-like by display of a combative spirit;
Regular armies tended to that: and in view of the state of international conditions he
Meant to cut down our own to the minimum consistent with Guaranteed Efficiency, --
Being convinced as he was that an army recruited and trained on a properly peaceful principle
Would be wholly (and here comes a rhyme that won't please the mere purist, but I'm sorry to say
it's the only available one), wholly, I say, and completely invincible!
This being so, he did not propose to devise any scheme or with cut-and-dried details to fetter a
Patriot Public which quite understood of itself that England Expects -- et cetera.
After this oratorical burst, as the country next day was informed by about two hundred reporters,
The Right Honourable Gentleman resumed his seat amid loud and continuous applause, having spoken
for two hours and three quarters.
The Public at once declared with unanimity so remarkable that nothing would well surpass it
That patriotic self-sacrifice was a Priceless National Asset:
No rational person, they said, could fail to be deeply impressed by the charms
Of that truly august conception, a Nation in Arms:
To become expert in the use of strictly defensive weapons, spear or sword, Lee-Metford, torpedo, or
sabre,
Was a duty -- if not for oneself, yet incumbent without any shadow of doubt on one's neighbour;
Still there were some who might possibly urge that the world was at peace, and the time was not
ripe yet for it, --
Besides the undoubted fact that a patriot who was asked to sacrifice his Saturday half-holiday
might legitimately inquire what he was likely to get for it;
So on the whole while they recognized quite (what a metre this is, to be sure!) that the Minister's
scheme was replete with attraction,
They decided to wait for a while (what with the danger of encouraging a spirit of Militarism and a
number of other excellent reasons) before putting his plan into action.
Then the Continental Potentates -- and if I venture at all to allude to them, it is
Only to show how all this Nation-in-Arms business may lead to the most regrettable extremities:
This part of my poem in short most painful and sad to a lover of peace is,
And in fact I believe I can deal with it best by a delicate use of the figure Aposiopesis --
However -- the net result was that a time arrived when Consols went down to nothing at all, caddies
in thousands were thrown out of work and professional footballers docked of their salary,
And several League matches had to be played at a lamentable financial loss in the absence of the
usual gallery!
Then, some time after that (it's really impossible to say what happened in between) when business
at last had resumed its usual working,
And the nation in general was no longer engaged in painfully realistic manoeuvres, on the Downs,
between Guildford and Dorking, --
Then the public met and resolved like the person whose case is recorded in fable
That now that the steed had been stolen (or at least suffered from exposure to the air) it was high
time to close the door of the stable;
And that never again no more should their cricket-fields, football grounds, croquet lawns, bunkers,
Be profaned by the feet of Cossacks, Chasseurs, Bashi-Bazouks, or Junkers;
And I don't think they talked very big about Nations in Arms, or inscribed on their banners any
particularly inspiring motto,
But they learnt to shoot and to drill, not more or less but quite well -- in spite of the dangers
of Militarism -- for the plain and simple reason that they'd got to!





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