Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE ILIAD: BOOK 4. THE TWO HOSTS, by HOMER Poet's Biography First Line: As when the billow gathers fast Last Line: And men the more lament. Subject(s): Mythology - Classical; Trojan War | ||||||||
AS when the billow gathers fast With slow and sullen roar Beneath the keen north-western blast Against the sounding shore: First far at sea it rears its crest, Then bursts upon the beach, Or with proud arch and swelling breast, Where headlands outward reach, It smites their strength, and bellowing flings Its silver from afar; So, stern and thick, the Danaan kings And soldiers marched to war. Each leader gave his men the word, Each warrior deep in silence heard; So mute they marched, thou could'st not ken They were a mass of speaking men; And as they strode, in martial might, Their flickering arms shot back the light. But, as at even the folded sheep Of some rich master stand, Ten thousand thick their place they keep, And bide the milkman's hand, And more and more they bleat, the more They hear their lamblings cry; So from the Trojan host, uproar And din rose loud and high. They were a many-voiced throng; Discordant accents there, That sound from many a differing tongue, Their differing race declare. These, Mars had kindled for the fight; Those, starry-eyed Athene's might, And savage Terror, and Affright, And Strife, insatiate of wars, The sister and the mate of Mars; Strife that, a pigmy at her birth, By gathering rumour fed, Soon plants her feet upon the earth And in the heaven her head. With hand impartial sowing now About the field she went, That hatred in their hearts might grow And men the more lament. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE RETURN OF THE GREEKS by EDWIN MUIR THE FALL OF TROY by RACHEL HADAS MENELAUS AND HELEN by RUPERT BROOKE THE DEATH OF LEONIDAS by GEORGE CROLY THE ILIAD: ACHILLES OVER THE TRENCH by HOMER THE ILIAD: BOOK 12. SARPEDON'S SPEECH by HOMER BALLAD OF HECTOR IN HADES by EDWIN MUIR THE ILIAD: ACHILLES OVER THE TRENCH by HOMER |
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