Classic and Contemporary Poetry
JOY-BELLS, by SIEGFRIED SASSOON Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Ring your sweet bells; but let them be farewells Last Line: Shoulder to shoulder with the motor-bus. Subject(s): Bells; Soldiers' Writings; World War I; First World War | ||||||||
RING your sweet bells; but let them be farewells To the green-vista'd gladness of the past That changed us into soldiers; swing your bells To a joyful chime; but let it be the last. What means this metal in windy belfries hung When guns are all our need? Dissolve these bells Whose tones are tuned for peace: with martial tongue Let them cry doom and storm the sun with shells. Bells are like fierce-browed prelates who proclaim That 'if our Lord returned He'd fight for us.' So let our bells and bishops do the same, Shoulder to shoulder with the motor-bus. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...D'ANNUNZIO by ERNEST HEMINGWAY 1915: THE TRENCHES by CONRAD AIKEN TO OUR PRESIDENT by KATHARINE LEE BATES THE HORSES by KATHARINE LEE BATES CHILDREN OF THE WAR by KATHARINE LEE BATES THE U-BOAT CREWS by KATHARINE LEE BATES THE RED CROSS NURSE by KATHARINE LEE BATES WAR PROFITS by KATHARINE LEE BATES THE UNCHANGEABLE by EDMUND CHARLES BLUNDEN |
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