Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE WORLD WAR, by AMOS RUSSEL WELLS Poet's Biography First Line: This -- after nineteen centuries of christ! Last Line: And let this worst of warfare be the last! Subject(s): World War I; First World War | ||||||||
This -- after nineteen centuries of Christ! Only the primal instincts, bad and good, The primal heart that primal hate sufficed, And not the hero-heart of brotherhood. We murder men in vast and modern ways; We cram with death the water, earth, and air; But still we flounder in primeval haze, And still our fort is but the caveman's lair. We say that God is Love -- and worship Might. We flatter Reason -- then we spit on her. Praising the day, we turn to blackest night, And build our highway to a sepulchre. We prate of Law, but, lawless-hearted still, We get our justice through the widow's moan. We prate of Mind, and yet our vaunted will Achieves its way by brutal force alone. We boast of Progress: hear the orphan's cry, The wails of mother, sister, lover, wife! Full nineteen centuries, and still men die In antique orgies of archaic strife. The Better Way -- how well, how well we know -- That parts forever from the horrid past. O brothers, join to end the ancient woe, And let this worst of warfare be the last! | 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 A BATTLE SONG (WRITTEN IN THE WORLD WAR) by AMOS RUSSEL WELLS |
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