Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE SILENT BATTLE by SARA TEASDALE

Poet Analysis

First Line: HE WAS A SOLDIER IN THAT FIGHT
Last Line: His enemy had turned his friend
Subject(s): DEATH; DEAD, THE;
(In Memory of J. W. T. Jr.)

He was a soldier in that fight
Where there is neither flag nor drum,
And without sound of musketry
The stealthy foemen come.

Year in, year out, by day and night
They forced him to a slow retreat,
And for his gallant fight alone
No fife was blown, and no drum beat.

In winter fog, in gathering mist
The gray grim battle had its end,
And at the very last we knew
His enemy had turned his friend.



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