War Poems

by HOLLANDER, JOHN

• ISBN13: 9780375407901
• ISBN10: 0375407901
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1999-10-12
• Publisher: Everyman's Library

Summary

From Homer and Virgil to Byron and Yeats, from Shelley and Whitman to Auden and Stevens, from ancient China's anonymous bards to Poland's Mickiewicz and Israel's Amichai, poets of all times, places, and sensibilities have been moved to write about war. Here are more than one hundred of their most memorable poems, ranging from Horace on the Battle of Actium to Adrienne Rich's Vietnam-era "Newsreel." An extraordinary anthology.

Author Biography

Among the poets included in <b>War Poems</b> are W. H. Auden, John Berryman, John Betjeman, May Wedderburn Cannan, e. e. cummings, Robert Graves, Thom Gunn, Shuel Ha-Nagid, Horace, Ch'i Kao, Charlotte Mew, Edwin Muir, Adrienne Rich, Stevie Smith, Wallace Stevens, W. B. Yeats, along with many others.

Table of Contents

Foreword	p. 11
Heroic Ages: Ancient Through Renaissance
The War in Heaven: Raphael Tells of Satan's Artillery	p. 17
From the Second Book of Samuel David's Lament Over Saul and Jonathan	p. 19
The Destruction of Sennacherib	p. 21
Achilles Over the Trench	p. 23
A Pause in the Fighting	p. 25
Ballad of Hector in Hades	p. 26
Caesar Crosses the Rubicon	p. 29
Go Tell the Spartans	p. 32
AEneas Kills Turnus	p. 33
AEneas Tells of the Trojan Horse	p. 37
Dulce et Decorum est pro Patria Mori	p. 40
After the Battle of Actium	p. 42
The Evils of War	p. 44
First War	p. 46
Alas for Us Soldiers	p. 47
A Riddle	p. 48
Lament of the Frontier Guard	p. 49
Lament of a Soldier's Wife	p. 50
A Face-off in the Crusades	p. 51
Britomart Kills the Amazon	p. 53
Carol for the Victory at Agincourt	p. 56
King Henry Exhorts His Troops	p. 58
Before the Battle of Agincourt	p. 60
Farewell to Arms	p. 63
The Glories of Our Blood and State	p. 64
To Lucasta, Going to the Wars	p. 66
Gathering Song of Donald the Black	p. 67
The Battle of Flodden Field	p. 69
O Flodden Field	p. 72
The War Song of Dinas Vawr	p. 73
Before and After Napoleon
To the Duke of Marlborough	p. 77
After Blenheim	p. 78
The Drum	p. 81
Concord Hymn	p. 82
After the American Rebellion	p. 83
Hohenlinden	p. 85
Incident of the French Camp	p. 87
On War	p. 89
Battle of the Baltic	p. 92
The Year 1812	p. 95
Ye Mariners of England	p. 98
The Grenadiers	p. 100
Defence of Fort McHenry	p. 102
The Dream	p. 104
The Charge of the Light Brigade	p. 105
1887	p. 108
Danny Deever	p. 110
Ode, Inscribed to W. H. Channing	p. 113
The American Civil War
The Portent	p. 121
The Arsenal at Springfield	p. 122
The Battle Hymn of the Republic	p. 125
A Vision of the Civil War	p. 127
The Conflict of Convictions	p. 129
The Crime of the Ages	p. 133
Shiloh	p. 135
Charleston	p. 136
The Artilleryman's Vision	p. 138
The Colored Soldiers	p. 140
For the Union Dead	p. 144
The Blue and the Gray	p. 148
War is Kind	p. 151
Modern Warfare: World War I
Channel Firing	p. 155
August 1914	p. 157
Shadow	p. 158
Lament	p. 159
Grodek	p. 160
Trumpets	p. 161
On the Eastern Front	p. 162
Patrol	p. 163
War Grave	p. 164
May, 1915	p. 165
The Dead	p. 166
Rouen	p. 167
Dulce et Decorum est	p. 171
Strange Meeting	p. 173
Break of Day in the Trenches	p. 175
The Rear-guard	p. 176
Field Ambulance in Retreat	p. 178
An Irish Airman Foresees His Death	p. 180
Mademoiselle from Armentieres	p. 181
As the Team's Head Brass	p. 184
The Veteran	p. 186
In Flanders Fields	p. 187
Recalling War	p. 188
World War II and After
To Margot Heinemann	p. 193
Naming of Parts	p. 194
1 September 1939	p. 196
Hitler Spring	p. 197
In Westminster Abbey	p. 200
How to Kill	p. 202
Reconciliation	p. 203
Gallantry	p. 204
The Fury of Aerial Bombardment	p. 206
The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner	p. 207
Losses	p. 208
Carrier	p. 210
Carentan O Carentan	p. 211
First Snow in Alsace	p. 214
Night of Battle	p. 216
I Want to Die in My Own Bed	p. 217
How Much Longer?	p. 218
Newsreel	p. 220
"Come On, Come Back"	p. 222
General Observations
War	p. 227
Warnings Unheeded	p. 229
Lead!	p. 231
What the Bullet Sang	p. 232
On the Danger of War	p. 233
Soldier's Song	p. 234
Song for a Fallen Warrior	p. 236
The Man He Killed	p. 237
Two Armies	p. 238
Recruiting Drive	p. 240
Captain in Time of Peace	p. 242
Another Kind of War	p. 243
Acknowledgments	p. 245
Index of Authors	p. 249
Table of Contents provided by Syndetics. All Rights Reserved.

Excerpts

"The Man He Killed"
by Thomas Hardy

“Had he and I but met
By some old ancient inn,
We should have sat us down to wet
Right many a nipperkin!

“But ranged as infantry,
And staring face to face,
I shot at him as he at me,
And killed him in his place.

“I shot him dead because —
Because he was my foe,
Just so: my foe of course he was;
That’s clear enough; although

“He thought he’d ‘list, perhaps,
Off-hand like — just as I —
Was out of work — had sold his traps —
No other reason why.

“Yes; quaint and curious war is!
You shoot a fellow down
You’d treat if met where any bar is,
Or help to half-a-crown.”


"War Is Kind"
by Stephen Crane

Do not weep, maiden, for war is kind.
Because your lover threw wild hands toward the sky
And the affrighted steed ran on alone,
Do not weep.
War is kind.

Hoarse, booming drums of the regiment,
Little souls who thirst for fight,
These men were born to drill and die.
The unexplained glory flies above them,
Great is the Battle-God, great, and his Kingdom--
A field where a thousand corpses lie.
Do not weep, babe, for war is kind.
Because your father tumbled in the yellow trenches,
Raged at his breast, gulped and died,
Do not weep.
War is kind.

Swift blazing flag of the regiment,
Eagle with crest of red and gold,
These men were born to drill and die.
Point for them the virtue of slaughter,
Make plain to them the excellence of killing
And a field where a thousand corpses lie.
Mother whose heart hung humble as a button
On the bright splendid shroud of your son,
Do not weep.
War is kind.

---

Excerpted from War Poems
All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.