The Faber Book of WAR POETRY

edited by KENNETH BAKER

fffaber and faber

Contents

Introduction xxiii

Dulce et Decorum Est

To the Earl of Oxford JONATHAN SWIFT I

from Amours de Voyage A. H. CLOUGH 2Dulce et Decorum Est WILFRED OWEN 3Death Valley SORLEY MACLEAN 4

The Patriotic Imperative

from Henry V WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE 6Robert Bruce's Address to His Army ROBERT BURNS 8The Minstrel-Boy THOMAS MOORE 9Heart of Oak DAVID GARRICK 9from McDermott's War Song G. w. HUNT 10

Off to the Wars

from The Treachery of Asmund ANONYMOUS

(Old Norse) 11A War Song BERTRAND DE BORN 12from An Epistle to a Friend BEN JONSON 13Into Battle JULIAN GRENFELL 13'O what is that sound which so thrills the ear'

W. H. AUDEN 15

The Waltz of the Twenty-Year-Olds LOUIS ARAGON 16Ball's Bluff HERMAN MELVILLE l8'Oh stay at home, my lad, and plough' A. E. HOUSMAN 19

Martial Music

from A Song for St Cecilia's Day JOHN DRYDEN 20Fife Tune JOHN MANIFOLD 21

VI WAR POETRY

Pibroch of Donald Dhu WALTER SCOTT 22Cha Till MacCruimein EWART ALAN MACKINTOSH 23Beat! Beat! Drums! WALT WHITMAN 24The Drum JOHN SCOTT 25The British Grenadiers ANONYMOUS 26

A New Mistress

To Lucasta, Going to the Wars RICHARD LOVELACE 27The Soldier Going to the Field WILLIAM DAVENANT 28The Dashing White Sergeant JOHN BURGOYNE 29A Soldier's Farewell ROBERT BURNS 29The Last Evening RAINER MARIA RILKE 30Goll Mac Morna Parts from His Wife ANONYMOUS

(Irish) 31from The Iliad, Book VI HOMER 33The Colonel's Soliloquy THOMAS HARDY 36At Parting ANNE RIDLER 37

The Women Left Behind

from Lysistrata ARISTOPHANES 38Penelope DOROTHY PARKER 41In Westminster Abbey JOHN BETJEMAN 41Munition Wages MADELINE IDA BEDFORD 43Far Away ANONYMOUS 44Vergissmeinicht KEITH DOUGLAS 45

Recruiting

from A Posie of Gilliflowers WILLIAM GIFFORD 47Over the Hills and Far Away ANONYMOUS 49from Ode to St Crispin's Day R. H. ELLIS 49Arthur McBride ANONYMOUS 50'Become as little children' SYLVIA TOWNSEND WARNER 52I Don't Want to Be a Soldier ANONYMOUS 52

CONTENTS VU

Impressment and Conscription

High Germany ANONYMOUS 53'Oh cruel was the press-gang' ANONYMOUS 54The Forced Recruit ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING 55The Song of the Dead Soldier CHRISTOPHER LOGUE 56

Mercenaries

To Captain Hungry BEN JONSON 59from The Mercenary Soldier ANONYMOUS 60Epitaph on an Army of Mercenaries A. E. HOUSMAN 62Another Epitaph on an Army of Mercenaries

HUGH MACDIARMID 6x

The Training of Conscripts

Bayonet Training VERNON SCANNELL 63Naming of Parts HENRY REED 65Gas Drill TOM RAWLING 67Drill's the Thing ANONYMOUS 67Tatton Parachute Training School ANONYMOUS 681941 ROBERT GARIOCH 69

Military Justice and Punishment

from Henry V WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE 71Hazel OLIVER REYNOLDS 72The Lay of the Lash ANONYMOUS 73The Deserter ANONYMOUS 73The Deserter GILBERT FRANKAU 74Danny Deever RUDYARD KIPLING 75The Last Rhyme and Testament of Tony Lumpkin

HARRY MORANT 76from Cells RUDYARD KIPLING 77Sergeant-Major Money ROBERT GRAVES 78

Vlll WAR POETRY

The Spirit of the Fighting Man

'Because we're here' ANONYMOUS 79Roman Wall Blues w. H. AUDEN 79Song of the Bowmen of Shu BUNNO 80Tommy RUDYARD KIPLING 81'I see a Soldiers service is forgot' PETER WOODHOUSE 83from Citizen BOR Speaking H. H. TILLEY 83Soldiers ANONYMOUS 84

Unlikely Soldiers

The Scholar Recruit PAO CHAO 85from Henry IV, Part I WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE 86The College Colonel HERMAN MELVILLE 87Gentlemen-Rankers RUDYARD KIPLING 88The Bohemians IVOR GURNEY 90

Women Warriors

from Boadicea ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON 91from Jerusalem Delivered, Canto XX TORQUATO TASSO 93from Henry VI, Part III WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE 96Sweet Polly Oliver ANONYMOUS 98My Sodger Laddie ANONYMOUS 98Morse Lesson JOY CORFIELD 99

Rest and Recreation

The Ladies RUDYARD KIPLING 102Concert Party: Busseboom EDMUND BLUNDEN 104Messdeck ALAN ROSS 105Tripoli PETER A. SANDERS 105Officers' Mess GAVIN EWART 106Minutiae 3 PAUL WIDDOWS 107Shari Wag El Burka ANONYMOUS 108Leave in Mid-Winter JOHN SHORT 108

CONTENTS IX

The Consolations of Obscenity

Oh! Fucking Halkirk ANONYMOUS I I O

Generals Ride in Cars ANONYMOUS H I

The Twats in the Ops Room ANONYMOUS 112No Balls at All ANONYMOUS 112The Army Dance ANONYMOUS 113

Home Thoughts

The Soldier JOHN CLARE 115Drake's Drum HENRY NEWBOLT 116The Private of the Buffs F. H. DOYLE 117Vital Lampada HENRY NEWBOLT 118The Soldier RUPERT BROOKE 119Drummer Hodge THOMAS HARDY 120

Useful Tips

from The Young British Soldier RUDYARD KIPLING 121Insensibility WILFRED OWEN 122Lament of a Desert Rat N. j . TRAPNELL 125

Views of Death

I Have a Rendezvous with Death ALAN SEEGER 126ATerre WILFRED OWEN 127The Leveller ROBERT GRAVES 129Breakfast WILFRED GIBSON 130L.R.D.G. J. G. MEDDEMMEN 130'Death is a matter of mathematics'

BARRY CONRAD AMIEL 131

Gallantry and Heroism

from The Iliad, Book XII HOMER 134Horatius THOMAS BABINGTON, LORD MACAULAY 135

X WAR POETRY

from The Song of Roland ANONYMOUS (Old French) 156from Othello WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE 160from The Conquest of Granada JOHN DRYDEN 162from The Dynasts, Part I THOMAS HARDY 162An Irish Airman Foresees His Death w. B. YEATS 163The Volunteer HERBERT ASQUITH 163David and Goliath ROBERT GRAVES 164Aristocrats KEITH DOUGLAS 165Heroes SORLEY MACLEAN 166from War and Hell ERNEST CROSBY 168

Killing

from War Music CHRISTOPHER LOGUE 169from War Music CHRISTOPHER LOGUE 170The Happy Warrior HERBERT READ 171OutpOStS F. W. D. BENDALL 171How to Kill KEITH DOUGLAS 172

The Taking of the Koppie UYS KRIGE 173

Leadership

The Ideal General ARCHILOCHUS 175from Troilus and Cressida WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE 175from Henry V WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE XJ6

1805 ROBERT GRAVES 178from Don Juan, Canto IX GEORGE GORDON,

LORD BYRON 179Officers and Gentlemen Down Under JOHN BROOKES 180

Napoleon

The Grenadiers HEINRICH HEINE 183Russia 1812 VICTOR HUGO 184Napoleon w. M. THACKERAY 187from Antwerp FORD MADOX FORD 187A St Helena Lullaby RUDYARD KIPLING 188

CONTENTS XI

Donkeys

from Henry IV, Part I WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE 190The General's Plaque HO XUAN HONG 192The Crimean Heroes w. s. LANDOR 192The General (1917) SIEGFRIED SASSOON 192Mesopotamia 1917 RUDYARD KIPLING 193Base Details SIEGFRIED SASSOON 194A Bas la Gloire! EDWARD TENNANT 194The Old Barbed Wire ANONYMOUS 196

Statesmen, Politicians and Profiteers

from Agamemnon AESCHYLUS 198from Night CHARLES CHURCHILL 199from The Task WILLIAM COWPER 200A Dead Statesman RUDYARD KIPLING 200Elegy in a Country Churchyard G. K. CHESTERTON 201Almeria PABLO NERUDA 201'The hand that signed the paper felled a city'

DYLAN THOMAS 202

Ultima Ratio Regum STEPHEN SPENDER 203Judas and the Profiteer OSBERT SITWELL 204'The Minister has all his notes in place' RICHARD HELLER 204

Armour

from The Iliad, Book XI HOMER 206from The Iliad, Book XIX HOMER 207from Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

ANONYMOUS (Middle English) 208from Marmion WALTER SCOTT 209Children in Armour GEOFFREY ADKINS 212

Weapons

from The Song of the Sword w. E. HENLEY 213Song of the English Bowmen ANONYMOUS 215

Xll WAR POETRY

A Ballad of the Bayonet ERNEST BRYLL 216'Brown Bess' RUDYARD KIPLING 217Careless Love STANLEY KUNITZ 218Every Bullet Has Its Billet ANONYMOUS 219Grenade FRANCIS SCARFE 220Metrum Parhemiacum Tragicum EUGENIUS VULGARIUS 221

Artillery and Big Bombs

from Paradise Lost, Book VI JOHN MILTON 222The Origin of Naval Artillery THOMAS DIBDIN 227Screw-Guns RUDYARD KIPLING 228The Maxim Gun HILAIRE BELLOC 230from War and Hell ERNEST CROSBY 230Bombardment D. H. LAWRENCE 231Post Card GUILLAUME APOLLINAIRE 231Opening of an Offensive HAMISH HENDERSON 232The Streets of Laredo LOUIS MACNEICE 233from The Rhyme of the Flying Bomb MERVYN PEAKE 234Unseen Fire R. N. CURREY 236from Time YEHUDA AMICHAI 237Flames TOGE SANKICHI 238War Games CONNIE BENS LEY 240

Fortifications

from Tamburlaine the Great, Part IICHRISTOPHER MARLOWE 241

from The Dynasts, Part II THOMAS HARDY 242

Climate and Circumstances

from Henry V WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE 246Rain EDWARD THOMAS 246from The Sentry WILFRED OWEN 247Sand JOHN JARMAIN 248Property ROBERT GARIOCH 249

CONTENTS Xlll

Jungle Night 'K' 250The Bitter Mangoes GEORGE SCURFIELD 251from The Jungle ALUN LEWIS 253Winter Warfare EDGELL RICKWORD 254Destroyers in the Arctic ALAN ROSS 254from Agamemnon AESCHYLUS 256

Fellow Creatures

The Rooks ARTHUR RIMBAUD 257The Kite ALEXANDER BLOK 258God of the Flies JOHN RIMINGTON 259Louse Hunting ISAAC ROSENBERG 259from In Parenthesis DAVID JONES 260

Night Scenes

The Night Patrol ARTHUR GRAEME WEST 262Watch GIUSEPPE UNGARETTI 264The Burial of Sir John Moore after Corunna

CHARLES WOLFE 265

from The Dynasts, Part HI THOMAS HARDY 266from Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, Canto HI

GEORGE GORDON, LORD BYRON 268

Spying

from The Iliad, Book X HOMER 270The Spies' March RUDYARD KIPLING 275

Victories

The Destruction of Sennacherib GEORGE GORDON,

LORD BYRON 278Battle of Brunanburh ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON 280A Ballad of Agincourt MICHAEL DRAYTON 284Lepanto G. K. CHESTERTON 288

XIV WAR POETRY

The Battle of Naseby THOMAS BABINGTON,

LORD MACAULAY 293Borodino MIKHAIL LERMONTOV 295

Disasters

The Charge of the Light Brigade ALFRED,

LORD TENNYSON 299Isandula HUME NISBET 301Night at Dunkirk LOUIS ARAGON 302from The Fruits of War GEORGE GASCOIGNE 304

Hard Fighting

from The Iliad, Book XI HOMER 311from The Iliad, Book XIII HOMER 312from War Music CHRISTOPHER LOGUE 313from Homer Travestie THOMAS BRIDGES 313from Macbeth WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE 315from The Battle of Otterbourne ANONYMOUS 317from The Lusiads, Canto IV LUIS CAMOENS 319The Charge at Waterloo WALTER SCOTT 323

Death in Action

from The Iliad, Book XVI HOMER 325from The Song of Roland ANONYMOUS 327from The Dynasts, Part I THOMAS HARDY 331Song of the Dying Gunner AA1 CHARLES CAUSLEY 333The Conscript Goes w. s. GRAHAM 333Under the Greenwood Tree HUGH MACDIARMID 336

Naval EngagementsA Burnt Ship JOHN DONNE 337from The Victory Obtained by Blake

ANDREW MARVELL 338from Annus Mirabilis JOHN DRYDEN 341from The Jervis Bay MICHAEL THWAITES 344

CONTENTS XV

Old Ships

from The Building of the Ship HENRY WADSWORTH

LONGFELLOW 348

The Temeraire HERMAN MELVILLE 348HMS Glory CHARLES CAUSLEY 350

Sieges

from The Aeneid, Book II VIRGIL 353from The Aeneid, Book II VIRGIL 354from Dido, Queen of Carthage CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE 356from The Destruction of Jerusalem THOMAS DELONY 358from Henry V WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE 361The Pipes at Lucknow j . G. WHITTIER 362from The Pulkovo Meridian VERA INBER 365

Nursing and Medicine

from The Iliad, Book IV HOMER 367Santa Filomena HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW 368from The Wound-Dresser WALT WHITMAN 369War EDGAR WALLACE 371

Cholera Camp RUDYARD KIPLING 373Gut Catcher STAN PLATKE 375Mellow on Morphine DANA SHUSTER 375

Psychological Wounds

Suicide in the Trenches SIEGFRIED SASSOON 377In the Ambulance WILFRED GIBSON 378The Mad Soldier EDWARD TENNANT 378

Prisoners

In Prison WILLIAM MORRIS 380Prisoners of War JOHN JARMAIN 381Half-Ballad of Waterval RUDYARD KIPLING 382The Performance JAMES DICKEY 383

XVI WAR POETRY

Civilian Victims

Lidice ERNST WALDINGER 385A Refusal to Mourn the Death, by Fire, of a Child in

London DYLAN THOMAS 386How Did They Kill My Grandmother? BORIS SLUTSKY 387Green Beret HO THIEN 388Two Villages GRACE PALEY 390from Time YEHUDA AMICHAI 391The Minutes of Hasiba HOLGER TESCHKE 392

The Holocaust

from Ten Songs w. H. AUDEN 393A Camp in the Prussian Forest RANDALL JARRELL 394Shema PRIMO LEVI 396September Song GEOFFREY HILL 397

The Distant View

from Fears in Solitude s. T. COLERIDGE 398A Thousand Killed BERNARD SPENCER 399To Whom It May Concern ADRIAN MITCHELL 400Bosnia Tune JOSEPH BRODSKY 401The Newscast IAN HAMILTON 402from The Mystery of the Charity of Charles Peguy

GEOFFREY HILL 403Phooie! ROBERT GARIOCH 403

Eye-Witness

from Amours de Voyage A. H. CLOUGH 405Dead Soldiers JAMES FENTON 407

Whims and Fates of the Conquerors

Alexander at Thebes ANNA AKHMATOVA 409from The Rival Queens NATHANIEL LEE 410

CONTENTS XVU

from Tamburlaine the Great, Part ICHRISTOPHER MARLOWE 414

from Tamburlaine the Great, Part IICHRISTOPHER MARLOWE 415

from The Poem of the Cid ANONYMOUS (Spanish) 415from Satires JUVENAL 418from The Vanity of Human Wishes SAMUEL JOHNSON 419'The world laid low, and the wind blew like a dust'

ANONYMOUS 421

Plunder and Spoils

from Tamburlaine the Great, Part IICHRISTOPHER MARLOWE 422

A Personal Footnote GAVIN EWART 424The Winning of Cales ANONYMOUS 424The War Song of Dinas Vawr THOMAS LOVE PEACOCK 427The Cycles of Donji Vakuf TONY HARRISON 428

The Defeated

Cleopatra ANNA AKHMATOVA 430When the Troops Were Returning from Milan

NICCOLO DEGLI ALBIZZI 431Dunbar, 1650 SIDNEY KEYES 431'My Portion is Defeat - today - ' EMILY DICKINSON 432The City of Beggars ALFRED HAYES 433The Invaders BERNARD SPENCER 434Waiting for the Barbarians c. P. CAVAFY 435

Returning from War

The Returned Soldier JOHN CLARE 437Johnny, I Hardly Knew Ye ANONYMOUS 438What's the News? w. s. GRAHAM 440Sons of War SAMIH AL-QASIM 441The Beau Ideal JESSIE POPE 441

XV111 WAR POETRY

Basket Case BASIL T. PACQUET 442'On the idle hill of summer' A. E. HOUSMAN 443from Henry V WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE 444

Survivors

Disabled WILFRED OWEN 445Strange Hells IVOR GURNEY 447Out TED HUGHES 448Arthur GEOFFREY ADKINS 450En Route ALAN ROSS 451For Services Rendered F. G. BUTTERFIELD 452The Absent-Minded Beggar RUDYARD KIPLING 452The Maunding Soldier MARTIN PARKER 454The Man with the Wooden Leg

KATHERINE MANSFIELD 457

Enemies as Brothers

Strange Meeting WILFRED OWEN 459The Man He Killed THOMAS HARDY 460Truce PAUL MULDOON 461On the Relative Merit of Friend and Foe, Being Dead

DONALD THOMPSON 462

The Enemy Dead BERNARD GUTTERIDGE 463Love Letters of the Dead DOUGLAS STREET 463Brothers HEINRICH LERSCH 464German Prisoners JOSEPH LEE 465The Dead REN£ ARCOS 465Ninth Elegy: Fort Capuzzo HAMISH HENDERSON 466Juan Lopez and John Ward JORGE LUIS BORGES 467Reconciliation WALT WHITMAN 468

The Bereaved

from 2 Samuel 2 ANONYMOUS (Hebrew) 469from The Iliad, Book XVIII HOMER 470

CONTENTS XIX

from All Is Vanity ANNE FINCH,

COUNTESS OF WINCHILSEA 471

Lament for Culloden ROBERT BURNS 472The Soldier's Wife ROBERT SOUTHEY 473Come Up from the Fields Father WALT WHITMAN 474'Do not weep, maiden, for war is kind' STEPHEN CRANE 475Glory of Women SIEGFRIED SASSOON 476To L. H. B. (1894-1915) KATHERINE MANSFIELD 477from Antwerp FORD MADOX FORD 478Passed On BERNARD SPENCER 479Familial JACQUES PR£VERT 480Heroes KATHLEEN RAINE 481

The Fruits of War

Sonnet 25 WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE 482Rome JOACHIM DU BELLAY 483from The Fruits of War GEORGE GASCOIGNE 483from Ajax and Ulysses JAMES SHIRLEY 485from Paradise Regained, Book III JOHN MILTON 486War EBENEZER ELLIOTT 487

'War begets Poverty' EDWARD FITZGERALD 487What Did the Nazi Send His Wife? BERTOLT BRECHT 487Dead Cow Farm ROBERT GRAVES 489from Phases WALLACE STEVENS 489The End of the War 10AN ALEXANDRU 490

Civil War

from Henry VI, Part III WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE 492

War Poets

To a Certain Civilian WALT WHITMAN 495On Being Asked for a War Poem w. B. YEATS 496These Poems JOHN JARMAIN 496When I'm Killed ROBERT GRAVES 497

XX WAR POETRY

Magpies in Picardy T. P. CAMERON WILSON 497War Poet SIDNEY KEYES 499The Poet DALE R. CARVER 499The Volunteer's Reply to the Poet ROY CAMPBELL 500First World War Poets EDWARD BOND 502Trench Poets EDGELL RICKWORD 503

The Epic

from The Aeneid, Book I VIRGIL 505from The Lusiads, Canto I LUIS CAMOENS 506from Don Juan, Canto VII GEORGE GORDON,

LORD BYRON 508

from Aurora Leigh ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING 509

Arguments for War

'What is the cause, why states, that war and win'FULKE GREVILLE, LORD BROOKE 5 1 2

from Phases WALLACE STEVENS 513

Pacifism

The Pacifist HILAIRE BELLOC 514The White Feather Legion T. w. H. CROSLAND 515The Non-Combatant HENRY NEWBOLT 515Conscientious Objector EDNA ST VINCENT MILLAY 516The Conchie R. F. PALMER 517Letter to an American Visitor ALEX COMFORT 518As One Non-Combatant to Another GEORGE ORWELL 523'i sing of Olaf glad and big' E. E. CUMMINGS 527The Military Creed ERNEST CROSBY 529'One to destroy, is murder by the law' EDWARD YOUNG 530

The Religious Blessing

from Exodus 15 ANONYMOUS (Hebrew) 531

CONTENTS XXI

from The Defeat of the NorsemenSEDULIUS SCOTTUS 532

from The Poem of the Cid ANONYMOUS (Spanish) 533from The Lusiads, Canto I LUIS CAMOENS 534Hymn before Action RUDYARD KIPLING 537The Soldier GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS 538from War against War in South Africa w. T. STEAD 539The Only Way w. N. EWER 540May God Go with You, Son c. WRIGHT 541

Gods and Spirits of Warfare

Nike ERNEST BRYLL 543

Evil ARTHUR RIMBAUD 544

Fire, Famine and Slaughter s. T. COLERIDGE 545'War is the mistress of enormity' JOSHUA SYLVESTER 547from The Knight's Tale GEOFFREY CHAUCER 548from The Iliad, Book IV HOMER 549from The Iliad, Book II HOMER 550

Old Battlefields Revisited

An Arrowhead from the Ancient Battlefield of Ch'ang-p'ingLI HO 552

from Briggflatts BASIL BUNTING 553The Battle of Blenheim ROBERT SOUTHEY 554In Flanders Fields JOHN MCCRAE 557High Wood PHILIP JOHNSTONE 557El Alamein JOHN JARMAIN 558Grass CARL SANDBURG 559

The Dead

The Greek Dead at Thermopylae SIMONIDES 561The Due of the Dead w. M. THACKERAY 562from When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd

WALT WHITMAN 563

XX11 WAR POETRY

'It feels a shame to be Alive' EMILY DICKINSON 565'When you see millions of the mouthless dead'

CHARLES HAMILTON SORLEY 566

Blossoms in the Wind VICE-ADMIRAL OHNISHI 566Hymn to the Fallen ANONYMOUS 567The English Graves G. K. CHESTERTON 568Albuera THOMAS HARDY 569Dead on the War Path ANONYMOUS (Pueblo Indian) 570Corporal Stare ROBERT GRAVES 570Missing - Believed Drowned MICHAEL GREENING 571

Remembrance

Ashes of Soldiers WALT WHITMAN 573from Poems for the Fallen LAWRENCE BINYON 575Anthem for Doomed Youth WILFRED OWEN 575MCMXIV PHILIP LARKIN 576Simplify Me When I'm Dead KEITH DOUGLAS 577The Distant Fury of Battle GEOFFREY HILL 578Reasons for Refusal MARTIN BELL 579Peacetime TOM PAULIN 581from In 1940 ANNA AKHMATOVA 582Courage BORIS PASTERNAK 582Hamra Night SA'DI YUSUF 584

Peace

from Micah 4 ANONYMOUS (Hebrew) 585The Vote RALPH KNEVET 585from To Henry IV JOHN GOWER 586

'A soldier stood at the pearly gate' ANONYMOUS 587

Acknowledgements 589

Index of Authors 596