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When it is peace, then we may view again With new-won eyes each other's truer form And wonder. Grown more loving-kind and warm We'll grasp firm hands and laugh at the old pain, When it is peace. But until peace, the storm, The darkness and the thunder and the rain.
Robert Graves
Robert Graves was born July 26, 1895. One of "the three rhyming musketeers" (the other two being the poets Siegfried Sassoon and Robert Nichols), he was one of several writers who, roused by the war and giving himself to his country, refused to glorify warfare or chant new hymns of hate. Like Sassoon, Graves also reacts against the storm of fury and blood-lust (see his poem "To a Dead Boche"), but, fortified by a lighter and more whimsical spirit, where Sassoon is violent, Graves is volatile; where Sassoon is bitter, Graves is almost blithe.
An unconquerable gayety rises from his Fairies and Fusiliers (1917), a surprising and healing humor that is warmly individual. In Country Sentiment (1919) Graves turns to a fresh and more serious simplicity. But a buoyant fancy ripples beneath the most archaic of his ballads and a quaintly original turn of mind saves them from their own echoes.
IT'S A QUEER TIME
It's hard to know if you're alive or dead When steel and fire go roaring through your head.
One moment you'll be crouching at your gun Traversing, mowing heaps down half in fun: The next, you choke and clutch at your right breast— No time to think—leave all—and off you go ... To Treasure Island where the Spice winds blow, To lovely groves of mango, quince and lime— Breathe no good-bye, but ho, for the Red West! It's a queer time.
You're charging madly at them yelling "Fag!" When somehow something gives and your feet drag. You fall and strike your head; yet feel no pain And find ... you're digging tunnels through the hay In the Big Barn, 'cause it's a rainy day. Oh, springy hay, and lovely beams to climb! You're back in the old sailor suit again. It's a queer time.
Or you'll be dozing safe in your dug-out— A great roar—the trench shakes and falls about— You're struggling, gasping, struggling, then ... hullo! Elsie comes tripping gaily down the trench, Hanky to nose—that lyddite makes a stench— Getting her pinafore all over grime. Funny! because she died ten years ago! It's a queer time.
The trouble is, things happen much too quick; Up jump the Boches, rifles thump and click, You stagger, and the whole scene fades away: Even good Christians don't like passing straight From Tipperary or their Hymn of Hate To Alleluiah-chanting, and the chime Of golden harps ... and ... I'm not well to-day ... It's a queer time.
A PINCH OF SALT
When a dream is born in you With a sudden clamorous pain, When you know the dream is true And lovely, with no flaw nor stain, O then, be careful, or with sudden clutch You'll hurt the delicate thing you prize so much.
Dreams are like a bird that mocks, Flirting the feathers of his tail. When you seize at the salt-box, Over the hedge you'll see him sail. Old birds are neither caught with salt nor chaff: They watch you from the apple bough and laugh.
Poet, never chase the dream. Laugh yourself, and turn away. Mask your hunger; let it seem Small matter if he come or stay; But when he nestles in your hand at last, Close up your fingers tight and hold him fast.
I WONDER WHAT IT FEELS LIKE TO BE DROWNED?
Look at my knees, That island rising from the steamy seas! The candle's a tall lightship; my two hands Are boats and barges anchored to the sands, With mighty cliffs all round; They're full of wine and riches from far lands.... I wonder what it feels like to be drowned?
I can make caves, By lifting up the island and huge waves And storms, and then with head and ears well under Blow bubbles with a monstrous roar like thunder, A bull-of-Bashan sound. The seas run high and the boats split asunder.... I wonder what it feels like to be drowned?
The thin soap slips And slithers like a shark under the ships. My toes are on the soap-dish—that's the effect Of my huge storms; an iron steamer's wrecked. The soap slides round and round; He's biting the old sailors, I expect.... I wonder what it feels like to be drowned?
THE LAST POST
The bugler sent a call of high romance— "Lights out! Lights out!" to the deserted square. On the thin brazen notes he threw a prayer: "God, if it's this for me next time in France, O spare the phantom bugle as I lie Dead in the gas and smoke and roar of guns, Dead in a row with other broken ones, Lying so stiff and still under the sky— Jolly young Fusiliers, too good to die ..." The music ceased, and the red sunset flare Was blood about his head as he stood there.
INDEX
Names of Authors are in Capitals. Titles of Poems are in Italics.
ABERCROMBIE, LASCELLES, xxiv, 174-177
"A. E.," xvii, 76-77
Aftermath, 192
ALDINGTON, RICHARD, 216-219
All-Souls, 44
An Athlete Dying Young, To, 38
An Old Fogey, To, 45
Arab Love-Song, An, 35
Astrologer's Song, An, 66
At the British Museum, 218
A Traveller, To, 72
AUSTIN, ALFRED, xii, 5, 27
Ballad of Hell, A, 22
Ballad of London, A, 69
Ballad of the Billycock, The, 90
Barrel-Organ, The, 154
Beautiful Lie the Dead, 78
Beauty's a Flower, 100
Before, 11
Beg-Innish, 95
BELLOC, HILAIRE, 86-89
BINYON, LAURENCE, 79-80
Birdcatcher, The, 144
Blackbird, The, 10
Blind Pedlar, The, 220
Bowl of Roses, A, 11
BRIDGES, ROBERT, 5-7
Broken Song, A, 99
BROOKE, RUPERT, xxiii, 193-200
Bugler, The, 208
By-the-Way, 211
CAMPBELL, JOSEPH, 165-166
Cap and Bells, The, 54
CHESSON, NORA (see Nora Hopper)
CHESTERTON, G. K., xxiii, 110-119
Choice, The, 131
Clair de Lune, 102
Cock-Crow, 138
COLUM, PADRAIC, xvii, 162-165
Complaint, 219
Connaught Lament, A, 97
Consecration, A, 126
Conundrum of the Workshops, The, 63
CORNFORD, FRANCES, 184-186
Daisy,32
Dauber, xxii, 128
DAVIDSON, JOHN, 22-27
DAVIES, W. H., xxiii, xxv, 83-86
Days Too Short, 84
DEANE, ANTHONY C., 89-93
Death and the Fairies, 212
DE LA MARE, WALTER, xxiii, 105-110
Donkey, The, 119
DOUGLAS, ALFRED, 80-81
DOWSON, ERNEST, 73-76
Drake's Drum, 49
Dream, A, 79
Dreamers, 190
DRINKWATER, JOHN, xxiv, 170-171
DUNSANY, EDWARD LORD, 133-136
Dust,198
Dying-Swan, The, 82
Epilogue, 161
Epitaph, 42
Epitaph, An, 107
Estrangement, 30
Eve, 140
Evening Clouds, 214
Evening in England, An, 213
Everlasting Mercy, The, xxii
Every Thing, 146
Example, The, 86
Fifty Faggots,137
FLECKER, JAMES ELROY, 178-179
Fleet Street, 183
FLINT, F. S., 205-206
FREEMAN, JOHN, 181-182
GEORGIANS, THE, xi, xxiii-xxiv
Germany, To, 225
GIBSON, W. W., xxiii, xxv, 119-125
GILBERT, W. S., xiv
Going and Staying, 4
GORE-BOOTH, EVA, 98-99
Grandeur, 201
GRAVES, ROBERT, xxiii, 225-229
Great Breath, The, 76
Great Lover, The, 195
Green River, The, 81
Gunga Din, 57
HARDY, THOMAS, xvi, 3-4
HARVEY, F. W., 208
HENLEY, W. E., xi, xv-xvii, 9-13
"Herod," Fragment from, 78
HINKSON, KATHARINE TYNAN, xvii, 43-45
HODGSON, RALPH, xxiii, xxv, 139-144
HOPPER, NORA, 97
House, A, 172
House that Was, The, 80
HOUSMAN, A. E., xxv, 36-40
HUEFFER, F. M., 102-105
HYDE, DOUGLAS, xvii, 40-41
I am the Mountainy Singer, 165
I Hear an Army, 171
I Shall not Die for Thee, 40
I Wonder What It Feels Like to be Drowned?, 228
If I Should Ever Grow Rich, 136
Images, 217
Imagination, 26
Impression du Matin, 21
In Flanders Fields, 101
Interlude, 207
In the Mile End Road, 42
In the Wood of Finvara, 50
In Time of "The Breaking of Nations," 3
Invictus, 10
"Is Love, then, so simple," 215
It's a Queer Time, 226
JACKSON, HOLBROOK, xiv-xv
JOHNSON, LIONEL, xvii, 71-73
JOYCE, JAMES, 171
KETTLE, T. M., 149-150
KIPLING, RUDYARD, xi, xx-xxi, 56-68
Lake Isle of Innisfree, The, 53
Last Post, The, 229
LAWRENCE, D. H., xxiii, 179-181
LEDWIDGE, FRANCIS, 213-214
LE GALLIENNE, RICHARD, xv, 68-70
Lepanto, 111
LESLIE, SHANE, 183-184
LETTS, W. M., 200-204
LEVY, AMY, 41-43
Listeners, The, 106
Lochanilaun, 204
London, 205
Lone Dog, 215
"Loveliest of Trees," 39
MACCATHMHAOIL, SEOSAMH (see Joseph Campbell)
MACGILL, PATRICK, 211-213
MACLEOD, FIONA, 18-19
MCLEOD, IRENE R., 215-216
MCCRAE, JOHN, 101
Man He Killed, The, 4
Margaritae Sorori, 12
MASEFIELD, JOHN, xi, xxi-xxii, xxv, 125-132
MEYNELL, ALICE, 16-17
Modern Beauty, 51
MONRO, HAROLD, 144-149
Moon, The, 85
MOORE, GEORGE, xviii
MOORE, T. STURGE, 81-83
My Daughter Betty, To, 150
Mystery, The, 144
Mystic and Cavalier, 71
Nearer, 222
NEWBOLT, HENRY, xxiv, 49-50
NICHOLS, ROBERT, 222-223, 225
Nightingale near the House, The, 145
Nightingales, 7
Nod, 109
NOYES, ALFRED, xxiii, 150-162
Oaks of Glencree, To the, 96
Ode, 8
Ode in May, 28
Old Ships, The, 178
Old Song Resung, An, 55
Old Susan, 108
Old Woman, The, 166
Old Woman of the Roads, An, 164
Olivia, To, 34
One in Bedlam, To, 74
O'NEILL, MOIRA, xvii, 99-100
O'SHAUGHNESSY, ARTHUR, 8-9
O'SULLIVAN, SEUMAS, 138-139
Pater of the Cannon, The, 183
People, 180
PHILLIPS, STEPHEN, 77-79
Piano, 180
Pinch of Salt, A, 227
Plougher The, 162
Praise, 139
Prayer in Darkness, A, 118
Preexistence, 184
Prelude, 120
Prelude, 216
Progress, 221
Reality, 186
Rear-Guard, The, 190
Reciprocity, 170
Regret, 70
Requiem, 16
Requiescat, 20
Return, The, 61
Reveille, 36
Romance, 15
Romance, 210
Rounding the Horn, 128
RUSSELL, GEORGE W. (see "A. E.")
Rustic Song, A, 92
SASSOON, SIEGFRIED, xxiii, 187-193, 225
SEAMAN, OWEN, 45-48
Sea-Fever, 127
SHANKS, EDWARD, 219-220
SHARP, WILLIAM (see Fiona MacLeod)
SHAW, G. B., 20, 83
Sheep and Lambs, 43
Shell, The, 167
Sherwood, 151
Sight, 124
Silence Sings, 82
Singer, The, 186
SITWELL, EDITH, 206-207
SITWELL, OSBERT, 220-222
Soldier, The, 200
Song, 31
Song, 187
Song, A, 79
Song (from "Judith"), 176
Song of the Old Mother, The, 53
Songs from an Evil Wood, 133
Sonnet,132
SORLEY, CHARLES HAMILTON, 223-225
South Country, The, 87
Spires of Oxford, The, 203
Sportsmen in Paradise, 209
SQUIRE, J. C., xxiv, 172-174
STEPHENS, JAMES, xxiii, 167-169
STEVENSON, R. L., xvi, 13-16
Stone, The, 121
Stone Trees, 181
Strange Meetings, 149
Summer Sun, 13
SYMONS, ARTHUR, xv, 50-51
SYNGE, J. M., xviii-xx, xxii, 93-96
Tall Nettles, 137
TENNYSON, ALFRED, xii, 49
"There Shall be more Joy," 104
THOMAS, EDWARD, 136-138
Thomas of the Light Heart, 47
THOMPSON, FRANCIS, 31-35
Thrush before Dawn, A, 16
Thrushes, 191
Time, You old Gipsy Man, 142
Tired Tim, 108
To The Four Courts, Please, 169
Town Window, A, 170
Translation from Petrarch, A, 96
TUPPER, MARTIN F., xii
TURNER, W. J., 210-211
Two Sonnets, 223
TYNAN, KATHARINE (HINKSON), xvii, 43-45
Unknown God, The, 77
Valley of Silence, The, 18
"Vashti," From, 175
VICTORIANS, THE, xi-xiii, xx
Victory, To, 189
Villain, The, 85
Vision, The, 19
Walls, 99
WATSON, WILLIAM, 27-31
Waves of Breffny, The, 98
Web of Eros, The, 206
What Tomas an Buile Said, 168
When I Was One-and-Twenty, 37
WICKHAM, ANNA, 186-187
WILDE, OSCAR, xiii-xv, 19-22, 68
WILLIAMS, HAROLD, xviii, 105
WILSON, T. P. C., 209
Winter Nightfall, 5
Winter-Time, 14
With Rue my Heart is Laden, 38
YEATS, W. B., xvi, xvii-xix, 52-56, 94
YOUNG, FRANCIS BRETT, 204
You Would Have Understood Me, 75
Transcriber's Notes: Page xv: artistocratic amended to aristocratic Page 21: s added to St. Paul's Page 40: Collge amended to College Page 71: sevententh amended to seventeenth Page 84: naif amended to naif Page 184: PREEXISTENCE amended to PREEXISTENCE (as per poem title in the Table of Contents) Page 147: double quotes inside double quotes amended to single quotes Page 209: comma added after "someone said" Page 233: comma added after Nightingales Page 234: Comma added after Winter Nightfall. State The amended to Stone, The Hyphenation has been retained as is.
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