"before Action"
W.N.Hodgson (1893-1916)
"Before Action"
By all the glories of the day
And the cool evening's benison,
By that last sunset touch that lay
Upon the hills where day was done,
By beauty lavishly outpoured
And blessings carelessly received,
By all the days that I have lived
Make me a soldier, Lord.
By all of man's hopes and fears,
And all the wonders poets sing,
The laughter of unclouded years,
And every sad and lovely thing;
By the romantic ages stored
With high endeavor that was his,
By all his mad catastrophes
Make me a man, O Lord.
I, that on my familiar hill
Saw with uncomprehending eyes
A hundred of Thy sunsets spill
Their fresh and sanguine sacrifice,
The Poem "Before Action" is about a young man who desperately wanted to enlist into joining the war. The author recalls the days he has been waiting to become a soldier the many days he has lived and the sunsets he gazes into marking the end to a day he is not out in the war. In the poem he calls out to the Lord helplessly to make him a soldier and even to die for his country in an act of nationalism. In the poem it quotes how the protagonist believes that to become a man is to become a soldier as he begs. "Make me a man, O Lord." This poem is an example of the feelings of what young men were going through as they wanted to become apart of the war because of the romanticised vision, which took place.
Just put it with the poem
"Before Action"
By all the glories of the day
And the cool evening's benison,
By that last sunset touch that lay
Upon the hills where day was done,
By beauty lavishly outpoured
And blessings carelessly received,
By all the days that I have lived
Make me a soldier, Lord.
By all of man's hopes and fears,
And all the wonders poets sing,
The laughter of unclouded years,
And every sad and lovely thing;
By the romantic ages stored
With high endeavor that was his,
By all his mad catastrophes
Make me a man, O Lord.
I, that on my familiar hill
Saw with uncomprehending eyes
A hundred of Thy sunsets spill
Their fresh and sanguine sacrifice,
The Poem "Before Action" is about a young man who desperately wanted to enlist into joining the war. The author recalls the days he has been waiting to become a soldier the many days he has lived and the sunsets he gazes into marking the end to a day he is not out in the war. In the poem he calls out to the Lord helplessly to make him a soldier and even to die for his country in an act of nationalism. In the poem it quotes how the protagonist believes that to become a man is to become a soldier as he begs. "Make me a man, O Lord." This poem is an example of the feelings of what young men were going through as they wanted to become apart of the war because of the romanticised vision, which took place.
Just put it with the poem