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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
PER ARDUA, by JOHN GILLESPIE MAGEE JR. Poet's Biography First Line: They must have climbed the white mists of the morning Last Line: Night's darkness, and valhalla's silence now? Subject(s): Britain, Battle Of (1940) | |||
Per Ardua Ad Astra: Motto of the Royal Canadian Air Force. (To those who gave their lives to England during the Battle of Britain and left such a shining example for us to follow, these lines are dedicated.) They must have climbed the white mists of the morning; They that have soared, before the world's awake, To herald up their foemen to them, scorning The thin dawn's rest their weary folk might take; Some that left other mouths to tell the story Of high blue battle,—quite young limbs that bled; How they had thundered up the clouds to glory Or fallen to an English field stained red; Because my faltering feet would fail I find them Laughing beside me, steadying the hand That seeks their deadly courage—yet behind them The cold light dies in that once brilliant land ... Do these, who help the quickened pulse run slowly, Whose stern remembered image cools the brow— To the far dawn of Victory know only Night's darkness, and Valhalla's silence now? | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...CHAMBER MUSIC: 28 by JAMES JOYCE THE GOODLY SONG by PAUL VERLAINE TRANSFORMATIONS by THOMAS HARDY ON SOMETHING THAT WALKS SOMEWHERE by BEN JONSON LAMENT OF THE FRONTIER GUARD by LI PO THE BRAES OF YARROW by JOHN LOGAN (1748-1788) |
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