Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

EPITAPH ON AN ARMY OF MERCENARIES by ALFRED EDWARD HOUSMAN

Poet Analysis

First Line: THESE, IN THE DAY WHEN HEAVEN WAS FALLING
Last Line: AND SAVED THE SUM OF THINGS FOR PAY.
Subject(s): LABOR & LABORERS; WORLD WAR I; WORK; WORKERS; FIRST WORLD WAR;
These, in the day when heaven was falling
The hour when earth's foundations fled,
Followed their mercenary calling
And took their wages and are dead.

Their shoulders held the sky suspended;
They stood, and earth's foundations stay;
What God abandoned, these defended,
And saved the sum of things for pay.




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