Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

WAR IS KIND: 31 by STEPHEN CRANE

Poet Analysis

First Line: ONCE I SAW THEE IDLY ROCKING
Last Line: AND MAKE HER MOURN WITH MY MOURNING.
Subject(s): MOURNING; BEREAVEMENT;
@3Once I saw thee idly rocking
-- Idly rocking --
And chattering girlishly to other girls,
Bell-voiced, happy,
Careless with the stout heart of unscarred womanhood,
And life to thee was all light melody.
I thought of the great storms of love as I knew it.
Torn, miserable, and ashamed of my open sorrow,
I thought of the thunders that lived in my head,
And I wished to be an ogre,
And hale and haul my beloved to a castle,
And there use the happy cruel one cruelly,
And make her mourn with my mourning.@1



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