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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


MOTLEY: PEACE by WALTER JOHN DE LA MARE

Poet Analysis

First Line: NIGHT IS O'ER ENGLAND, AND THE WINDS ARE STILL
Last Line: THESE BRIGHT DEWS ONCE WERE MIXED WITH BLOODY SWEAT.
Subject(s): PEACE; WORLD WAR I; FIRST WORLD WAR;

Night is o'er England, and the winds are still;
Jasmine and honeysuckle steep the air;
Softly the stars that are all Europe's fill
Her heaven-wide dark with radiancy fair;
That shadowed moon now waxing in the west
Stirs not a rumour in her tranquil seas;
Mysterious sleep has lulled her heart to rest,
Deep even as theirs beneath her churchyard trees.

Secure, serene; dumb now the night-hawk's threat;
The guns' low thunder drumming o'er the tide;
The anguish pulsing in her stricken side ....
All is at peace -- But, never, heart,forget:
For this her youngest, best, and bravest died,
These bright dews once were mixed with bloody sweat.



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