"Break of the Day in the Trenches" by soldier-poet Isaac Rosenberg delves into the desolate feeling of alienation from the "other" that impacted soldiers in World War 1. The poem describes dawn in the middle of the war, establishing an eerie quiet that's soon interrupted by the appearance of a rat. The speaker contemplates what the war must be like from the rat's perspective, and, in doing so, highlights the horror, absurdity, and tragic wastefulness of the conflict.
Isaac Rosenberg: (25th November 1890 - April 1st 1918) was an English poet and artist. His "Poems from the Trenches" are recognised as some of the most outstanding poetry written during the First World War.
"Break of the day in the Trenches" read by Anthony Davies.
For more WW1 poetry go to the playlist "1914 -1918 World War One Commemoration" on this channel. This poem is from the album "The Great War Poets' available on iTunes and other download platforms.
'Break of the Day in the Trenches'
Isaac Rosenberg
The Darkness crumbles away.
It is the same old druid Time as ever,
Only a live thing leaps my hand,
A queer Sardonic rat,
As I pull the parapet's poppy
To stick behind my ear.
Droll rat, they would shoot you if they knew
Your cosmopolitan sympathies.
Now you have touched this English hand
You will do the same to a German
Soon, no doubt, if it be your pleasure
To cross the sleeping green between.
It seems you inwardly grin as you pass
Strong eyes, fine limbs, haughty athletes,
Less chanced than you for life,
Bonds to the whims of murder,
Sprawled in the bowels of the earth,
The torn fields of France.
What do you see in your eyes
At the shrieking iron and flame
Hurled through still heavens?
What quaver - What heart aghast?
Poppies whose roots are in mans veins
Drop, and are ever dropping;
But mine in my ear is safe-
Just a little white with dust.
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30 окт 2022
