Killed In Action Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEFGHIJKLMNHOPPQR SA HTBUVWXO YHZMA2B2C2D2MHRWE2 F2HHG2H2I2J2K2L2M2MN 2O2Rupert is dead and Rupert was my friend | A |
Only surviving son of so it ran | B |
Beloved husband and the rest of it | C |
But six months back I saw him full of life | D |
Ardent for fighting now he lies at ease | E |
In some obscure but splendid field of France | F |
His strivings over and his conflicts done | G |
He was a fellow of most joyous moods | H |
And quaint contrivings ever on the point | I |
Of shaking fame and fortune by the hand | J |
But always baulked of meeting them at last | K |
He could not brook and always so declared | L |
The weak pomposities of little men | M |
Scorned all the tin gods of our petty world | N |
And plunged headlong into imprudences | H |
And smashed conventions with a reckless zeal | O |
Holding his luck and not himself to blame | P |
For aught that might betide when reckoning came | P |
But he was true as steel and staunch as oak | Q |
And if he pledged his word he bore it out | R |
Unswerving to the finish and he gave | S |
Whate'er he had of strength to help a friend | A |
- | |
When the great summons came he rushed to arms | H |
Counting no cost and all intent to serve | T |
His country and to prove himself a man | B |
Yet he could laugh at all his ardour too | U |
And find some fun in glory as a child | V |
Laughs at a bauble but will guard it well | W |
Now he is fall'n and on his shining brow | X |
Glory has set her everlasting seal | O |
- | |
I like to think how cheerily he talked | Y |
Amid the ceaseless tumult of the guns | H |
How when the word was given he stood erect | Z |
Sprang from the trench and shouting to his men | M |
Led them forthright to where the sullen foe | A2 |
Waited their coming and his brain took fire | B2 |
And all was exultation and a high | C2 |
Heroic ardour and a pulse of joy | D2 |
Forward his cry rang out and all his men | M |
Thundered behind him with their eyes ablaze | H |
Forward for England Clear the beggars out | R |
Remember and death found him and he fell | W |
Fronting the Germans and the rush swept on | E2 |
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Thrice blessed fate We linger here and droop | F2 |
Beneath the heavy burden of our years | H |
And may not though we envy give our lives | H |
For England and for honour and for right | G2 |
But still must wear our weary hours away | H2 |
While he that happy fighter in one leap | I2 |
From imperfection to perfection borne | J2 |
Breaks through the bonds that bound him to the earth | K2 |
Now of his failures is a triumph made | L2 |
His very faults are into virtues turned | M2 |
And reft for ever from the haunts of men | M |
He wears immortal honour and is joined | N2 |
With those who fought for England and are dead | O2 |
R. C. Lehmann
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