English Literature & Theology

  Dreamers By Siegfried Sassoon Soldiers are citizens of death's grey land, Drawing no dividend from time's to-morrows.    In the great hour of destiny they stand, Each with his feuds, and jealousies, and sorrows.    Soldiers are sworn to action; they must win    Some flaming, fatal climax with their lives. Soldiers are dreamers; when the guns begin They think of firelit homes, clean beds and wives. I see them in foul dug-outs, gnawed by rats, And in the ruined trenches, lashed with rain,    Dreaming of things they did with balls and bats, And mocked by hopeless longing to regain    Bank-holidays, and picture shows, and spats, And going to the office in the train. Summary, "Dreamers" by Siegfried Sassoon is a poignant poem that reflects on the tragic consequences of war, particularly World War I. In the poem, Sassoon critiques the notion of glorifying war and the soldiers who die in it, emphasizing the ...

Mushrooms  by Sylvia Plath  Overnight, very Whitely, discreetly, Very quietly   Our toes, our noses Take hold on the loam, Acquire the air.   Nobody sees us, Stops us, betrays us; The small grains make room.   Soft fists insist on Heaving the needles, The leafy bedding,   Even the paving. Our hammers, our rams, Earless and eyeless,   Perfectly voiceless, Widen the crannies, Shoulder through holes. We   Diet on water, On crumbs of shadow, Bland-mannered, asking   Little or nothing. So many of us! So many of us!   We are shelves, we are Tables, we are meek, We are edible,   Nudgers and shovers In spite of ourselves. Our kind multiplies:   We shall by morning Inherit the earth. Our foot's in the door.  Summary, The poem “Mushrooms” by Sylvia Plath uses the growth of mushrooms as a powerful metaphor for the struggles faced by women in a ...

  Leave this chanting and singing and telling of beads!   By Rabindranath Tagore Leave this chanting and singing and telling of beads! Whom dost thou worship in this lonely dark corner of a temple with doors all shut? Open thine eyes and see thy God is not before thee!   He is there where the tiller is tilling the hard ground and where the path maker is breaking stones. He is with them in sun and in shower, and his garment is covered with dust. Put off thy holy mantle and even like him come down on the dusty soil!   Deliverance? Where is this deliverance to be found? Our master himself has joyfully taken upon him the bonds of creation; he is bound with us all for ever.   Come out of thy meditations and leave aside thy flowers and incense! What harm is there if thy clothes become tattered and stained? Meet him and stand by him in toil and in sweat of thy brow Summary, "Leave This Chanting and Singing and Telling of Beads" is...

  The Second Coming    By   William Butler Yeats                                          Turning and turning in the widening gyre    The falcon cannot hear the falconer; Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere    The ceremony of innocence is drowned; The best lack all conviction, while the worst    Are full of passionate intensity. Surely some revelation is at hand; Surely the Second Coming is at hand.    The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out    When a vast image out of  Spiritus Mundi Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert    A shape with lion body and the head of a man,    A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,    Is mov...

  War is Kind ["Do not weep, maiden, for war is kind"] By  Stephen Crane Do not weep , maiden, for war is kind. Because your lover threw wild hands toward the sky And the affrighted steed ran on alone, Do not weep. War is kind.       Hoarse, booming drums of the regiment,       Little souls who thirst for fight,       These men were born to drill and die.       The unexplained glory flies above them,       Great is the battle-god, great, and his kingdom—       A field where a thousand corpses lie. Do not weep, babe, for war is kind. Because your father tumbled in the yellow trenches, Raged at his breast, gulped and died, Do not weep. War is kind.       Swift, blazing flag of the regiment,       Eagle with crest of red and gold,   ...