History Screams



History screams it's warning
Of consequences laid
When mortal flesh
Is golden cast
And
Graven image made

About this poem

Written December 2006

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Submitted by nfowke on September 18, 2023

5 sec read
44

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABCDEB
Closest metre Iambic dimeter
Characters 105
Words 18
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 6

Naomi Fowke

An artist who loves to paint with words more…

All Naomi Fowke poems | Naomi Fowke Books

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5 Comments
  • nfowke
    Thank you,! As ever, I am grateful for your feedback, this time I will reply with another poem " The ears to hear"
    LikeReply 17 months ago
  • Vixility
    Here’s the second comment (I’m hoping you won’t mind me crowding your comments area).

    We are mystified by a strange admiration with historic military figures such as Julius Caesar and Alexander the Great—so much so that even current political and military leaders are drunk with the idea of those bygone legacies and their ‘successes’.

    One wonders how mystified by admiration the Celts were as they experienced the genocidal onslaught and defeat by the Roman military; or the Persians by the rapacious exploits of that man we deem ‘Great’ …

    2023, and here we are having countries still invading countries! Millions and millions of people bludgeoned by a violent reality that is not meant to be. It is unbelievable and unbearable, and anyone with a conscience can hear history cry out in anguish at the perpetuation of these atrocities.

    I suspect that (as your poem points out) none of this will ever end so long as we continue to worship and idolize as heroic the conquests of people who are bent on blood and power rather than love and peace.

    I have so much to say about your poem, but let me just end with this: its title (“History Screams”) reminds me of those words once said …

    “He who has an ear, let him hear.”
     
    LikeReply7 months ago
  • Vixility
    I would like to leave two comments if you don't mind.

    About a month ago read a poem here that was thoughtlessly and unkindly criticized for its brevity. The point of the poem was that matters of justice, political power and civil unrest aren't just subjects for large epic poems such as Homer's "Iliad" or Milton's "Paradise Lost".

    These subjects, the poem reminds us, can just as easily be expressed through vastly shorter lyric or free verse forms of poetry, and can (it is implied) be just as powerful.

    One of the virtues that I find in reading your poems is that they contain so much meaning in so little a space. To be able to do that (for myself, at least) is an incredibly challenging endeavor and takes honed imagination and focus (not to mention honesty) to achieve.

    This poem of yours, “History Screams”, vindicates the point of that young lady’s poem. Her name is (I don’t personally know her by the way) is Charlotte Cohen, and her poem is titled: “Sometimes”. You should check it out, I think you would appreciate it.
     
    LikeReply7 months ago
  • nfowke
    Thank you for the encouragement, very much appreciated!
    LikeReply7 months ago
  • luisestable1
    Much can be said about these short six lines, but I will limit myself to this: you have managed to put together a whole lot into this small poem. It is one that makes one think.
    Good read!
    LikeReply 17 months ago

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"History Screams" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/169183/history-screams>.

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