But I Was Looking at the Permanent Stars

Wilfred Owen 1893 (Oswestry) – 1918 (Sambre–Oise Canal)



Bugles sang, saddening the evening air,
And bugles answered, sorrowful to hear.

Voices of boys were by the river-side.
Sleep mothered them; and left the twilight sad.
The shadow of the morrow weighed on men.

Voices of old despondency resigned,
Bowed by the shadow of the morrow, slept.

( ) dying tone
Of receding voices that will not return.
The wailing of the high far-travelling shells
And the deep cursing of the provoking ( )

The monstrous anger of our taciturn guns.
The majesty of the insults of their mouths.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 29, 2023

27 sec read
127

Quick analysis:

Scheme XX XXX XX XXXX XX
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 511
Words 92
Stanzas 5
Stanza Lengths 2, 3, 2, 4, 2

Wilfred Owen

Wilfred Edward Salter Owen MC was an English poet and soldier, one of the leading poets of the First World War. more…

All Wilfred Owen poems | Wilfred Owen Books

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