Smile, Smile, Smile
SMILE, SMILE, SMILE by WILFRED OWEN
Head to limp head, the sunk-eyed wounded scanned
Yesterday's Mail; the casualties (typed small)
And (large) Vast Booty from our Latest Haul.
Also, they read of Cheap Homes, not yet planned,
'For', said the paper, 'when this war is done
The men's first instincts will be making homes.
Meanwhile their foremost need is aerodromes,
It being certain war has but begun.
Peace would do wrong to our undying dead,---
The sons we offered might regret they died
If we got nothing lasting in their stead.
We must be solidly indemnified.
Though all be worthy Victory which all bought,
We rulers sitting in this ancient spot
Would wrong our very selves if we forgot
The greatest glory will be theirs who fought,
Who kept this nation in integrity.'
Nation?---The half-limbed readers did not chafe
But smiled at one another curiously
Like secret men who know their secret safe.
(This is the thing they know and never speak,
That England one by one had fled to France,
Not many elsewhere now, save under France.)
Pictures of these broad smiles appear each week,
And people in whose voice real feeling rings
Say: How they smile! They're happy now, poor things.
Title |
Smile, Smile, Smile
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Author |
Owen, Wilfred (1893-1918)
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Item date |
1983
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Content | |
Copyright |
The Estate of Wilfred Owen. The Complete Poems and Fragments of Wilfred Owen edited by Jon Stallworthy first published by Chatto & Windus, 1983. Preliminaries, introductory, editorial matter, manuscripts and fragments omitted.
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Digital repository | |
Repository name |
ProQuest
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Repository address URL | |
First line |
Head to limp head, the sunk-eyed wounded scanned
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Publication source |
The Complete Poems and Fragments of Wilfred Owen
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Publication editor |
Stallworthy, Jon
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Publishers |
Chatto & Windus
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Publication place |
London
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Collection
Citation
“Smile, Smile, Smile,” by Owen, Wilfred (1893-1918). The Estate of Wilfred Owen. The Complete Poems and Fragments of Wilfred Owen edited by Jon Stallworthy first published by Chatto & Windus, 1983. Preliminaries, introductory, editorial matter, manuscripts and fragments omitted. via First World War Poetry Digital Archive, accessed May 16, 2024, http://ww1lit.nsms.ox.ac.uk/ww1lit/collections/item/3346.
Permitted Use
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