Midnight Poetry: “To Good Guys Dead”
.
To Good Guys Dead
(Ernest Hemingway)
.
.
They sucked us in;
King and country,
Christ Almighty
And the rest.
Patriotism,
Democracy,
Honor–
Words and phrases,
They either bitched or killed us.
King and country,
Christ Almighty
And the rest.
Patriotism,
Democracy,
Honor–
Words and phrases,
They either bitched or killed us.
(Read more of Ernest Hemingway’s poetry here)
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AuthorScoop
October 15th, 2008 at 7:04 pm
Now, help me here, what makes this a poem?
October 16th, 2008 at 6:30 pm
the symmetry of the “y” lines (country, almighty, democracy”) offers a pleasing arrangement of words, along with the rhythmic correspondence of “king and country” and “god almighty”. so from a technical standpoint, it separates itself from prose to a satisfactory degree, in my view.
it’s overarching message, of pawns being played by power, gives it a succinct but forceful thrust, so i find that cohesion of viewpoint (especially at the time it was written) to be bold.
finally, the metaphor of being “bitched” packs a wallop (again, more significantly in the context of the time it was written).
that’s my defense of it as poetry. your mileage may vary.