August, 1914 (Vera Mary Brittain)

August, 1914 by Vera Mary Brittain

World War One began 100 years ago and this poem was written soon after it began. It's a nicely composed poem - each stanza is three  lines. The rhymes are linked through the stanzas. The middle standalone rhyme in one stanza matches two lines in the subsequent stanza. This even works for the last stanza's non rhyming word. It matches the two rhymed lines in the first stanza. It's circular.  (It's terza rima.)

And that's a nice trick. And so is war? Dunno if find merit in her argument that God makes war to help redeem humankind. Maybe she's being sarcastic?  The poem feels better to me if it's dark in humor, but if she/it are supposed to be straight laced then I guess it's not for me.

Favorite line: "And brought destruction's lurid reign"