A treasury of war poetry, British and American poems of the world war, 1914-1919. Second series

5–12 September 1914

First Battle of the Marne

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Mrs. Wilfred Campbell and The Musson Book Com-
pany (Toronto): — "Where Kitchener Sleeps," by
the late Wilfred Campbell.

Mr. Bliss Carman: — "The War Cry of the Eagles,"
from The Man of the Marne, and Other Poems.

Lieutenant Ronald Lewis Carton: — "Hereafter"
and "Reveille," from Steel and Flowers (Elkin Ma-
thews, London).

THE FIRST BATTLE OF YPRES 81

Courtrai,
The warriors of Plantagenet, King Louis' Gants

And the young, young dead from Mons and the Marne
river.

Old heroic fighting men,

INFANTRY

lands,
And a Norman to a Breton spoke, his chin upon his

hands :
1 Written on the anniversary of the Battle of the Marne.

THE BALLAD OF ST. BARBARA 151

THE BALLAD OF ST. BARBARA 157

Where the hunt is up and racing over stream and
swamp and tarn,

And their batteries, black with battle, hold the bridge-
heads of the Marne;

And across the carnage of the Guard by Paris in the
plain

22 April – 25 May 1915

Second Battle of Ypres

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Colonel Lord Gorell and the Contemporary Review:

— "Ypres," from Days of Destiny (Messrs. Longmans,
Green & Company).

Captain Robert Graves and the Nation (London):

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Dr. George Edward Woodberry and the Atlantic
Monthly: — "To the Wingless Victory"; Dr. Wood-
berry and the North American Review: — "Rou-
mania"; Dr. Woodberry and Scribner's Magazine: —
"Edith Cavell."

Mrs. Margaret L. Wroods and the Fortnightly Re-
view: — "The First Battle of Ypres."

xxviii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

EASTER AT YPRES 77

On the grim plain of Flanders, whose earth is fed with
slaughter.

1 In the first Battle of Ypres, which was fought in Oc-
tober-November, 1914, a thin line of British, supported on
each wing by small bodies of French, stopped the push of
an immense German army on Calais. The allusion in the
latter part of the poem is not to "the angels of Mons," but to
a story received from a very competent witness. On three
occasions the Germans broke through the line, then paused
and retired, for no apparent reason. On each of these occa-
sions prisoners, when asked the cause of their retirement,
replied: "We saw your enormous Reserves." We had no
Reserves. This story was incidentally confirmed by the re-
mark of another officer on the curious conduct of the Germans
in violently shelling certain empty fields behind our lines.

THE FIRST BATTLE OF YPRES 79

OCCASIONAL NOTES 831

MASTIN, FLORENCE RIPLEY. She is a teacher of English
Literature in Erasmus Hall High School, Brooklyn, N.Y.

McCRAE, JOHN. He was born in Guelph, Ontario, Can-
ada, November 30, 1872, and was educated at the Guelph
Collegiate Institute and the University of Toronto, being
graduated in arts in 1894 and in medicine four years later.
He did advanced work at Johns Hopkins, and returned to
Canada to join the staff of the Medical School of McGill Uni-
versity. For a time he was Professor of Pathology at the Uni-
versity of Vermont. He served as Lieutenant of Artillery in
the South African Field Force during 1899-1900, won the
Queen's Medal with three clasps, and was made commanding
officer of the Sixteenth Battery. When the Great War broke
out in 1914 he was in London, and joined the First Brigade
of Canadian Artillery as surgeon. He served in the Ypres
sector for fourteen months, but after the second battle of
Ypres was transferred to Boulogne, and placed in charge of the
Medical Division of the McGill Canadian General Hospital.
Here he served for over two years. Lieutenant-Colonel
McCrae (C.A.M.C.) died suddenly of pneumonia and men-
ingitis, January 28, 1918. Shortly before his death he was
appointed consultant to one of the British Army Areas. A
memorial tablet in his honour has been placed in the Royal
Victoria Hospital, Montreal.

MORGAN, CHARLES LANGBRIDGE. See First Series.

25 September – 16 October 1915

Battle of Loos

IN THE MORNING

Ah! the path we came was a, path of blood,

When we went to Loos in the morning.

A little gray church at the foot of a hill,
With powdered glass on the window-sill.
The shell-scarred stone and the broken tile,
Littered the chancel, nave and aisle —
Broken the altar and smashed the pyx,
And the rubble covered the crucifix;
This we saw when the charge was done,
And the gas-clouds paled in the rising sun,
As we entered Loos in the morning.

IN THE MORNING

And there, where the trench through the grave-
yard wound,

The dead men's bones stuck over the ground
By the road to Loos in the morning.

The turret towers that stood in the air,

OCCASIONAL NOTES 327

FIRKINS, O. W. He is Associate Professor of English in the
University of Minnesota.

FRANKAU, GILBERT. Upon the declaration of war he joined
the Ninth East Surrey Regiment (Infantry), with the rank of
Lieutenant. He was transferred to the Royal Field Artillery
in March, 1915, and was appointed Adjutant during the fol-
lowing July. He proceeded to France in that capacity, fought
in the battle of Loos, served at Ypres during the winter of
1915-16, and thereafter took part in the battle of the Somme.
In October, 1916, he was recalled to England, was promoted
to the rank of Staff Captain in the Intelligence Corps, and
was sent to Italy to engage in special duties. He was finally
invalided out of the service in February, 1918. He is the
author of several books, the most recent being The Judg-
ment of Valhalla, One of Them, and The Other Side.

FREEMAN, JOHN. He has published some of his war poems
under the title Presage of Victory, and Other Poems of the Time.

OCCASIONAL NOTES 329

GORELL, LORD. Lord Gorell was educated at Jesus Col-
lege, Cambridge. He was Chairman, 1914-17, of the Grey-
holme Convalescent Home for Wounded and Refugees.

GRAVES, ROBERT. He is a Captain in the Royal Welsh
Fusiliers. He served in France for eighteen months, taking
part in the battles of Loos and the Somme.

HALE, KATHERINE. The pen name of Mrs. John W. Gar-
vin, a well-known Canadian journalist and author.

31 July – 10 November 1917

Battle of Passchendaele

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Colonel Lord Gorell and the Contemporary Review:

— "Ypres," from Days of Destiny (Messrs. Longmans,
Green & Company).

Captain Robert Graves and the Nation (London):

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Dr. George Edward Woodberry and the Atlantic
Monthly: — "To the Wingless Victory"; Dr. Wood-
berry and the North American Review: — "Rou-
mania"; Dr. Woodberry and Scribner's Magazine: —
"Edith Cavell."

Mrs. Margaret L. Wroods and the Fortnightly Re-
view: — "The First Battle of Ypres."

xxviii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

EASTER AT YPRES 77

On the grim plain of Flanders, whose earth is fed with
slaughter.

1 In the first Battle of Ypres, which was fought in Oc-
tober-November, 1914, a thin line of British, supported on
each wing by small bodies of French, stopped the push of
an immense German army on Calais. The allusion in the
latter part of the poem is not to "the angels of Mons," but to
a story received from a very competent witness. On three
occasions the Germans broke through the line, then paused
and retired, for no apparent reason. On each of these occa-
sions prisoners, when asked the cause of their retirement,
replied: "We saw your enormous Reserves." We had no
Reserves. This story was incidentally confirmed by the re-
mark of another officer on the curious conduct of the Germans
in violently shelling certain empty fields behind our lines.

THE FIRST BATTLE OF YPRES 79

OCCASIONAL NOTES 831

MASTIN, FLORENCE RIPLEY. She is a teacher of English
Literature in Erasmus Hall High School, Brooklyn, N.Y.

McCRAE, JOHN. He was born in Guelph, Ontario, Can-
ada, November 30, 1872, and was educated at the Guelph
Collegiate Institute and the University of Toronto, being
graduated in arts in 1894 and in medicine four years later.
He did advanced work at Johns Hopkins, and returned to
Canada to join the staff of the Medical School of McGill Uni-
versity. For a time he was Professor of Pathology at the Uni-
versity of Vermont. He served as Lieutenant of Artillery in
the South African Field Force during 1899-1900, won the
Queen's Medal with three clasps, and was made commanding
officer of the Sixteenth Battery. When the Great War broke
out in 1914 he was in London, and joined the First Brigade
of Canadian Artillery as surgeon. He served in the Ypres
sector for fourteen months, but after the second battle of
Ypres was transferred to Boulogne, and placed in charge of the
Medical Division of the McGill Canadian General Hospital.
Here he served for over two years. Lieutenant-Colonel
McCrae (C.A.M.C.) died suddenly of pneumonia and men-
ingitis, January 28, 1918. Shortly before his death he was
appointed consultant to one of the British Army Areas. A
memorial tablet in his honour has been placed in the Royal
Victoria Hospital, Montreal.

MORGAN, CHARLES LANGBRIDGE. See First Series.

20 November – 7 December 1917

Battle of Cambrai (1917)

PIPES IN ARRAS

Their Gaelic symphony,
Sweet with old wisdom gathered

In isles of the Highland sea,
And eastward towards Cambrai,

Roared the artillery.

OCCASIONAL NOTES 831

edited two volumes of Ledwidge's poems — Songs of the
Fields and Songs of Peace. See Mr. O'Conor's memorial
poem, "For Francis Ledwidge."

LEE, JOSEPH. At the outbreak of the war, he enlisted as a
private in the lst/4th Battalion of the Black Watch, Royal
Highlanders, and served on all parts of the British front in
France and Flanders. He received a commission in Septem-
ber, 1917, and was posted as Second Lieutenant to the Tenth
Battalion, King's Royal Rifle Corps. He led his company in
the advance on Cambrai in November, 1917, but was cap-
tured by the Germans. He has published Ballads of Battle.

LE GALLJENNE, RICHARD. He was born at Liverpool, Janu-
ary 20, 1866, and resides at Rowayton, Connecticut. He has
published many poems and essays.

OCCASIONAL NOTES 333

SCOTT, DUNCAN CAMPBELL. He is Deputy Superintendent
of Indian Affairs for the Dominion of Canada. He was born
at Ottawa on August 2, 1862, is the author of several volumes
of prose and verse, and is a member of the Canadian Society
of Authors and of the Royal Society of Canada.

SCOTT, FREDERICK GEORGE. He enlisted with the First
Canadian Contingent in 1914, arrived in France in February,
1915, and served as Senior Chaplain of the First Canadian
Division, being present at every engagement in which the
Division took part. In January, 1916, he was made a
C.M.G., and in August, 1918, received the D.S.O. for services
rendered during the Battle of Amiens. He is an Hon. Lieu-
tenant-Colonel, and in civil life is Rector of St. Matthew's
Church, Quebec. One of his sons was killed during the war,
and two were wounded. Canon Scott was himself severely
wounded during the Battle of Cambrai. His war poems ap-
pear in In the Battle Silences.

SEAMAN, SIR OWEN. See First Series.

9–29 April 1918

Battle of the Lys (1918)

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Dr. George Edward Woodberry and the Atlantic
Monthly: — "To the Wingless Victory"; Dr. Wood-
berry and the North American Review: — "Rou-
mania"; Dr. Woodberry and Scribner's Magazine: —
"Edith Cavell."

Mrs. Margaret L. Wroods and the Fortnightly Re-
view: — "The First Battle of Ypres."

xxviii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

EASTER AT YPRES 77

THE FIRST BATTLE OF YPRES l

GREY field of Flanders, grim old battle-plain,
What armies held the iron line round Ypres in the rain,
From Bixschoote to Baecelaere and down to the Lys
river?

Merry men of England,

EASTER AT YPRES 77

On the grim plain of Flanders, whose earth is fed with
slaughter.

1 In the first Battle of Ypres, which was fought in Oc-
tober-November, 1914, a thin line of British, supported on
each wing by small bodies of French, stopped the push of
an immense German army on Calais. The allusion in the
latter part of the poem is not to "the angels of Mons," but to
a story received from a very competent witness. On three
occasions the Germans broke through the line, then paused
and retired, for no apparent reason. On each of these occa-
sions prisoners, when asked the cause of their retirement,
replied: "We saw your enormous Reserves." We had no
Reserves. This story was incidentally confirmed by the re-
mark of another officer on the curious conduct of the Germans
in violently shelling certain empty fields behind our lines.

THE FIRST BATTLE OF YPRES 79

THE FIRST BATTLE OF YPRES 81

returning?

On the grey field of Flanders again and yet again
The Huns beheld the Great Reserves on the old battle-
plain,

The blood-red field of Flanders, where all the skies
were mourning.