Report on Experience

Edmund Blunden 1896 (London) – 1974 (Long Melford)



I have been young, and now am not too old;
And I have seen the righteous forsaken,
His health, his honour and his quality taken.
This is not what we were formerly told.

I have seen a green country, useful to the race,
Knocked silly with guns and mines, its villages vanished,
Even the last rat and the last kestrel banished -
God bless us all, this was peculiar grace.

I knew Seraphina; Nature gave her hue,
Glance, sympathy, note, like one from Eden.
I saw her smile warp, heard her lyric deaden;
She turned to harlotry; - this I took to be new.

Say what you will, our God sees how they run.
These disillussionments are His curious proving
That He loves humanity and will go on loving;
Over there are faith, life, virtue in the sun.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

42 sec read
128

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABBA CDDC EBBE BFFB
Closest metre Iambic hexameter
Characters 726
Words 140
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4

Edmund Blunden

Edmund Charles Blunden, MC was an English poet, author and critic. more…

All Edmund Blunden poems | Edmund Blunden Books

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