I Hear An Army Charging Upon The Land Poem by James Joyce
I Hear An Army Charging Upon The Land
I hear an army charging upon the land,
And the thunder of horses plunging, foam about their knees:
Arrogant, in black armour, behind them stand,
Disdaining the reins, with fluttering whips, the charioteers.
They cry unto the night their battle-name:
I moan in sleep when I hear afar their whirling laughter.
They cleave the gloom of dreams, a blinding flame,
Clanging, clanging upon the heart as upon an anvil.
They come shaking in triumph their long, green hair:
They come out of the sea and run shouting by the shore.
My heart, have you no wisdom thus to despair?
My love, my love, my love, why have you left me alone?
This is not only a poem but also a great work of freedom of thought in which james joyce stood for individual freedom always makes his opinion against war the real war that destructs the humanlife.
War a ugly thing being it is of the earthly or of the soul. Hatred core of all evil.
A great poem. The whole world has been under jackboots leaving behind 'sorrows and tears' (a la Fela Anikulapo Kuti, the great Nigerian musician)
the loss of a loved one ('my love, why have you left me alone') ? Betrayal is a theme in many of Joyce's writings, and Joyce could be expressing his fear of being abandoned by his wife for another lover. Or is the nightmare a political prophecy of World War I?
Magnificent poem of James Joyce. the poet is jarred awake by a nightmare in which an army of black-clad charioteers rides full-tilt out of the sea towards him. He feels threatened. Is this a nightmare of personal calamity, provoked by anxiety over
in this case, may be civilization in general (poets, after all, are in love with the world) which has abandoned its sanity for the sake of war.
NUMBER ONE: In this poem, Joyce, as the poet-dreamer, feels terrified by the war. When he cries out, 'My love... why have you left me/ alone? ' the 'love' he addresses,
SIX: he masterfully captures the raw vulnerability of the human heart through his powerful poetry Truly breathtaking!
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
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4/19/2024 10:18:51 PM # 1.0.0.1119
I do love James Joyce, though I do confess to puzzlement at his prose and pleasure at the irony of his poetry's utter clarity.