Isaac Rosenberg
The darkness crumbles away
It is the same old druid Time as ever,
Only a live thing leaps my hand,
A queer sardonic rat,
As I pull the parapet’s poppy
To stick behind my ear.
Droll rat, they would shoot you if they knew
Your cosmopolitan sympathies,
Now you have touched this English hand
You will do the same to a German
Soon, no doubt, if it be your pleasure
To cross the sleeping green between.
It seems you inwardly grin as you pass
Strong eyes, fine limbs, haughty athletes,
Less chanced than you for life,
Bonds to the whims of murder,
Sprawled in the bowels of the earth,
The torn fields of France.
What do you see in our eyes
At the shrieking iron and flame
Hurled through still heavens?
What quaver -what heart aghast?
Poppies whose roots are in men’s veins
Drop, and are ever dropping;
But mine in my ear is safe,
Just a little white with the dust.
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Analysis (AI Assisted)
This poem explores the dissonance between human experience and the violence of war, using both humor and grim irony to convey the fragility of life and the absurdity of conflict. The opening line, “The darkness crumbles away,” introduces a world where the passage of time continues relentlessly, yet this “druid Time” seems unchanged, offering no solace or resolution. The “live thing” that leaps into the narrator’s hand is described as a “queer sardonic rat,” which immediately introduces an unsettling and unexpected presence in the midst of the narrator’s contemplations. This rat, a creature often associated with filth and disease, symbolizes survival and adaptability in a world that seems beyond reason.
The image of the narrator pulling a poppy and placing it behind their ear speaks to the ritual of remembering or honoring, yet this action feels disconnected from the true tragedy of war. The narrator imagines that, had the rat been caught by others, it would be shot—suggesting the absurdity of targeting a creature simply for existing in a time of war. This is further emphasized by the rat’s “cosmopolitan sympathies,” hinting at the universal and non-partisan nature of suffering, even in the face of brutal conflict.
The contrast between the “haughty athletes” and the rat suggests a bitter irony—those who are strong and healthy, with the world at their feet, are the very ones who are more likely to die in the “torn fields of France,” while the rat, insignificant and lowly, survives. The “shrinking iron and flame” conjures the horrors of warfare, but the rat seems to pass through it unscathed, a passive observer of human chaos.
The poppies, symbolic of both remembrance and the death that occurs during war, are “ever dropping,” a constant reminder of loss. Yet, the narrator’s poppy, “safe” behind the ear, remains untouched—symbolizing the disconnection or detachment the speaker feels from the broader reality of war and death, while the “men’s veins” are forever intertwined with death’s reminders.
In its blend of the personal and the grotesque, this poem highlights the futility of war, the randomness of survival, and the way small, seemingly insignificant things—like a rat or a poppy—can offer moments of dark humor or fleeting comfort amidst devastation. The use of the rat and the poppy creates a stark contrast between life’s brutal realities and fleeting symbols of peace or remembrance. It’s a meditation on the absurdity of war, human mortality, and the inescapable march of time.