Consider the Years
88. Virginia Graham, Consider the Years
This collection compiles the poems written by Virginia Graham between 1938 and 1946. Most of them were published in Punch during the war years, and most of them deal, directly or indirectly, with World War II. I would characterize these poems as light verse; most of them are funny, a few of them are sad, and nearly all of them have a playfully ironic tone. This is not first-rate poetry, but some of the verses are quite good and moving. Here’s one of my favorites from the collection:
”Overture for Beginners”
Oh, mourn for those who had songs to sing
And have sung their songs to sleep;
For the muted reed and silent string,
For the muffled keyboard, weep;
For the poet, whose shadowy half-dreamed rhymes
Before they were born had died;
Oh, grieve for the crimson lakes and the limes,
And the brushes laid aside.
Theirs now the music of great machines,
The ballad of steel upon steel;
Theirs the poetry of submarines,
The art of the turning wheel.
Beauty they seek in the cannon’s roar,
Truth in the barrack square,
Grace in the steel-grey birds that soar,
Joy in the falling flare.
Pause to remember them now and then,
The workers at home and abroad,
Who fight in the faith that the brush and the pen
Are mightier than the sword.
This collection is especially interesting because the poems trace the progress of the war and the attitude of people on the home front. I like that Graham is able to laugh at herself and to be honest about what people at the time were really feeling. I would definitely recommend this book to people who are interested in World War II.