Friday Poem

Poetry
Art and Environment
Edward Hessler

Louis Menand's "The Defense of Poetry: Can a poem change your life?", (The New Yorker, July31, 2017) called my attention to August 4 1914 when Great Britain declared war on Germany.

He also wrote that "on August 5th, the first war poem appeared in the London Times--"The Vigil," by Henry Newbolt. I was very surprised by the quick response of a poet. This means, of course, that there is only one choice for today's poem.

For information about Sir Henry Newbolt see here.

There is a short bio of Professor Menand, a regular contributor to The New Yorker and also to the article mentioned above here.