Soldier's Dream
| Soldier's Dream | |
|---|---|
| by Wilfred Owen (1893-1918) | |
Original manuscript for Soldier's Dream | |
| Written | October 1917 |
| Country | Scotland |
| Language | English |
| Subject(s) | World War I |
| Genre(s) | Poetry |
| Form | two quatrains |
| Rhyme scheme | ABBA (Enclosed rhyme) |
| Publisher | Chatto & Windus |
| Publication date | 1983 |
| Lines | Eight |
| Pages | 1 |
Soldier's Dream
"I dreamed kind Jesus fouled the big-gun gears;
And caused a permanent stoppage in all bolts;
And buckled with a smile Mausers and Colts;
And rusted every bayonet with His tears.
And there were no more bombs, of ours or Theirs,
Not even an old flint-lock, not even a pikel.
But God was vexed, and gave all power to Michael;
And when I woke he'd seen to our repairs."
Soldier's Dream is a poem written by English war poet Wilfred Owen. It was written in October 1917 in Craiglockhart, a suburb in the south-west of Edinburgh (Scotland), while the author was recovering from shell shock in the trenches, inflicted during World War I. The poet died one week before the Armistice of Compiègne, which ended the conflict on the Western Front (November 1918).