Another Epitaph on an Army of Mercenaries
By Hugh MacDiarmid
It is a God-damned lie to say that these
Saved, or knew, anything worth a man's pride.
They were professional murderers and they took
Their blood money and impious risks and died.
In spite of all their kind some elements of worth
With difficulty persist here and there on earth.
This is an epitaph about mercenaries. The poem condemns the trade of a mercenary, as the author believes mercenaries lack all sense of decency and righteousness. The life stories of these “professional murderers” are only about money and death. However, at the end, the author does offer a sense of optimism, as there is still good in the world.
This poem is a fairly literal piece. It is a syllabic verse, with 10 syllables in each of the first two lines and 12 syllables in each of the last four lines. Line 2 and 4 rhyme, and last two lines rhyme. “Blood money” is a metaphoric description of the unrighteous way mercenaries earn a living. Lastly, the words that the author chose are very charged, such as “murderers” and “impious”, to highlight the malevolence of mercenaries.
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Neither the poem nor the article are stupid in themselves. However, intentionally or otherwise, the commentary leaves out the poem by A.E. Houseman which inspired McDiarmid's diatribe. That was "Epitaph on an Army of Mercenaries", number 37 in Houseman's "Last Poems" collection, dated September 1922.
ReplyDeleteOne might add that McDiarmid's rhetoric is not so famous as Houseman's.
Also, it does not scan.
I am not sure whether this poem is supposed to stand alone or be a counter-commentary to Houseman's Epitaph. If it is intended as a counter argument to Houseman Mr. Macdiarmid should be aware that the term "mercenary" was used differently in WW1. In 1914 Britain's army was professional and not conscript. They were paid volunteer soldiers in the service of their own country as opposed to the modern sense of the word meaning someone fighting purely for profit.
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