Vergissmeinnicht
Three weeks gone and the combatants gone
returning over the nightmare ground
we found the place again, and found
the soldier sprawling in the sun.
The frowning barrel of his gun
overshadowing. As we came on
that day, he hit my tank with one
like the entry of a demon.
Look. Here in the gunpit spoil
the dishonoured picture of his girl
who has put: Steffi. Vergissmeinnicht.
in a copybook gothic script.
We see him almost with content,
abased, and seeming to have paid
and mocked at by his own equipment
that's hard and good when he's decayed.
But she would weep to see today
how on his skin the swart flies move;
the dust upon the paper eye
and the burst stomach like a cave.
For here the lover and killer are mingled
who had one body and one heart.
And death who had the soldier singled
has done the lover mortal hurt.
Commentary
Vergissmeinnicht means “forget me not” in German.
The phrase ‘War Poets’ usually calls to mind names such as those of Wilfred Owen, Siegfried Sassoon, and their contemporaries from the First World War (the ‘Great War’, as it was called in its immediate aftermath); although the Second World War did produce its share of important poems, most of them were written at some remove from the trenches (the work of Empson and Auden springs to mind) (cue a flood of emails from Minstrels subscribers pointing out my ignorance of WW2 poetry). Douglas is the exception: like Owen, he distinguished himself on the front lines (thus achieving a moral stature which enabled him to criticize the carnage around him); like Owen, his poetry has a universality which speaks to readers removed from its immediate context; and like Owen, he was killed in action.
Douglas’ verse itself, though, is quite different from Owen’s; where the latter is a blend of (barely-restrained) outrage and compassion, the former’s “unquiet intensity” has been compared to the Metaphysicals - detached and clinical on the surface1, yet deeply thought-out and meaning-laden. “Vergissmeinnicht” is an excellent (if somewhat over-anthologized) example of this… the final couplet, especially, is justly celebrated for its encapsulation of the paradox of war.
— Thomas
Biography
b. January 20, 1920, Royal Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England d. June 9, 1944, Normandy, France
British poet who is remembered for his irony, eloquence, and fine control in expressing the misery and waste of war, to which he was to fall victim.
Douglas’ education at Oxford University was cut short by the outbreak of war. By 1941 he was serving as a tank commander in North Africa, where some of his most powerful poems were written (Alamein to Zem-Zem, 1946). He was moved back to Britain in 1944 to take part in the D-Day invasion; he fell in combat in Normandy on his third day there. His posthumous Collected Poems (1951) enhanced his reputation as a war poet, but in 1964 Ted Hughes’s edition of Douglas’ Selected Poems established him as a poet of universal significance.
– EB
Links
See poem #707 for a list of
other war poems; don’t miss the ones by Wilfred Owen, especially.
Show 6 commentsHide comments
From the Wondering Minstrels mailing list, 1999–2008.
Andrew Horsfield · 31 December 2001
Keith Douglas was a poet soldier, in itself fascinatibgly unusual. He was reckless, courageous,
artistic, unhappy and confused about women, incredibly young to die, somehow heroic. He was an accomplished poet at 14, and a master at 16 (Ted Hughes calls a poem he wrote at this time (Encounter with a God) flawless.) Keith Douglas had recurring premonitions of his own death. His poetry is modern war poetry, existensial, precise, tough, spare.
Kellybestford · 25 November 2003
i am reading this poem for an assignment at university and i hve taken on board all your comments…its helped loads..cheers! Kels xxx
yellow87 · 23 February 2004
I’m studying War Poetry for English Literature at GSCE level and would like to comment on Vergissmeinnicht. Not being a fan of the German Language, I was a trifle put off by the title, but i would like to state that The unquiet intensity of this piece is reminiscent of that found in some Elizabethan ‘metaphysical’ poetry. Don’t you think?
Tessa Courtney Bennett
The Milton Nole · 12 September 2004
This is one of the most moving poems ever written. The history of it’s author makes it even more meaningful. As a veteran, this poem comes to mind every time I stand above the rows of white crosses at Normandy, Luxembourg, or visit the fields at the Battle of The Bulge. Every mother’s son had but one body and one heart. God bless and keep my brother and sister veterans.—Gerald Giles, USAF
John Schenkels · 19 December 2006
hey! my name is jordan schenkels, i am 16 years old. My class and i are studying Vergissmeinnicht in my grade 11 English class. Not only is this poem expressing what a lot of soldiers could relate to, but it also expresses the loss and misery many others went through. Family, lovers, children etc…
I just wamted to say that this is a great site for getting to know more about Keith Douglas. A little hitn though, for future researchers, you should try to list the Genre, Theme, Format and so on. I’m not the best one at knowing those kind of thing from looking at a poem! thanks!
James Weidman · 17 March 2008
I taught High School English for over 30 years, and one of my strengths as a teacher was my real love for poetry. Already a great enthusiast of Wilfred Owen, during the great concluding episode of “The World at War,” narrated by Sir Lawrence Olivier, I heard for the first time “Vergiessmeinict,” and that is a GREAT POEM, in every conceivable way! I had my students read it every year after that until I (alas! in some ways) retired.
Sincerely,
Jim Weidman