New Hampshire · Chapter
To E. T. explained
The narrator reflects on a fallen soldier-poet, E.
What happens
The narrator reflects on a fallen soldier-poet, E. T., lamenting the words left unsaid between them and the loss felt both during the war and in the years after.
Themes in this chapter
Mortality and Loss
The poem mourns the death of a friend and the permanent silence of unspoken words.
Art and Poetry
The narrator cherishes E. T.'s poems and grapples with the intersection of soldier and poet identities.
Characters to notice
- Soldier Returned from War
E. T. is addressed as a soldier-poet who died on Vimy Ridge.
Key passages
“I slumbered with your poems on my breast Spread open as I dropped them half-read through”
I fell asleep with your book of poems lying open on my chest, only partly read.
The narrator physically holds E. T.'s poetry, suggesting intimacy and unfinished engagement.
“You went to meet the shell’s embrace of fire On Vimy Ridge”
You went to die in the artillery fire at Vimy Ridge.
E. T. was killed in action at the Battle of Vimy Ridge, a major World War I engagement.
“The Victory for what it lost and gained.”
The victory is measured by both what was lost and what was won.
The narrator reflects on the ambiguous cost of war, where personal loss overshadows military success.