Sonnet: On Seeing a Piece of Our Artillery Brought into Action | Be slowly lifted up, thou long black arm

by Wilfred Owen (1893 - 1918)

Be slowly lifted up, thou long black arm

Language: English

Our translations: FRE SPA

Be slowly lifted up, thou long black arm,
Great Gun towering towards Heaven, about to curse;
Sway steep against them, and for years rehearse
Huge imprecations like a blasting charm!
Reach at that Arrogance which needs thy harm,
And beat it down before its sins grow worse.
Spend our resentment, cannon,-yea, disburse
Our gold in shapes of flame, our breaths in storm.

Yet, for men's sakes whom thy vast malison
Must wither innocent of enmity,
Be not withdrawn, dark arm, the spoilure done,
Safe to the bosom of our prosperity.
But when thy spell be cast complete and whole,
May God curse thee, and cut thee from our soul!

B. Britten sets stanzas 1 (lines 1-2, 5-6), 2 (lines 5-6)

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

by Wilfred Owen (1893 - 1918), "Sonnet: On Seeing a Piece of Our Artillery Brought into Action", from Poems, first published 1931 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

by John E. Cousins , "Sonnet: On Seeing a Piece of Our Artillery Brought into Action", 1971 [ baritone, flute, double piccolo, clarinet, bass clarinet, trombone, piano, and 3 percussion ], from Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori [sung text not yet checked]
by Jason Rico (b. 1978), "On Seeing a Piece of Our Heavy Artillery Brought into Action" [ voice, piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]

The text above (or a part of it) is used in the following settings:

by (Edward) Benjamin Britten (1913 - 1976), "Dies irae", op. 66 no. 2, published 1961 [ soprano, tenor, baritone, satb chorus, boys' chorus, orchestra, chamber orchestra, organ ], from War Requiem, no. 2
- View the full text. [sung text not yet checked]

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2008-01-08
Line count: 14
Word count: 109