Robert Graves' Goliath and David

Yet once an earlier David took
Smooth pebbles from the brook:
Out between the lines he went
To that one-sided tournament,
A shepherd boy who stood out fine
And young to fight a Philistine
Clad all in brazen mail. He swares
That he's killed lions, he's killed bears,
And those that scorn the God of Zion
Shall perish to like bear or lion.
But . . . the historian of that fight
Had not the heart to tell it right.

Striding within javelin range,
Goliath marvels at this strange
Goodly-faced boy so proud of strength.
David's clear eye measures the length;
With hand thrust back, he cramps one knee,
Poises a moment thoughtfully,
And hurls with a long vengful swing.
The pebble, humming from the sling
Like a wild bee, flies a sure line
For the forehead of the Philistine;
Then . . . but there comes a brazen clink,
And quicker than a man can think
Goliath's sheild parries each cast.
Clang! clang! and clang! was David's last.
Scron blazes in the Giant's eye,
Towering unhurt six cubits high.
Says foolish David, 'Damn your shield!
And damn my sling! but I'll not yield.'
He takes his staff of Mamre oak,
A knotted shepherd-staff that's broke
The skull of many a wolf and fox
Come fliching lambs form Jesse's flocks.
Loud laughs Goliath, and that laugh
Can scatter chariots like blown chaff
To rout; but David, calm and brave,
Holds his ground, for God will save.
Steel crosses wood, a flash, and oh!
Shame for beauty's overthrow!
(God's eyse are dim, His ears are shut.)
One cruel backhand sabre-cut --
'I'm hit! I'm killed!' yound David cries,
Throws blindly forward, chokes . . . and dies.
And look, spike-helmeted, gray, grim,
Goliath straddles over him.


In school we are doing a WW1 poetry section. out of 30 WW1 poems i read this one meant the most. Kinda interesting is that the title is reverse from that of the Bible, foreshadowing the death of David.... alot of things in this peom, what do you guys think????????