“First March” Summary

“First March” Themes

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  The Horrible Monotony of War

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  Natural Spontaneity vs. Human Order

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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “First March”

• Lines 1-2

  It was first marching, hardly we had settled yet
  To think of England, or escaped body pain—

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 3-5

  Flat country going leaves but small chance for
  The mind to escape to any resort but its vain
  Own circling greyness and stain.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 6-8

  First halt, second halt, and then to spoiled country again.
  There were unknown kilometres to march, one must settle
  To play chess or talk home-talk or think as might happen.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 9-10

  After three weeks of February frost few were in fettle,
  Barely frostbite the most of us had escapen.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 11-13

  To move, then to go onward, at least to be moved.
  Myself had revived and then dulled down, it was I
  Who stared for body-ease at the grey sky

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 14-16

  And watched in grind of pain the monotony
  Of grit, road metal, slide underneath by.
  To get there being the one way not to die.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 17-18

  Suddenly a road's turn brought the sweet unexpected
  Balm. Snowdrops bloomed in a ruined garden neglected;

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 19-21

  Roman the road as of Birdlip we were on the verge,
  And this west country thing so from chaos to emerge.
  One gracious touch the whole wilderness corrected.

  

  

  

  

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“First March” Symbols

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  The Garden

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“First March” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

• Caesura

  

  

  

  

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• Enjambment

  

  

  

  

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• Asyndeton

  

  

  

  

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• Alliteration

  

  

  

  

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• Imagery

  

  

  

  

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• Sibilance

  

  

  

  

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• Repetition

  

  

  

  

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• Pun

  

  

  

  

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“First March” Vocabulary

Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

• First marching
• Vain
• Fettle
• Grit
• Road metal
• Snowdrops
• Birdlip
• West country
• Gracious

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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “First March”

• Form

• Meter

• Rhyme Scheme

“First March” Speaker

“First March” Setting

Literary and Historical Context of “First March”

More “First March” Resources

• External Resources

  • More on Ivor Gurney — Watch a short BBC short documentary on Gurney's life and work. 

  • The War Poets — Read about the World War I poets and their world.

  • A Later Draft — Take a look at Gurney's later revision of the poem. Notice the two added parenthetical lines and the couplet at the end, which close the poem on a much grimmer note.

  • A Reading of the Poem — Listen to the poem read aloud.

  • Biography of Ivor Gurney — Visit the Ivor Gurney Society to learn more about the poet’s life and work.