I need help in identifying the following poem:
Have you seen men when they come from the line?
tottering, doddering, as tho the bad wine
Had drugged their very souls?
Their garments wrent with holes and caked with mud and
streaked with blood of others and their own,
haggard, weary limbed, chilled to the bone.

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Request for Question Clarification by leli-ga on 25 Oct 2002 03:45 PDT

Hello

I wish one of us had found you your answer - but this poem is proving
elusive. At first I didn't think it would be too hard to find,
flicking through collections of First World War poetry, betting on
Sassoon as the likeliest poet. However, I think we need to ask you if
you have any clues for us. For instance, where did you read it? Do you
know if it is a complete poem or an extract?  I may go on trying with
this for my own peace of mind!

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Request for Question Clarification by araminty-ga on 25 Oct 2002 04:03 PDT

Is it Wilfred Owen?  It is neither of his most famous works, Dulce et
Decorum Est (http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu/~benjamin/316kfall/316ktexts/owendulce.html)
or Anthem For A Doomed Youth
(http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu/~benjamin/316kfall/316ktexts/owenanthem.html)

But you can see the style is very similar.  

I don't have the complete works of Owen here at home... if I'm in the
(small local) library tomorrow, I'll have a look!
A.