His work has been dismissed by critics and fellow poets as archaic in style and too simple in its thought. This is exemplified in his much-anthologised poem “Trees”
----I think that I shall never see
----A poem lovely as a tree…
Such views of his status were influenced by the radical shifts in poetic taste following WWI. His poem shares his confidence in God as creator, and is self-deprecating to the point of undermining the esteem his success would have otherwise brought. This simplicity, however, is what has attracted the editors of anthologies for school children to the poem. “Trees” first appeared in Poetry Magazine in August 1913 — quickly gaining him popularity as a poet in the U.S. — and subsequently became the title piece in Trees and Other Poems (1914).
He enlisted to fight in WWI, and was killed by a sniper at the Second Battle of the Marne at age 31.
Citizen of the World
No longer of Him be it said
"He hath no place to lay His head."
In every land a constant lamp
Flames by His small and mighty camp.
There is no strange and distant place
That is not gladdened by His face.
And every nation kneels to hail
The Splendour shining through Its veil.
Cloistered beside the shouting street,
Silent, He calls me to His feet.
Imprisoned for His love of me
He makes my spirit greatly free.
And through my lips that uttered sin
The King of Glory enters in.
Entry written by D.S. Martin. He is the author of six poetry collections including Angelicus (2021, Poiema/Cascade), plus three anthologies — available through Wipf & Stock. His new book The Role of the Moon, inspired by the Metaphysical Poets, is now available from Paraclete Press.
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