(On reflecting that the world
is ready to go to war again)

Detestable race, continue to expunge yourself, die out.
Breed faster, crowd, encroach, sing hymns, build
bombing airplanes;
Make speeches, unveil statues, issue bonds, parade;
Convert again into explosives the bewildered ammonia
and the distracted cellulose;
Convert again into putrescent matter drawing flies
The hopeful bodies of the young; exhort,
Pray, pull long faces, be earnest,
be all but overcome, be photographed;
Confer, perfect your formulae, commercialize
Bacateria harmful to human tissue,
Put death on the market;
Breed, crowd, encroach,
expand, expunge yourself, die out,
Homo called sapiens.

Analysis, meaning and summary of Edna St. Vincent Millay's poem Apostrophe To Man

1 Comment

  1. Ricky McLeod says:

    A great and powerful poem….just as relevant today as when it was written….wars come and go…we are still killing each other….mankind stays the same…..the last lines are terrifying !!!!

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