The Quesion
The Quesion - meaning Summary
Burden of Undeserved Salvation
The speaker asks how he can live with himself if others died for a cause that ultimately turns out to have set him free. He imagines being proven the central figure for whom a world sacrificed itself, yet having denied or failed them. The poem explores survivor guilt, moral responsibility, and the torment of being potentially unworthy of others' sacrifice, questioning justification and conscience after collective loss.
Read Complete AnalysesBrethren, how shall it fare with me When the war is laid aside, If it be proven that I am he For whom a world has died? If it be proven that all my good, And the greater good I will make, Were purchased me by a multitude Who suffered for my sake? That I was delivered by mere mankind Vowed to one sacrifice, And not, as I hold them, battle-blind, But dying with open eyes? That they did not ask me to draw the sword When they stood to endure their lot -- That they only looked to me for a word, And I answered I knew them not? If it be found, when the battle clears, Their death has set me free, Then how shall I live with myself through the years Which they have bought for me? Brethren, how must it fare with me, Or how am I justified, If it be proven that I a mhe For whom mankind has died -- If it be proven that I am he Who, being questioned, denied?
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