The Unutterable Beauty

by Geoffrey A. Studdert Kennedy

The Collected Poems of G.A Studdert Kennedy, the First World War Army Chaplain nicknamed 'Woodbine Willy' for his habit of handing out Woodbine cigarettes to the men in the trenches. WOODBINE WILLIE They gave me this name like their nature, Compacted of laughter and tears, A sweet that was born of the bitter, A joke that was torn from the years. Of their travail and torture, Christ's fools, Atoning my sins with their blood, Who grinned in their agony sharing The glorious madness of God. Their name Let me hear it-the symbol Of unpaid-unpayable debt, For the men to whom I owed God's Peace, I put off with a cigarette. INDIFFERENCE When Jesus came to Golgotha they hanged Him on a tree, They drave great nails through hands and feet, and made a Calvary; They crowned Him with a crown of thorns, red were His wounds and deep, For those were crude and cruel days, and human flesh was cheap. When Jesus came to Birmingham they simply passed Him by, They never hurt a hair of Him, they only let Him die; For men had grown more tender, and they would not give Him pain, They only just passed down the street, and left Him in the rain. Still Jesus cried, "Forgive them, for they know not what they do," And still it rained the wintry rain that drenched Him through and through; The crowds went home and left the streets without a soul to see, And Jesus crouched against a wall and cried for Calvary.

164 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1927

About the author

Geoffrey Anketell Studdert Kennedy, MC (27 June 1883 – 8 March 1929), was an Anglican priest and poet. He was nicknamed 'Woodbine Willie' during World War I for giving Woodbine cigarettes along with spiritual aid to injured and dying soldiers.

On the outbreak of World War I, Studdert Kennedy volunteered as a chaplain to the army on the Western Front, where he gained the nickname 'Woodbine Willie'. In 1917, he was awarded the Military Cross at Messines Ridge after running into no man's land to help the wounded during an attack on the German frontline.

He wrote a number of poems about his experiences, and these appeared in the books Rough Rhymes of a Padre (1918), and More Rough Rhymes (1919).

During the war he supported the British military effort with enthusiasm. Attached to a bayonet-training service he toured with boxers and wrestlers to give morale-boosting speeches about the usefulness of the bayonet.

After the war, Studdert Kennedy was given charge of St Edmund, King and Martyr in Lombard Street, London. Having been converted to Christian socialism and pacifism during the war, he wrote Lies (1919), Democracy and the Dog-Collar (1921) (featuring such chapters as "The Church Is Not a Movement but a Mob," "Capitalism is Nothing But Greed, Grab, and Profit-Mongering," and "So-Called Religious Education Worse than Useless"), Food for the Fed Up (1921), The Wicket Gate (1923), and The Word and the Work (1925). He moved to work for the Industrial Christian Fellowship, for whom he went on speaking tours of Britain. It was on one of these tours that he was taken ill, and died in Liverpool.

Reviews

[Megan Studdert-kennedy · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars! (I might be slightly biased)

[Lucy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't know why he isn't better known as a war poet. This is packed full of poems to make you howl. Straight onto my favourites shelf.