The Bombardment (Amy Lowell) by Amy Lowell

Name: The Bombardment (Amy Lowell)
Author: Amy Lowell

“The Bombardment” portrays a city under shellfire as rain falls quietly over a Cathedral square, Saint John’s carved head, and a gargoyle’s spout. Repeated explosions disrupt the apparent stillness, shaking rooms and filling the city with dread. In one room, an old lady and her servant Victor watch precious bohemian glasses shatter under the blasts. Elsewhere, a poet, enclosed with his candle and writing table, is torn from visions of sunshine, a fountain, carp, and flowering thoughts when the bombardment destroys his imaginative peace. Realizing that the city is being shelled, he sees corpses and cries out. A frightened child wakes in a trembling house and calls for its mother and father as the explosions continue. A weary man in a laboratory finds his retorts, globes, tubes, and phials smashed, along with the work and hope that had shaped his lonely life. He imagines ignorance, brutality, disease, and mourning, then sees fire strike the Cathedral. Flames climb its steeple, coil around Saint John, pour from the gargoyles, and turn the building into a burning mark against the rainy night. The fire spreads to neighboring houses. The old lady, unable to walk, watches a flame advance toward the red damask curtains while counting the shells. The poet runs into the street, where rain, fire, and scarlet sparks mingle as flames sweep across roofs, shops, doors, and floors. The child sees fire at the window and along the ceiling beams. As people flood the streets, seeking refuge in cellars and calling out to one another, the old man watches the burning Cathedral. Amid the persistent rain, the steeple crashes down among the crowd while water rushes through the gutters and fire roars beneath the continuing bombardment.

By Amy Lowell · First published 1930 · Genre: Fiction, Modernist Literature, Historical Fiction · 1,049 words

First lines

Slowly, without force, the rain drops into the city. It stops a moment on the carved head of Saint John, then slides on again, slipping and trickling over his stone cloak. It splashes from the lead conduit of a gargoyle, and falls from it in turmoil on the stones in the Cathedral square. Where are the people, and why does the fretted steeple sweep about in the sky? Boom! The sound swings against the rain. Boom, again! After it, only water rushing in the gutters, and the turmoil from the spout of the gargoyle. Silence. Ripples and mutters. Boom!

The room is damp, but warm. Little flashes swarm about from the firelight.

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The Bombardment (Amy Lowell) is listed on Textopian as a short story by Amy Lowell, dated 1930 CE.

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Work type: Short story
Author: Amy Lowell
Date: 1930 CE
Language: English
Genres: Fiction, Modernist Literature, Historical Fiction, War Literature, Psychological Fiction
Length: 1,049 words
Structure: 1 section, 13 paragraphs
Reading fit: Easy (6th Grade)

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Genres

Fiction — As a work by D.H. Lawrence, it is in line with his other works of imagined characters and plot.
Modernist Literature — The style and themes of D.H. Lawrence typically correspond with the Modernist period in literature.
Historical Fiction — This book portrays historical events and contexts, specifically the ones related to war.
War Literature — The book is named 'The Bombardment', which indicates a theme of warfare.