Crumps

[ookami]

I can't find the meaning of "crumps" here:

In winter trenches, cowed and glum,
With crumps and lice and lack of rum,
...

And, besides the meaning here, what would be some normal usage in other ocassions?

Thanks in advance.

[ROBINDESBOIS]

explosiones I think.

[Rusty]

crumps

I had to look this one up! It's either the crunching sound that snow makes when you walk on it, or it's a large bomb. The verb refers to a crunching sound or a muffled sound from explosions. It could also mean the sudden movement of the ground (possibly a result of the explosions).

¿crujidos?
¿proyectiles?

[ookami]

Thanks Robin, it can be, where do you found that meaning?

Ahh, thanks Rusty, I think that "explosiones" would do it, unless it's "agujetas".
This is the poem, maybe the context helps:

Suicide in the Trenches (Siegried Sasson)

I knew a simple soldier boy
Who grinned at life in empty joy,
Slept soundly through the lonesome dark,
And whistled early with the lark.

In winter trenches, cowed and glum,
With crumps and lice and lack of rum,
He put a bullet through his brain.
No one spoke of him again.

You smug-faced crowds with kindling eye
Who cheer when soldier lads march by,
Sneak home and pray you'll never know
The hell where youth and laughter go.

[ROBINDESBOIS]

Perdón it´s cramps = calambres, retorcijones
crumps = explosiones

[pjt33]

Otro poema suyo lo deja más claro:

A Subaltern

He turned to me with his kind, sleepy gaze
And fresh face slowly brightening to the grin
That sets my memory back to summer days,
With twenty runs to make, and last man in.
He told me he’d been having a bloody time
In trenches, crouching for the crumps to burst,
While squeaking rats scampered across the slime
And the grey palsied weather did its worst.

But as he stamped and shivered in the rain,
My stale philosophies had served him well;
Dreaming about his girl had sent his brain
Blanker than ever—she’d no place in Hell....
‘Good God!’ he laughed, and slowly filled his pipe,
Wondering ‘why he always talked such tripe’.



Wilfred Owen también la usa con el mismo sentido de obús. Según una web que he encontrado, era jerga de la primera guerra mundial para un obús alemán de 15cm.

[ookami]

Thanks pjt33

I forgot to ask too how would you translate "kindling-eye", or better, this sentence:
"You smug-faced crowds with kindling eye"

Multitudes [con cara de] arrogantes con ojos amables

Muchedumbre/s arrogante/s con ojos de amabilidad,

hmm it's kind of difficult...

[pjt33]

Kindling es fragmentos de leña que se usa para encender un fuego. Puede ser que acá los ojos brillen de patriotismo, pero no estoy seguro.