Winslow Homer, “The Veteran in a New Field”
Monday
I am currently working on a post applying the ideas from my book (How Beowulf Can Save America) to how we can survive the Trump years. My plan is to publish it tomorrow. In the meantime, here’s a Thomas Hardy poem assuring us that this too shall pass.
The poem was written when World War I was going badly, which serves to put the Trump presidency in perspective. After all, except for how he could hasten the end of humanity by accelerating climate change, Trump won’t be as cataclysmic as “the War to End All Wars.”
“In Time of ‘The Breaking of Nations'” takes its title from Jeremiah (51:20), with the prophet declaring, “Thou art my battle axe and weapons of war: for with thee will I break in pieces the nations, and with thee will I destroy kingdoms.”
As Hardy sees it, war or no war, farmers will continue to plow their fields and lovers will continue to flirt. The burning of couch-grass may echo a battle scene, yet unlike changing dynasties, the burning continues always the same. I am reminded of Carl Sandburg’s own poem about grass and battlefields: “I am the grass/Let me work.”
Trump is undoubtedly a disaster but life goes on. That’s some consolation.
In Time of “The Breaking of Nations”
By Thomas Hardy