Tag Archives: Memorial Day

The Heartbreak in the Heart of Things

By Robin Bates | Published: May 26, 2024

For Memorial Day, here’s a simple but powerful poem by World War I veteran Wilfrid Wilson Gipson.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged survivor guilt, Wilfrid Wilson Gipson, World War I | Comments closed

How Weigh the Cost of the War Dead?

By Robin Bates | Published: May 29, 2022

In “The Watchers,” Whittier honors the fallen while seeing the necessity of war to bring about freedom.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Watchers", Civil War, John Greenleaf Whittier, slavery | Comments closed

Always We Shall Walk with the Young Dead

By Robin Bates | Published: May 30, 2021

Edith Wharton’s “The Young Dead” captures the sadness of Memorial Day.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Young Dead", death and dying, Edith Wharton | Comments closed

There Watched I for the Dead

By Robin Bates | Published: May 24, 2020

In Owen’s “Unreturning,” our poem for Memorial Day, the poet excoriates those who use religion to justify warfare.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Unreturning", war, war dead, Wilfred Owen | Comments closed

How Sleep the Brave

By Robin Bates | Published: May 26, 2019

Memorial Day Looking back over the blog, I’m surprised that I have never posted William Collins’s “How Sleep the Brave” on Memorial Day. According to Samuel Johnson’s Lives of the Poets, Collins “loved fairies, genii, giants, and monsters,” and we see him merging fantasy, nature imagery, and high-minded allegory in this tribute to fallen soldiers. […]

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Soldier Rest", "How Sleep the Brave", Sir Walter Scott, war poems, William Collins | Comments closed

Mourning the Mouthless Dead

By Robin Bates | Published: May 28, 2018

Charles Hamilton Sorley, killed early in World War I, penned anti-war poetry that anticipated Wilfred Owen.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "When you see millions of the mouthless dead", Charles Hamilton Sorley, war, Wilfred Owen, World War I | Comments closed

Memorial Day: Anthem for Doomed Youth

By Robin Bates | Published: May 29, 2017

With Memorial Day, there is the danger that we will romanticize the deaths of the fallen rather than face up to the full tragedy. This tension can be seen in a number of World War I poems, some of which romanticize the fallen while others dwell on the absurdity of their deaths.