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.
Tag Archives: World War I
The Constellated Sounds of Bells
First Sunday after Christmas Sewanee, Tennessee, where I spend each Christmas, is a great place for bells and chimes. There is the 56-bell carillon in All Saints’ Chapel—once one of the largest in the world although probably no more—and the single Otey Parish bell. There are also the bells in Breslin Tower, which strike the […]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Noel Christmas Eve 1913", Christmas, church bells, Robert Seymour Bridges Comments closed
Would I Were in Grantchester
The BBC series “Grantchester” owes its inspiration to a Rupert Brooke poem.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Old Vicarage: Grantchester", "Soldier", Grantchester, Rupert Brooke, Wilfred Owen Comments closed
Poetry Changed during World War I
The horrors of World War I created some great poetry. But not in its early days.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Anthem for Doomed Youth", "Dulce et Decorum Est", "Futility", "Happy Is England Now", "I Have a Rendezvous with Death", "Soldier", "Strange Meeting", Soldiers, war, Wilfred Owen Comments closed
Fantasy to the Rescue in Hard Times
Byatt’s book “The Children’s Hour” demonstrates many of the uses of fantasy.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged A. S. Byatt, Alices through the Looking-Glass, Children's Book, fantasy, Lewis Carroll, trauma Comments closed
