11 responses so far ↓

• 1 PodMonkeys // Apr 18, 2006 at 5:07 am

  Good poem. Ever read Wilfred Owen’s “Dulce et Decorum Est”?

  I think its funny that I should support the military (the troops, mind you. Not all of the leaders) and enjoy having been a part of it as much as I do, yet my favorite war related poems and movies are probably the most intellectually anti-war.

• 2 Miko // Apr 18, 2006 at 4:36 pm

  you subscribe to adbusters?! *swoon*

• 3 John // Apr 18, 2006 at 10:55 pm

  PM: It’s been a long time since I read it–thanks for the reminder. I’m going to paste it in this comment for all to read. For people like me who can’t read Latin: Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori = “It is sweet and fitting to die for one’s country.”

  I wish that more people had the mixed attitude towards war that you expressed above. I don’t think what you described is a paradox. I think that the world would be a much happier place if the soldiers and political leaders thought of maintaining standing armed forces as less of a glorious thing and more of a necessary evil, if that makes sense.

  Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
  Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
  Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
  And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
  Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
  But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
  Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
  Of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind.

  Gas! GAS! Quick, boys! – An ecstasy of fumbling,
  Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
  But someone still was yelling out and stumbling,
  And flound’ring like a man in fire or lime . . .
  Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light,
  As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.
  In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
  He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.

  If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
  Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
  And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
  His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin;
  If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
  Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
  Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
  Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,
  My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
  To children ardent for some desperate glory,
  The old Lie: Dulce et Decorum est
  Pro patria mori.

• 4 John // Apr 18, 2006 at 11:00 pm

  Miko: *blush* I don’t subscribe to Adbusters, but it’s one of my favorite magazines. I buy it off the rack fairly regularly, along with Colors, Bitch and a few other counter-culture ‘zines.

  I really, really love magazines, and spend way too much money on them. I’m thinking of doing a post on my faves. Do you have any recommendations?

• 5 John // Apr 18, 2006 at 11:09 pm

  PM, did you have Mr. Dodd for senior English? He introduced us to the following poem. I still have it, on a sheet of yellow ditto paper, with tick marks to show inflected syllables:

  Had he and I but met
  By some old ancient inn,
  We should have set us down to wet
  Right many a nipperkin!

  But ranged as infantry,
  And staring face to face,
  I shot at him as he at me,
  And killed him in his place.

  I shot him dead because–
  Because he was my foe,
  Just so: my foe of course he was;
  That’s clear enough; although

  He thought he’d ‘list, perhaps,
  Off-hand like–just as I–
  Was out of work–had sold his traps–
  No other reason why.

  Yes; quaint and curious war is!
  You shoot a fellow down
  You’d treat, if met where any bar is,
  Or help to half a crown.

  He also got me into A.E. Houseman, who wrote a lot of poems about dead young men (his poetry became very popular during WWI).

• 6 PodMonkeys // Apr 19, 2006 at 3:26 am

  John: Nope. Didn’t have Mr. Dodd, but I did have that lovable crazy old coot with no eye brows and the Mona Lisa and Shakespeare ties, Mr. Letterer.
  I’ve got a little book of WWI war poetry that Joy gave me for XMas one year. I still have to go through it, but its got some good stuff in it, like “In Flander’s Fields”, which is one of my favorites.

  I’ve got some movie favorites to mention: “Behind the Lines” (1998) is a good movie about WWI soldiers sent to an asylum to get fixed up before getting sent back to the front. At the asylum is Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon. And of course “Thin Red Line”. The HBO Series “Band of Brothers”, which is one of the best war series I’ve ever seen, is a very good show to see why war sucks. We also can’t forget “Catch 22″.

  Suicide in the Trenches (Sassoon)

  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.

• 7 PodMonkeys // Apr 19, 2006 at 3:26 am

  oops! Only the title was supposed to be bold, not the whole poem!

• 8 Miko // Apr 19, 2006 at 4:44 pm

  This may be a little off-topic by now, but, Mr. Pilgrim, I enjoy a good Mother Jones & just discovered Natural Home & Garden, which I also like (although I don’t have a house, yet). I also like Cook’s Illustrated…so, if that’s not the gambit of types, we also get Maxim & Time at our apt. The Sports Illustrated goes to the neighbor (my husband managed to accidentally subscribe, for four years, to three magazines. And it’s been more than that now, but they won’t stop sending them. They let us “switch” if we want, but that means that they send the originals and the new ones…it’s really odd and I suppose would be a great deal if I didn’t wish we weren’t killing quite so many trees.

  And more on-topic: is anyone else in the room a fan of the Black Adder? The fourth season (the Black Adder Goes Fourth) took place during WWI (I believe). And while it’s not technically a poem, the final episode was poetic & I cry whene’re I see it: the cast runs off, after getting the order to advance, toward the Germans across a field. There is gunfire, mine explosions, and screaming. The sound & picture fade out & the field grows wildflowers just before credits roll.

  Where have all the young men gone?

• 9 pilgrimgirl // Apr 19, 2006 at 9:16 pm

  Miko: I’ve watched a few episodes of the Black Adder, so long ago that it was probably the first season. I’m a huge Rowan Atkinson fan (my fav of his shows is Thin Blue Line), so I’d undoubtedly enjoy the 4th season of BA. I’ve added it to my netflix queue just now. Thanks for the recommendation!

• 10 PodMonkeys // Apr 20, 2006 at 3:02 am

  Miko: Thats my favorite episode of all the Blackadders! Immensly sad, but still my favorite episode.

  On a side note, Rowan Atkinson plays a great Doctor Who!

• 11 Miko // Apr 20, 2006 at 5:32 pm

  Ms. Pilgrim: thank you, too, for the recommendation! To NetFlix I go

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