Poetry Meme

[athelind]

So far, I've only seen this in paka's journal, but here's something topical:

T H E S E C O N D C O M I N G
William Butler Yeats -- 1921

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in the sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

Comments

[hafoc.livejournal.com]

One of my small collection of (poorly) memorized poems, and a fine choice. I chose to memorize it after September 11th.

[velvetpage.livejournal.com]

I studied this in grade 13 English, long before September 11. I recall being very disturbed by it, and some of the other doomsday type poetry we studied in that class. I can't remember the author, but a bit of world war I poetry which I've never forgotten has as title and ironic punchline: "Dulcet et decorum est pour patria mouri." (I have no idea if my Latin is decent; I studied French instead. That's how it's pronounced, more or less.)

At least it was better than most of the sickly-sweet romantic stuff. "A Thing of beauty is a joy forever," etc, etc. It bored me then, and it bores me now. But it taught me how to write an essay on poetic imagery!

[r-caton.livejournal.com]

There's a book published by a young officer of that War (Edwin Campion Vaughan I think...yes http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/search-handle-form/026-0897870-3762800 thanks Google) using the phrase "Some Desperate Glory" from the same poem.
"If you had seen the cart we threw him in..."
Can't think of it without understanding the deadly fear of another world conflict that must have been a contributor to the appeasement of the 1930's....
not that it did any good. (Then again could we have won without that time to update and rearm from '31 onwards?)

[r-caton.livejournal.com]

Irony...Vaughan died in the 30's (from post operational complications I think) having survived the hell of the Western Front.
Oh BTW it's "Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori"
I'm not a Latin scholar either...just a pedant! sorry.

[velvetpage.livejournal.com]

That's the one. As I remember, it's a description of the state of some wounded soldiers, right after an attack of chlorine gas. Graphic, to say the least.

The fact is, the general malaise of "never again" that followed WWI resulted in a whole bunch of steps to WWII. I'm not of the school of thought which believes II was the inevitable result of I, but they are certainly closely connected. If the American banks had managed to avoid the Crash of '29, or had not called in their international reconstruction/reparation loans when the Crash happened, WWII would probably have been avoided.

Frankly, my feeling is that the American banks have at least as much responsibility for WWII as the diplomats who appeased Hitler in the 30's. They lent money to all parties, including lending money to Germany so Germany could pay reparations to the Entente. By 29, the German economy had had ten years of mess and was just starting to look like it might stabilize, when the Crash hit. So what does Mr. Morgan decide to do? He calls in the reparations and reconstruction loans. Since Germany has been using its reparations loans to pay Britain and France, who in turn have been using that money to pay off their war loans from J.P Morgan, what we've got is a money circle which begins and ends in the States. Calling it in caused the circle to crash, and spread the (at that time localized, American) depression to the rest of the world. The betrayal and disappointment the Germans felt at that were totally understandable, and it was not surprising that the Weinmar Republic fell as a result.

There, that's my history lesson on why America wasn't the saviour of the world in 1941. They contributed to the problem. It was only fair that they help fix the mess they caused.

[r-caton.livejournal.com]

And you are American?
Makes a refreshing change on the way some folks see it....
Looking back with hindsight it becomes frighteningly clear how much was due to our allies, how much to the fact that the Germans couldn't bomb America they way they could - and did - our manufacturing centres, and how much in some cases sheer dumb luck helped some things to happen.
We won the war together, but I would suggest that in some ways we lost the peace.....

[velvetpage.livejournal.com]

I'm not American. I'm Canadian. My grandfather was an RAF mechanic, patching up Spitfires to get them back in the air as fast as possible while my grandmother cowered in the Underground with my infant aunt. So if I look on America's attitude towards WWII with a somewhat jaundiced eye, I have good reason.

On the one hand, America did save some butts, in both wars. On the other hand, their financing-without-interfering created a climate where a second war was nearly inevitable. Also, America was high on the list of interest groups who wanted Germany to have to pay reparations in 1919. Wilson knew very well that England and France couldn't afford to pay back their war loans unless Germany was paying them reparations. Basically, they set up the problem, and then acted annoyed that no one jumped for joy when they decided to save the situation two years late.

Meanwhile, Canada's war machine contributed more per capita than any other allied country except Britain, who really had no choice. We even contributed more on a per-capita basis than the States did when they finally decided to help clean up their mess. The fact that we had ten million people to do it with instead of a hundred million doesn't change the percentage of GNP.

I think that's enough of a rant for one day. :)

[r-caton.livejournal.com]

AHA! My dad was in the Army during WW2, went through D Day so I'm told by Mum but he died when I was 7....
I had an uncle who dies a couple of years back who flew Spitfires...was trained in the USA (Florida I think) but missed the Battle of Britain, got his wings just after. Crash landed a Spitfire once I believe....I wonder whether he ever met your grandfather? The world is probably small enough.

So much that generation could have told us if they were willing to talk (I don't recall Dad mentioning the War and Grandad never spoke much about the first War....I realised recently he'd been at Gallipoli!) and of course if we'd been listening...

[velvetpage.livejournal.com]

My grandfather spent most of his adult life, at least what I remember of it, dressed in a bathrobe, smoking his pipe in one particular chair. We know now that he passed hereditary depression on to most of his descendants, though I seem to have missed it. He didn't talk about the war, either.

I remember my grandmother telling stories about the civilian side of the Battle of Britain. I also remember the story of Grandad leaving Singapore just after the war started, but obviously before Pearl Habour. He'd been called home to be a drill seargeant for new recruits. The mechanic part, apparently, came later - he was in training when the Battle of Britain began. I can't help but think sometimes about how such a simple thing as volunteering to come home from the East not only saved his life, but created the possibility of mine and all those connected to me. If he'd stayed a few more months. . . well.

The listening is the big thing. I teach at an elementary school, and there are a lot of stories I can't tell there, because of our high refugee population. You don't tell stories about the grandfather who just barely escaped the Japanese, when there are kids in your class who watched relatives being shot on the street in Bosnia or Sierra Leone. It's a shame, actually. These kids need to hear these stories, and many of them never will.

[r-caton.livejournal.com]

My sister teaches at a primary school....neicehas degree as Graphic Artist, works with the kids who need special handling...she'll be aiming to get the paperwork to be a full teacher..same school..Bro In Law is welfare Assistant & gofer (actually a vital part of school operations) at another school.
Me, I'm just a service engineer. I don't get on with kids overmuch except when sis cons me with the old red robe and beard business once a year ...but I'm trying to avoid that!

[r-caton.livejournal.com]

BTW Mum goes to sisters class and hears the children read.....
She's been called on to explain what it was like during WW2 with a few artifacts we have about (blackout lantern, tin helmets!)

[velvetpage.livejournal.com]

Oh, come on. Santa is fun!

My daughter looks at every picture of Santa Claus and yells, "Opa! Opa!" She's right, too - my father-in-law plays Santa in a local mall every year, complete with real white beard.

I'm thinking we're clogging up Athelind's journal with personal stuff. Can I friend you?

[r-caton.livejournal.com]

Sho' can!

[r-caton.livejournal.com]

I posted a song lyric from my youth...will that do?