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Poetry reader Montello Heldring G4B 9/30/2011

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Page 1: Poetry Reader

Poetry readerMontello Heldring G4B

9/30/2011

Page 2: Poetry Reader

Poetry readerOctober 7, 2011

Table of Contents

1. The Happy Warrior – Herbert Read 2

2. How to Die – Siegfried Sassoon 3

3. Songbooks of the War – Siegfried Sassoon 4

4. Before Action – W.N. Hodgson 5

5. Back – Wilfrid Gibson 6

6. War – Montello Heldring 7

7. Death a Poem – William Butler Yeats 8

8. George Washington – James Russell Lowell 9

9. Last Stand – Alex Cockerill 10

10. That’s War – Kavita Jindal 11

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Page 3: Poetry Reader

Poetry readerOctober 7, 2011

1. The Happy Warrior - Herbert Read

His wild heart beats with painful sobs,His strain'd hands clench an ice-cold rifle,His aching jaws grip a hot parch'd tongue,His wide eyes search unconsciously.

He cannot shriek.

Bloody salivaDribbles down his shapeless jacket.

I saw him stabAnd stab againA well-killed Boche.

This is the happy warrior,This is he...

Vocabulary list (English – Dutch)

Sob – SnikkenStrained – Ingespannen, Overbelast, GeforceerdAching – Pijn lijdendParched – Verdord, UitgedroogdShriek – Gillen, huilgeluidSaliva – SpeekselBoche – Slang term for a German soldier during World War I and II

About the author:

Sir Herbert Edward Read was an English poet, anarchist, and critic of literature and art. Read was born in 1893 in Kirkbymoorside. He studied at the University of Leeds but was interrupted because WW I broke out during which he served with the Green Howards (British army division) in France. During his life he wrote many books and poems about war and anarchism. Read died in 1968.

Interpretation:

Herbert Read’s Happy Warrior is a poem about a soldier who’s fighting in the first World War. It is written from the perspective of a person who is watching the soldier from a distance. The soldier is dehydrated and there’s blood coming out of his mouth. The jacket he’s wearing is in tatters, it is ‘shapeless’. He’s stabbing an already dead German soldier but he’s anything but happy. At the end the poem is cut off because the person who’s watching stopped watching or simply moved is head away because he doesn’t want to keep telling what’s happening.

Time Frame:

Happy Warrior was written after World War I. Read gained his inspiration from his experiences in the war. ‘Happy Warrior’ was in his second poem collection, called ‘Naked Warriors’ published in 1919.

Cultural Relevance:

Herbert Read was part of the so-called Great War generation poets, but Read arguably stood out. W.B. Yeats chose many poets of the Great War generation for the ‘Oxford Book of Modern Verse’, but Read stood out because his featured work covered 17 pages. On 11 November 1985, Read was among sixteen Great War poets commemorated on a slate stone unveiled in Westminster Abbey's Poet's Corner.

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Page 4: Poetry Reader

Poetry readerOctober 7, 2011

2. How to Die – Siegfried Sassoon

Dark clouds are smouldering into red  While down the craters morning burns.The dying soldier shifts his head  To watch the glory that returns;He lifts his fingers toward the skies  Where holy brightness breaks in flame;Radiance reflected in his eyes,  And on his lips a whispered name.You'd think, to hear some people talk,  That lads go West with sobs and curses,And sullen faces white as chalk,  Hankering for wreaths and tombs and hearses.But they've been taught the way to do it  Like Christian soldiers; not with hasteAnd shuddering groans; but passing through it  With due regard for decent taste.

Vocabulary list:

Radiance – StralingHearses – LijkwagensSullen – Slecht gehumeurdHankering – Hunkeren naar

About the author:

Siegfried Sassoon, (8 September 1886 – 1 September 1967) was an English author, poet and soldier. He was member of the wealthy Jewish Sassoon merchant family. On the outbreak of the First World War Sassoon enlisted as a cavalry trooper in the Sussex Yeomanry.

After being wounded in April 1917, Sassoon was sent back to England. Sassoon had grown increasingly angry about the tactics being employed by the British Army and in July 1917 published a Soldier's Declaration, which announced that "I am making this statement as an act of wilful defiance of military authority, because I believe that the war is being deliberately prolonged by those who have the power to end it."

Sassoon's hostility to war was also reflected in his poetry. During the war Sassoon developed a harshly satirical style that he used to attack the incompetence and inhumanity of senior military officers. These poems caused great controversy when they were published in The Old Huntsman (1917) and Counter-Attack (1918).

Interpretation:

‘How to Die’ is about a soldier dying on the battlefield. It is probably almost dawn since the sun is breaking through at the beginning of the poem. The soldier is dying in the ‘perfect’ way as he was taught; not with haste, not shuddering, but passing through it. Probably because he knows he’s going to a better place. No funeral is waiting for him, only death.

Cultural Relevance:

On 11 November 1985, Sassoon also was among sixteen Great War poets commemorated on a slate stone unveiled in Westminster Abbey's Poet's Corner. This poem has no particular cultural relevance itself.

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Page 5: Poetry Reader

Poetry readerOctober 7, 2011

3. Songbooks of the War – Siegfried Sassoon In fifty years, when peace outshinesRemembrance of the battle lines,Adventurous lads will sigh and castProud looks upon the plundered past.On summer morn or winter’s night,Their hearts will kindle for the fight,Reading a snatch of soldier-song,Savage and jaunty, fierce and strong;And through the angry marching rhymesOf blind regret and haggard mirth,They’ll envy us the dazzling timesWhen sacrifice absolved our earth. Some ancient man with silver locksWill lift his weary face to say:“War was a fiend who stopped our clocksAlthough we met him grim and gay.”And then he’ll speak of Haig’s last drive,Marvelling that any came aliveOut of the shambles that men builtAnd smashed, to cleanse the world of guilt.But the boys, with grin and sidelong glance,Will think, “Poor granddad’s day is done.”And dream of those who fought in FranceAnd lived in time to share the fun.

Vocabulary list:

Morn – OchtendKindle – OnbrandenJaunty – Blij, modieusHaggard – Moe, dun (uitgeput van werken)Mirth – BlijdschapAbsolved – Onschuldig gemaaktMarvelling – Verwonderen (over iets fantastisch)Shambles – Slagerij, een ongeorderde staat van zijn

Interpretation

This poem is about the young people who never experienced war and want to fight. They heard stories from their grandfathers and dream of fighting a war. The last sentence says “And they lived in time to share the fun”, which probably means the young people who longed for war eventually lived to experience it.

4. Before Action – W.N. Hodgson

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Poetry readerOctober 7, 2011

By all the glories of the day  And the cool evening's benison,By that last sunset touch that lay  Upon the hills where day was done,By beauty lavishly outpoured  And blessings carelessly received,By all the days that I have lived  Make me a solider, Lord.By all of man's hopes and fears,  And all the wonders poets sing,The laughter of unclouded years,  And every sad and lovely thing;By the romantic ages stored  With high endeavour that was his,By all his mad catastrophes  Make me a man, O Lord.I, that on my familiar hill  Saw with uncomprehending eyesA hundred of Thy sunsets spill  Their fresh and sanguine sacrifice,Ere the sun swings his noonday sword  Must say goodbye to all of this;--By all delights that I shall miss,  Help me to die, O Lord. 

Vocabulary list:

Benison – ZegenLavishly – RijkelijkEre the sun swings his noonday sword – Wanneer het middag is – Personification of the sun, it simply means that it is noon.

About the author:

W. N. Hodgson was born on January 3rd 1893. He had occupations including author, serviceman and poet. He died in July 1916 at the age of 23 years and 6 months old. His cause of death was military conflict.

Interpretation:

This poem is written from the perspective of a man who is already dying or is about to fight on the battlefield. He’s telling about the beauty of the universe and all of life’s experiences, and asking the lord for help.

Cultural Relevance:

Before action is the best remembered poem written by Hodgson , which was written two days before he died. He probably already knew he was going to die, because he knew the positions of the German Machine guns which is why he wrote “Help me to die, O Lord” in the last line of the poem. Two days after he died because he was shot by a German machine gun.

5. Back – Wilfrid Gibson

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Page 7: Poetry Reader

Poetry readerOctober 7, 2011

They ask me where I've been,And what I've done and seen.But what can I replyWho know it wasn't I,But someone just like me,Who went across the seaAnd with my head and handsKilled men in foreign lands...Though I must bear the blame,Because he bore my name.

Vocabulary list:

Foreign – buitenlands

About the Author:

Wilfred Wilson Gibson (2 October 1878 - 26 May 1962) was a British Georgian poet, associated with World War I but also the author of much later work. Gibson was born in Hexham, Northumberland and left the north for London in 1914 after his mother died. He had been publishing poems in magazines since 1895, and the collections ‘Stonefolds, On the Threshold’, were published by the Wayland publishers in 1914, and followed by ‘The Web of Life’ in 1908.

Interpretation:

‘Back’ is a poem about a soldier who returned home, it is not about Gibson, since Gibson did join the army but never left England. The soldier has changed a lot since he came back and doesn’t wants to be reminded of his deeds in the war anymore, because he is ashamed of himself.

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Poetry readerOctober 7, 2011

6. War – Montello Heldring

When battles are fought,And families get tornWhen our old heroes die,And when new heroes are bornWar it is, a game which costs lifesWith guns, rockets, stones and knifes

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Poetry readerOctober 7, 2011

7. Death a poem – William Butler Yeats

Nor dread nor hope attendA dying animal;A man awaits his endDreading and hoping all;Many times he died,Many times rose again.A great man in his prideConfronting murderous menCasts derision uponSupersession of breath;He knows death to the boneMan has created death.

Vocabulary list:

Dread, Dreaded – Veroorzaken van angst en terreur, beangstigend, angstig, bang Supersession – Vervangen (achterelkaar ademen)

About the author:

William Butler Yeats; 13 June 1865 – 28 January 1939) was an Irish poet and playwright, and one of the foremost figures of 20th century literature. A pillar of both the Irish and British literary establishments, in his later years Yeats served as an Irish Senator for two terms. He was a driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival and, along with Lady Gregory, Edward Martyn, and others, founded the Abbey Theatre, where he served as its chief during its early years. In 1923 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature for what the Nobel Committee described as "inspired poetry, which in a highly artistic form gives expression to the spirit of a whole nation." He was the first Irishman so honoured. Yeats is generally considered one of the few writers who completed their greatest works after being awarded the Nobel Prize; such works include The Tower (1928) and The Winding Stair and Other Poems (1929).Yeats was born and educated in Dublin but spent his childhood in County Sligo. He studied poetry in his youth and from an early age was fascinated by both Irish legends and the occult. Those topics feature in the first phase of his work, which lasted roughly until the turn of the 20th century. His earliest volume of verse was published in 1889 and those slow-paced and lyrical poems display debts to Edmund Spenser, Percy Bysshe Shelley, and the Pre-Raphaelite poets. From 1900, Yeats' poetry grew more physical and realistic. He largely renounced the transcendental beliefs of his youth, though he remained preoccupied with physical and spiritual masks, as well as with cyclical theories of life.

Interpretation:

This poem is about a soldier who’s dying. The soldier has killed many men and has been injured many times. He killed many murderous men and knows death to bone which makes me think it’s about some kind of especially high skilled and trained soldier.

8. George Washington – James Russell Lowell

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Poetry readerOctober 7, 2011

Soldier and statesman, rarest unison; High-poised example of great duties done Simply as breathing, a world's honors worn As life's indifferent gifts to all men born; Dumb for himself, unless it were to God, But for his barefoot soldiers eloquent, Tramping the snow to coral where they trod, Held by his awe in hollow-eyed content; Modest, yet firm as Nature's self; unblamed Save by the men his nobler temper shamed; Never seduced through show of present good By other than unsetting lights to steer New-trimmed in Heaven, nor than his steadfast mood More steadfast, far from rashness as from fear, Rigid, but with himself first, grasping still In swerveless poise the wave-beat helm of will; Not honored then or now because he wooed The popular voice, but that he still withstood; Broad-minded, higher-souled, there is but one Who was all this and ours, and all men's – Washington

Vocabulary list:

Unison – SamenwerkingEloquent – DuidelijkSteadfast – StandvastigRashness – RoekeloosheidSwerveless – Onbewogen

About the author:

(Born Feb. 22, 1819, Cambridge, Mass., U.S. — died Aug. 12, 1891, Cambridge) U.S. poet, critic, editor, and diplomat. He received a law degree from Harvard but chose not to practice. In the 1840s he wrote extensively against slavery, including the Biglow Papers (1848), satirical verses in Yankee dialect. His other most important works are The Vision of Sir Launfal (1848), a long poem on the brotherhood of mankind; and A Fable for Critics (1848), a witty evaluation of contemporary authors. After his wife's death in 1853, he wrote mainly essays on literature, history, and politics. A highly influential man of letters in his day, he taught at Harvard, edited The Atlantic Monthly and The North American Review, and served as minister to Spain and ambassador to Britain.

Interpretation:

This poem is about George Washington, a dominant military and political leader of the United States of America. He defeated Great Britain in the American Revolutionary war and then became the first president of the United States of America. This poem is praising Washington and his deeds.

Cultural Relevance:

Because George Washington was such an important person during the American Revolutionary War many Americans love him and feel like he’s hero of the nation. Many Americans share the thought of this poem.

9. Last Stand – Alex Cockerill

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Poetry readerOctober 7, 2011

My last day in the desertMy last day in this sandI hope I never come backTo this tragic barren land

Many hot daysAnd many moons have passedI don’t want to fight this war anymoreMy sanity won’t last

Towns have been takenTowns have been lostTowns have been taken back againHow many lives has it cost?

This war will not endThe stakes are far too highA few friends are gone alreadyHow many more will die?

About the author:

Alex Cockerill was born in April 1985. He was a Royal Marines Commando from 2005-2009 and served on Operation Herrick five and seven in Helmand province for a total of fourteen months.

How he came to write his poems. He explains, "During my fourteen months in Afghanistan, I had many feelings and thoughts that I was unable to share with anyone. Under the stars; in the desert, rhymes would manifest in my head. I would write them down, construct them into poems and somehow I felt better for getting it off my chest."

Interpretation:

‘Last Stand’ was probably written during Alex Cockerill’s last night in Afghanistan. He was probably reflecting on the war he fought and felt like it didn’t cause a lot of change. He is skeptical about the war and the future of the war in Afghanistan, which is shown and repeated in the last sentence of each part of this poem.

Cultural relevance & Time frame:

This one of the ‘newer’ poems around, that’s because it’s about the war in Afghanistan, a war that cost many people’s lifes. The Afghanistan war is a cause of a lot of lifelong traumas of soldiers and relatives.

10. That’s War – Kavita Jindal

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Poetry readerOctober 7, 2011

At the end, you wonder how you bombed a truckload of civilians, just following orders.

At the end, you declare if you had your time as a genius again you would not have invented the atomic bomb.

At the end, you ask why your life is easily snuffed out while the world watches on TV.

At the end, you sayhow is it politicians don’t step on to battlefields?

Who decides at the end who is honorable and who is not?Those who make weapons sell to all sides.

About the author:

Kavita writes fiction and poetry. She also writes reviews, essays and articles on the Arts.

Her work has appeared in literary journals, anthologies and newspapers including The Independent, The South China Morning Post, Dimsum, The Mechanics' Institute Review, Cha, In Our Own Words, Asia Literary Review and Not a Muse.

Kavita was born in India and has lived in both Hong Kong and England for several years. Her work is inspired by her observations of different cultures, landscapes and people.

Kavita reads from her fiction and poetry regularly in London, where she now lives, as well as at universities and literary festivals in Asia and Europe.

Interpretation:

This poem is about war and mostly its consequences. The poem criticizes war and is written from the perspective of more than one person. In the first part it’s about a soldier who has killed many innocent people by just following orders, the second part is about the person who invented the atomic bomb, which caused the deaths of millions of people and will cause even more in the future. In the other parts of the poem questions are being asked which makes the reader think war is bad, which was the writer’s goal.

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