I would read that poem to my high school English classes back in 1967 thru 72. It was always frowned on and thought suspiciously close to treason, but there it was in all the anthologies. The powers that were could only hrumph their disapproval.
Does anyone know the name of a W. H. Auden poem about leaders meeting in a villa retreat and making decisions in that safe and privileged atmosphere that will rain death down on cities? I've looked through many of Auden's collected works, but can't find it. I can't remember more than what I've just told unfortunately. I'm 98% positive it exists out there in the world of print. If it rings a bell, please let me know.
Mike Geary Memphis----- Original Message ----- From: "Ursula Stange" <Ursula@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Monday, November 12, 2007 11:09 PM Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: ...est pro patria mori
I read Wilfred Owen to my class today. http://www.potw.org/archive/potw3.html U. Robert Paul wrote:Over There—and Gone Forever By RICHARD RUBINBY any conceivable measure, Frank Buckles has led an extraordinary life. Born on a farm in Missouri in February 1901, he saw his first automobile in his hometown in 1905, and his first airplane at the Illinois State Fair in 1907. At 15 he moved on his own to Oklahoma and went to work in a bank; in the 1940s, he spent more than three years as a Japanese prisoner of war. When he returned to the United States, he married, had a daughter and bought a farm near Charles Town, W. Va., where he lives to this day. He drove a tractor until he was 104.But even more significant than the remarkable details of Mr. Buckles’s life is what he represents: Of the two million soldiers the United States sent to France in World War I, he is the only one left.This Veterans Day marked the 89th anniversary of the armistice that ended that war. The holiday, first proclaimed as Armistice Day by President Woodrow Wilson in 1919 and renamed in 1954 to honor veterans of all wars, has become, in the minds of many Americans, little more than a point between Halloween and Thanksgiving when banks are closed and mail isn’t delivered. But there’s a good chance that this Veterans Day will prove to be the last with a living American World War I veteran. (Mr. Buckles is one of only three left; the other two were still in basic training in the United States when the war ended.) Ten died in the last year. The youngest of them was 105.Continued at http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/12/opinion/12rubin.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print------------------------------------------------------------------ To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off,digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html
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