Karl Shapiro, Two War Poems (“Troop Train,” “Homecoming”)
Troop Train It stops the town we come through. Workers raise Their oily arms in good salute and grin. Kids … Continue Reading Karl Shapiro, Two War Poems (“Troop Train,” “Homecoming”)
Seamus Heaney’s “Beowulf”
From the end of Seamus Heaney’s translation of Beowulf, here is an immense mourning for a person and a civilization, … Continue Reading Seamus Heaney’s “Beowulf”
Week of the Bomb: Friday
What to make of any of these voices? This week’s posts—the words not of those protesting the bomb after, but … Continue Reading Week of the Bomb: Friday
Week of the Bomb: Thursday
Finally, voices from Hiroshima and Nagasaki. When The New Yorker dedicated its entire August 31, 1946 issue to John Hersey’s … Continue Reading Week of the Bomb: Thursday
Week of the Bomb: Wednesday
Many of the scientists who worked on the Manhattan Project had families in Europe, or were refugees from Europe themselves, … Continue Reading Week of the Bomb: Wednesday
Week of the Bomb: Tuesday
Impossible decisions remain impossible, even after they’ve been made. Following on yesterday’s post, here are the voices of those scientists … Continue Reading Week of the Bomb: Tuesday
Week of the Bomb: Monday
With the anniversary of the Trinity Test just passed, and the anniversaries of Hiroshima and Nagasaki this week, I realize the … Continue Reading Week of the Bomb: Monday
Walt Whitman’s Letter to Parents Whose Son Died in the Civil War
Washington August 10 1863 Mr and Mrs Haskell, Dear friends, I thought it would be soothing to you to have … Continue Reading Walt Whitman’s Letter to Parents Whose Son Died in the Civil War
Aldous Huxley Saves the Day
from Thomas Cahill’s Heretics and Heroes: In a collection of travel essays published in 1925, Aldous Huxley had called Piero … Continue Reading Aldous Huxley Saves the Day
20th Century Poetry #8: Wilfred Owen & the Poetry of World War One
One way to understand where poetry is now is to see where it was a hundred years ago. Every Saturday … Continue Reading 20th Century Poetry #8: Wilfred Owen & the Poetry of World War One
20th Century Poetry #5: Edward Thomas
One way to understand where poetry is now is to see where it was a hundred years ago. Every Saturday … Continue Reading 20th Century Poetry #5: Edward Thomas
Sleepwalking into World War One
From Christopher Clark’s The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914: Do we really need to make the case … Continue Reading Sleepwalking into World War One
Images: Watch Picasso’s “Guernica” Emerge
Scroll through this selection of preliminary studies & photos of the canvas as it was worked on & completed. Pretty … Continue Reading Images: Watch Picasso’s “Guernica” Emerge
Ted Hughes: 2 War Poems
Six Young Men The celluloid of a photograph holds them well – Six young men, familiar to their friends. Four … Continue Reading Ted Hughes: 2 War Poems
Walt Whitman, “A Sight in Camp in the Daybreak Gray and Dim”
Walt Whitman, early 1863, looking on the Civil War dead: A Sight in Camp in the Daybreak Gray and Dim … Continue Reading Walt Whitman, “A Sight in Camp in the Daybreak Gray and Dim”
