War Poetry - In Flanders Fields

In class, we have started (actually restarted) poetry. In this case, we are doing War Poetry.

Most of the poetry we analyzed or annotated are from World War One. The poem which I found most poignant was In Flanders Fields:

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

---

Background: This poem was written in 1915 by John McCrae, a field surgeon in World War One. He was inspired to write the poem after the death of his friend. McCrae later died in 1918 of Pneumonia. The term "Flanders Fields" actually refers to the general battlefield area in Part of Belgium and France. In this area, the most notable battles were the Three Battles of Ypres- This poem was written during the Second Battle of Ypres, hence the name.

Another Poem, We Shall Keep the Faith (Referring to the last stanza), was inspired by In Flanders Fields.

Furthermore, In Flanders Fields inspired people to use the Red Poppy as a symbol of Remembrance for Fallen Soldiers in World War One. The Red poppy is also worn on Remembrance Day to commemorate the soldiers who died .

The poem is also quite unique as the last line of each stanza actually breaks the rhythm of the line. This seems to emphasize "In Flander's Fields" since it is the last line of Two Stanzas.

EDIT: Also, I feel that the poem is very poignant. My favourite Stanza would be the second Stanza, as I feel that it truly brings out how abruptly the soldiers died. I feel that this is brought out effectively as the last line breaks up the rhythm, thus also emphasizing the sudden change in rhythm - seemingly conveying their sudden and unnatural death.

Appendix: We Shall Keep The Faith by Moina Michaels

Oh! you who sleep in Flanders Fields,
Sleep sweet - to rise anew!
We caught the torch you threw
And holding high, we keep the Faith
With All who died.

We cherish, too, the poppy red
That grows on fields where valor led;
It seems to signal to the skies
That blood of heroes never dies,
But lends a lustre to the red
Of the flower that blooms above the dead
In Flanders Fields.

And now the Torch and Poppy Red
We wear in honor of our dead.
Fear not that ye have died for naught;
We'll teach the lesson that ye wrought
In Flanders Fields.
In Flanders Fields we fought

Postscript: Moina Michaels began selling red (fake) poppies to raise funds for disabled veterans of the Great War. In 1921, the red poppy was recognised as an official symbol of remembrance.

Maycomb Tribune - Tom Robinson's failed escape attempt.

The Maycomb Tribune

Negro convicted of rape tries to escape, Shot dead.

Maycomb, Alabama. Tom Robinson, convicted of Rape barely a week ago was shot dead while attempting to escape from the Enfield Prison Farm yesterday. Robinson had rushed towards the perimeter fence around the Exercise field, and had almost made it past the fence. Ignoring warning shots, he was shot as he reached the top of the fence.

A prison officer, who declined to be named, said, "He was running so fast, if he had two whole hands, the nigger would have made it. It was a close one. "

Robinson had been convicted of raping a Mayella Ewell, 19, in a much observed trial. Despite the best efforts of Mr Atticus Finch, the lawyer appointed by the state, Robinson had been convicted of his crime and sent to Enfield Prison Farm pending the outcome of his appeal. Before the appeal could be heard, Robinson tried to escape.

When interviewed, Mr Finch stated, "I didn't expect this to happen... I told Tom that we had a good chance of overturning the judgement..."

A Mr Ewell, the father of the rape victim, was not surprised on hearing the news. Mr Ewell stated, "These niggers (sic) have it coming to them. Living around here, devaluing my property, they'll all get what's coming to them. The Electric Chair is too Good for them."

The Challenges of Life bring out the best in young people. What are Your views?

I believe that the challenges of life helps to develop young adults to become more resilient, as well as develop other traits.Firstly, life poses many challenges to young adults who are have just headed into the world to begin a independent life. However, these challenges allow them to become more adaptable, etc.

Challenges can be broadly defined as a demanding situation which prompts a certain reaction. Thus, the challenges of life might refer to the difficulties one might encounter when going through the process of life. Therefore, such challenges may include finding a job, and adapting to different lifestyles, etc.

These challenges bring out the best in young adults in their response to the challenge. For example, a challenge might be difficulty in finding a job- if the individual is repeatedly turned down. In such a case, they would probably respond by working harder or trying to gain new skills to make themselves a better candidate for the job. This example encompasses the values of perseverance and hard work. These values will be valuable to them in the later stages of their life. Thus, these challenges do bring out the best in young adults.

Some people might say that young people might give up in the face of adversity. An example might be students who drop out of Secondary School or University. However, some of these dropouts actually learn more from life than from their school, and later become successful people. An example of a university dropout is Steve Jobs, who dropped out of Reed Collage. He later went on to establish Apple, an extremely successful computer company. Another such example would be Bill Gates, who after dropping out of university, set up Microsoft, a software company, which produced the widest used Operating System.

Therefore, the challenges of life does bring out the best in young people.

A Day in the life of a WWII housewife

We're fighting the war on the home front. They say that every day. In London, the streets now are littered with debris and corpses, that no one has cleared up yet. Both my children, have been relocated to the country, to escape the Luftwafte's cluster bombing, daily, nightly. The air-raid sirens have become our daily song of despair. Rations too are become stretched even tighter, the queues at the rationing centre stretching into the hungry hundreds hoping for their food. Everything is rationed. Food, meat, clothes. The war stretches ever longer, as the government tries to assure us that everything will go well.

When will the tide finally turn?

Descriptive Essay based on below picture

The soldier ducked as he leaped over the debris, an hour before, a peaceful village, another victim of cluster bombing. Smoke and gunpowder hung heavily in the air, gunfire breaking into their thoughts, the bitter acrid taste of burning villages around them, This was a destroyed village. They leaped over the shrapnel and crushed houses on the ground. A gate swung loosely on its crushed hinges, a slow rhythmic back and forth. Back and forth.

Main Themes of To Kill a Mockingbird

The main themes of To kill a Mockingbird would probably be the themes: Discrimination and Growing up, among other themes.

Discrimination is the most obvious theme of all - the Discrimination is seen between the Negroes and the White people, the Ewells and the other residents of Maycomb, as well as the Radleys and the Maycomb residents.

The discrimination against the Negroes can be seen with they are forced to sit in a separate court balcony, forced to live in a separate part of town, and use different facilities, etc.

The Ewells can be seen to be separated from the town - "She [Mayella Ewell] was as sad, I thought, as what Jem called a mixed child: white people wouldn't have anything to do with her because she lived among pigs; Negroes wouldn't have anything to do with her because she was white. (Ref Pg 198)" as well as "Maycomb gave them [The Ewells] Christmas baskets, welfare money, and the back of its hand."

Next, the Radleys are portrayed as being antisocial and thus, the town is somewhat prejudiced against them for being different from everyone else, although more towards Arthur (Boo) Radley. "The Radleys, welcome anywhere in town, kept to themselves, a predilection unforgivable in Maycomb."

Furthermore, Arthur Radley was believed to be a monster. This was further perpetrated by Miss Stephanie Crawford, who spread rumours that Boo Radley "looked at her" while she was sleeping. This shows that any difference which made a person stand out might also cause the town to be prejudiced against them. Furthermore, this prejudice lasted for a long time, as the town was unwilling to let go of their bigoted beliefs.

Quote: "Any stealthy crime committed in Maycomb were his [Arthur Radley] work. Once the town was terrorized by a series of morbid nocturnal events: people's chickens and household pets were found mutilated; although the culprit was Crazy Addie, who eventually drowned himself in Barker's Eddy, people still looked at the Radley Place, unwilling to discard their initial suspicions." (Page 15.)

The second theme, The growth of Scout and Jem, can be seen throughout the story as Jem becomes disillusioned with the town after the trial and subsequent conviction of Tom Robinson. Although Scout does mature nearing the end of the book, she still maintains a slightly childish perspective on life. Furthermore, at the end of the book, Scout realizes how to look at life from some one else's point of view as she stands on the Radley Porch and comments on Boo Radley's life and perspective.

Newspapers.

Newspapers - We encounter them practically everyday either at home or at school. But how much thought do we devote to the humble newspaper?

The purpose of Newspapers is mainly to inform people. Of course, there are two major types of newspapers, each with their distinctive features. These two newspapers are the broadsheets and tabloids. Broadsheets have a large layout and inverted pyramid layout for major stories which places the most important information at the top of the page. Broadsheets mainly report on breaking news and international events. The tone is usually very formal and quite analytical. In contrast, tabloids focus more on visual pictures as well as very sensationalized stories, which mainly are human interest stories.

Furthermore, each section in the newspaper has a specific function to cater to a specific type of reader.

Lastly, there are also newspapers which fall into a "unclassified" catorgory, such as Singapore's Today, published by Mediacorp, which is given out for free, and contains snippets of news but with a tabloid layout. Today is also heavily sponsored by advertisers.