Epitaphs of War

[pitchgreen]

I adore Kiplings work. Proff Kuin describes him as a realist, but, thought he may write in a realist mode, "The Jungle Book" and "The Man Who Would Be King" (one of my favourite short stories) are not realist texts. One would have needed a fairly good sense of imagination to write them

Comments

Canadians

[stacilee12]

I too was drawn to the Two Canadian memorials (probably due to our overwhelming nationalism, eh?).
Perhaps we were not pivotal to teh entire scheme of things, but I think what Kiplingis pointing to is again, your point of the wars that were fought by the colonies. The second one in particular shows teh embarassing truth that the colonies fought and died for something that tehy were told wwas of great significance, but in truth, while protecting the liberty of the queen and so forth, they were killing themselves on behalf of a casue that was not meant for them to fight. Kipling writes this is such a way that shileds him from critics protecting "imperialism", as well as mocks the entire idea. It's also intriguing that he would do this under the Canadian name, the colony that ironically would fight the most on behalf of its sovereign, showing Kipling's knowledge of people and the politics that surrounded him.

[nareesas]

"Raped and Revenge" seems to take the voice of the land itself. She speaks of the multiple groups of people that come and go, leaving behind devastation of war or resources used until depleted.

I can also see how it may be the voice of the women at wartime. They were certainly mistreated. Rape and brutality were not uncommon. Even the women who worked to help the war effort were taken advantage of because they could not survive unless they worked in place of their men.

[spaczek_27]

It's really depressing to think that progress has to stem from such devastating situations. However, I find it hard to believe that any progress is made without paying some sort of price for that progress or sacrifice. I guess that it can make you think... is it all worth it in the end?

Common Form

[mysteryofgod]

Common Form was one that struck me too. It seems like after WWI poets were more open to ideals beyond the unknown. War was unknown and therefore idealized, perhaps like the the neo-classicists idealized the gods because they were unknown. But once something becomes known, like war, the poet can see the reality of the situation and address it head on. And sometimes when one gets to know things, they aren't too pretty.