Why is November 11 Veterans Day?
It is the anniversary of the signing of the WWI Armistice.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veterans_Day
"The Armistice of 11 November 1918 was an armistice during the First World War between the Allies and Germany... It went into effect at 11 a.m. Paris time on 11 November 1918 ("the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month")..."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armistice_of_11_November_1918
PERSONAL NOTE:
My father was a veteran of the First World War. As one of the first American soldiers at the front, he served with a machine gun battalion and then was captured and held as a prisoner of war for a year.
November 11, 1918 has a special meaning for me, because at that time my father was near death at the prison camp. Everyone in Germany, especially prisoners of war, were starving due to the Allied Blockade. If signing the armistice had taken another month, my father would probably have died and I would not be here today to write this blog.
Anthem for Doomed Youth (1918)
It is the anniversary of the signing of the WWI Armistice.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veterans_Day
"The Armistice of 11 November 1918 was an armistice during the First World War between the Allies and Germany... It went into effect at 11 a.m. Paris time on 11 November 1918 ("the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month")..."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armistice_of_11_November_1918
PERSONAL NOTE:
My father was a veteran of the First World War. As one of the first American soldiers at the front, he served with a machine gun battalion and then was captured and held as a prisoner of war for a year.
November 11, 1918 has a special meaning for me, because at that time my father was near death at the prison camp. Everyone in Germany, especially prisoners of war, were starving due to the Allied Blockade. If signing the armistice had taken another month, my father would probably have died and I would not be here today to write this blog.
Anthem for Doomed Youth (1918)
By Wilfred Owen
As a poet myself I wanted to put my own interpretation on this powerful World War I poem. I have taken the liberty of breaking Owen's original poem into more lines because I think it creates the pauses and emphasis that is needed when reading this. -- My apologies to Wilfred Owen and his remarkable poem.
Original poem line breaks: http://www.warpoetry.co.uk/owen2.html
Original poem line breaks: http://www.warpoetry.co.uk/owen2.html
Original manuscript showing Owen's revisions and suggestions by a fellow poet.
What passing-bells
for these who die as cattle?
— Only the monstrous anger
of the guns.
Only the stuttering rifles'
rapid rattle
Can patter out their hasty orisons.
No mockeries now for them;
no prayers nor bells;
Nor any voice of mourning
save the choirs,
— The shrill, demented choirs
of wailing shells;
And bugles calling for them
from sad shires.
What candles may be held
to speed them all?
Not in the hands of boys,
but in their eyes
Shall shine the holy glimmers
of goodbyes.
The pallor of girls' brows
shall be their pall;
Their flowers
the tenderness
of patient minds,
And each
slow dusk
a drawing-down
of blinds.
This poem has been interpreted by a number of people.
What follows are several YouTube videos of this work:
Benjamin Britten: War Requiem: What passing bells for these who die as cattle?
Sean Bean reads Wilfred Owen's Anthem for Doomed Youth
A modern interpretation by Jos Slabbert
Anthem for Doomed Youth
