[HN Gopher] It is sweet and fitting to die for one's country (1921)
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It is sweet and fitting to die for one's country (1921)
Author : bikeshaving
Score : 27 points
Date : 2026-03-04 21:41 UTC (1 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.poetryfoundation.org)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.poetryfoundation.org)
| swader999 wrote:
| I prefer the poem Warpigs by Black Sabbath.
| kibibu wrote:
| It's a great song, but as a piece of poetry it's not even in
| the same league imo.
|
| (This is my all time favourite poem though)
| tanseydavid wrote:
| Surprised that no one yet has mentioned the song of the same
| name, by The Damned, released in 1987. Very pleasing track to
| my ears.
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4BxP5IEyzw
| 2OEH8eoCRo0 wrote:
| Gallipoli is a good movie that touches on this complex subject.
| nemomarx wrote:
| Why did the title of the poem get translated?
| kibibu wrote:
| The title of the poem is also only the first half of the
| statement. Somebody's doing some editorializing I guess
| oniony wrote:
| In the 1990s, in the UK, my secondary school English teacher, who
| had Shakespearian actor vibes and wore dark tweed trousers and a
| plain white shirt--imagine Patrick Stewart if you may--brought
| this poem to life in my class by vividly reenacting a soldier
| dying from mustard gas poisoning by falling onto a desk and
| flailing about in front of the stunnned students sitting at it.
| I've never forgotten the closing line since.
| ggm wrote:
| Owen died 7 days before the end of the war. A highly
| fictionalised but very evocative account of Owen, Sassoon, Hughes
| and the Craiglockhart medical facility that Owen stayed at
| (recuperating from PTSD) is in Pat Barker's 'Regeneration"
| Trilogy
| kibibu wrote:
| There's additional context here that makes this poem more
| powerful in my opinion.
|
| It's a direct response to Jessie Pope, an English poet and
| propagandist who would write poems like "Who's for the Game?",
| implying that the great war was all a bit of fun and those who
| didn't want to go were cowards.
|
| Owen had actually been in the trenches, and tragically died only
| a few days before the armistice.
| seydor wrote:
| I don't think modern soldiers feel like they own their country.
| scubbo wrote:
| Can you elaborate on what you mean here?
| jongjong wrote:
| You've got to die of something; so you might as well die for
| something but your country isn't the best thing to die for.
|
| The problem with your country (at least the vast majority of
| countries) is that it doesn't care about you. It's just too big
| to care. It has almost nothing to do with you.
|
| I can't wrap my mind around the fact that people feel some
| affiliation with their country. For the vast majority of people,
| the relationship is akin to an abusive boyfriend/girlfriend who
| takes your money and ignores your existence.
|
| It only reciprocates for a tiny number of people at the very top;
| everyone else is delusional.
|
| Also, this dynamic is not fixable if the country is large; the
| slots at the top are EXTREMELY limited. The country should never
| be the focus; people should engage with local community instead.
| The country can only be appreciated in the context of a local
| community worth protecting.
| AuthAuth wrote:
| Imagine your country is a nice place with nice values might be
| hard to imagine for Americans. You fight so that it remains
| that way for future generations. Countries can cease to exist.
| georgemcbay wrote:
| For modern readers we might need an update to the old lie about
| how it is sweet and fitting to die for an entirely different
| country than your own. One you have probably never even visited.
| einpoklum wrote:
| This reminds me of what could be considered a complementary
| poem/song, by John F. Kendrick:
|
| --
|
| _Onward, Christian soldiers! Duty 's way is plain:_
|
| _Slay your Christian neighbors, or by them be slain._
|
| _Pulpiteers are spouting effervescent swill,_
|
| _God above is calling you to rob and rape and kill,_
|
| _All your acts are sanctified by the Lamb on high;_
|
| _If you love the Holy Ghost, go murder, pray and die._
|
| --
|
| _Onward, Christian soldiers, rip and tear and smite!_
|
| _Let the gentle Jesus, bless your dynamite._
|
| _Splinter skulls with shrapnel, fertilize the sod;_
|
| _Folks who do not speak your tongue, deserve the curse of God._
|
| _Smash the doors of every home, pretty maidens seize;_
|
| _Use your might and sacred right to treat them as you please._
|
| --
|
| _Onward, Christian soldiers! Eat and drink your fill;_
|
| _Rob with bloody fingers, Christ OK 's the bill._
|
| _Steal the farmer 's savings, take their grain and meat;_
|
| _Even though the children starve, the Saviour 's bums must eat._
|
| _Burn the peasant 's cottages, orphans leave bereft;_
|
| _In Jehovah 's holy name, wreak ruin right and left._
|
| --
|
| and so on:
| https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Songs_of_the_Workers_(9th_edi...
| kayo_20211030 wrote:
| It's interesting to compare Owen's and Brooke's poetry (and even
| Sassoon's). Owen had lived through it all from '15 to '18, with
| some detours, and probably even as a patriot saw war for what it
| was. Brooke never really got that dose of realism; putting out
| his jingoistic cant until dying in 1915, before even seeing a
| war. Owen was a better poet, Brooke appealed to schoolboys.
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