OUR "WALL OF WAR" by Ms Patrizia Malausa

patriziamalausa — 2020-01-20 21:13:23 UTC

Silvia S

2020-01-23 13:41:31 UTC

"La fortuna alla maniera di Sarajevo" Izet Sarajlić, 1992

A Sarajevo
in questa primavera 1992,
tutto è possibile;
fai la coda per comprare il pane
e ti ritrovi al Servizio traumatologia
con una gamba amputata.
E dopo asserisci
d’aver avuto anche fortuna.

“Sreca na Sarajevski nacin” (original title) was written during the Bosnian War fought from 1992 to 1995 by Izet Sarajlić (1930-2002). He was a Bosnian historian of philosophy, essayist, translator and poet. He decided not to run away from Sarajevo when the city was besieged by the Army of Republika Srpska.

He chose to stay with his fellow citizens, to support them and not to abandon his motherland even though the living conditions were terrible (no electricity, drinking water, food). Moreover, life was 24/7 at risk due to the bombs which were dropped above the city. Lots of people died just because they were outside at the wrong time.

The author wrote this one stanza poem using the enjambement. The reader goes through the whole text without stopping.

In the first lines the language is dramatic and violent. At the end, the poet used sarcasm: he recognised the fact that you are lucky if you had cut off just one of your legs. At least you are still able to walk, at least you are not dead.

In my opinion, Sarajlić witnessed a tragic conflict and conveyed a message at once: focus on what is positive even in the most painful situations.

Silvia Sattolo
(sources: http://www.casadellapoesia.org/poeti/sarajli-izet/la-fortuna-alla-maniera-di-sarajevo and
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Sarajevo)

Chiara G.

2020-01-25 20:55:35 UTC

Armies trample, invade, destroy,
With guns roaring from earth and air.
I am more terrible than armies,
I am more feared than the cannon.
Kings and chancellors give commands;
I give no command to any;
But I am listened to more than kings
And more than passionate orators.
I unswear words, and undo deeds.
Naked things know me.
I am first and last to be felt of the living.
I am Hunger

These are the final lines of the poetry “the Hunger” by Robert Laurence Binyon.

This poet made an effective and perfect description of how starvation destroys any person, and how it makes itself felt, cruel and atrocious. When you read THESE lines, you feel petrified, probably because Hunger is revealed THROUGH its same words. For this reason Binyon chose the literary device of personification. 
By giving Hunger humain traits, it is easier to describe the awful CONSEQUENCES that it can provoke. It makes it seem malicious and powerful. 

Moreover, the tone used reveals its superiority and the repeated words: “^{I am more terrible than armies, I am more feared than the cannon.}“ create more emphasis.

However, not only WW1 brought hunger and suffering, but also numerous other situations. For instance Victor Hugo, with the novel ''Les Misérables'' described a woman that sold two teeth in order to gain food or L.M.Alcott with ''Little Women'' depected a poor family who had nothing to feed.

This POEM makes me understand how lucky I am, because every day, when I come back from school, I always eat a hot dish, while during the war as also in other circustances, it is impossible.
Also nowadays, famine and malnutrition are a current issue: over two million people are victims of Hunger and STARVATION.

Giada Z.

2020-01-26 18:08:05 UTC

"I say thieves and I say it willing.
The take-off was almost chilling.
It was quiet and austere, and no one dare make a sound.
It was a silent moment of care for our friends we left on the ground.
You'd think we'd be cheering to be young and alive and free and headin' home,
instead we were praying that our friends would survive to get a flight of their own.

But we'd never know and it's like we stole something they might need,
fighting support or fellowship, in the event that they might bleed."

These are some of the lines that most struck me from the poem "Headin' Home" by Dennis Sprague.
Probably, you have not heard about the author, because he is not a famous poet but he is just a simple man who took part in the Vietnam War.
Vietnam War was one of the most controversial wars in America and it lasted for 20 years (from 1955 to 1975) even though people protested against it all over the U.S.A. Even though the soldiers did not find themselves in the same miserable conditions in which WWI soldiers lived in, they still had to face extremely denmanding situations such as killing innocent people, fighting to survive and seeing all those people die because of them, even if they did not want to hurt.
However, the soldiers spent so much time at the front that they eventually created a sort of family with their mates. So, when some of them had the opportunity to go back home, they were not as joyful as they thought they should have been because they felt guilty to leave some of their mates there.
I found these lines thought-provoking because we do not think about this perspective very often. In fact, we always think about the pain that the soldiers felt because they were parted from their family or about the psychological and physical pressure they felt.
However, the fact of leaving someone back again, and also in a dangerous place knowing that there was a possibility not to see each other ever again, caused an unbearable suffering and guilt...

Laura

2020-01-27 14:54:10 UTC

THE CENOTAPH

“Not yet will those measureless fields be green again
Where only yesterday the wild sweet blood of wonderful youth was shed;
There is a grave whose earth must hold too long, too deep a stain,
Though for ever over it we may speak as proudly as we may tread.”

These are the first lines of the poems “ The Cenotaph” written by Charlotte May in 1919 after the First World War.
May is an English writer who had a life full of tragedies from beginning to end, including the First World War.

She saw it from a different perspective, because as a woman she didn’t fight in the first place, she didn’t see the trenches and she didn’t kill other people. However, she saw all the men gone away in order to struggle and fight, coming back devastated, dead or seriously injured...

These lines are thought-provoking and make me feel uneasy because they underline the horrible sacrifice that all the soldiers made for us.
The poet points out that when we remember our soldiers proudly we are always talking about men deprived of their own life.
When we think about War, we might see it as a glorious event that shows the power of our Country, but it isn’t so. We have to consider the losses caused by the all praised patriotism.
These 'measureless fields', moreover ,call to my mind all the young and innocent soldiers who went to war thinking that they were saving the honour of their Country but who died unworthy...

Eva B

2020-01-27 15:52:38 UTC

IMAGINE - John Lennon

Imagine there's no heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today
Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion, too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace
You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one
Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man.
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world.
You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one

Not only is this considered to be the most famous song by John Lennon, but it is also seen as a real piece of poetry because of its deep and thought-provoking meaning: this song/poem is a remarkable Hymn to peace.
John Lennon wrote it in 1971, when the world was still dealing with many conflicts like the Vietnam War and the Cold War.
Moreover, some people were still facing the consequences of the two World Wars, like famine and economic difficulties.
It is in this scenario that John Lennon, together with his wife Yoko Ono, wrote this song.
The message is clear: John Lennon knew that he had nothing concrete to offer, so he offered a dream, a concept to be built upon. So, he invited people around the world to stop fighting in wars and "to become one country, one world, one people".
The Utopian concept he created through this song is a world where "there's no countries, [...] no religion, [...] no possessions, [...]", but only "a brotherhood of man". In other words, it is the world that all humans should aim for. In fact, no human being should harm other people, especially if they are forced by others, as it usually happens in wars.
I chose this song because I consider it as the most famous and important Hymn to peace of all times. Not only IS IT linked to the issue of War, but also to all sorts of misfortunes that happen around the world. It therefore pushes us to help each other to create a better World, where there is no enemy to fight and where everyone struggles just for one purpose: to preserve peace.

John Lennon and Yoko Ono - WAR IS OVER! IF YOU WANT IT.

Marta S.

2020-01-27 16:08:38 UTC

THE WAR WHICH IS COMING

Is not the first one. There were
Other wars before it.
When the last one came to an end
There were conquerors and conquered.
Among the conquered the common people
Starved. Among the conquerors
The common people starved too.

- Bertold Brecht

Bertold Brecht wrote this poem about war... in nineteen-something.... The date is not important! As it could refer to the First World War, to World War II or even to the Vietnam War ,and it would still be true and relevant!

In just a few lines, Brecht captures the tragic consequences of warfare and its irrational logic.
Indeed, it is not common people who want the war, who want to leave their home behind, say goodbye to their families, to die. It is someone higher up, someone who will not even see the battlefield from a distance, will not shed a single tear, will not end up wounded or death.

And still, those who suffer are the innocent people; it has always been like this, it will always be like this. It is a sick, perverted logic but a logic that seems almost impossible to change.
What can we do against those powerful, mysterious people whose favourite phrase, as my grandmother used to say, has always been “Armiamoci e Partite!”?

I do not think I have an answer nor a solution, but I do believe that one can be found in education.

If everyone was aware of the horrors and emotional toll that war has had on human beings throughout history, we could raise a generation of young minds who would be able to have civil dialogue instead of resorting to war and therefore be able to preserve humankind from self-destruction...

Elisa

2020-01-27 17:03:58 UTC

THE FALLING LEAVES

Today, as I rode by,
I saw the brown leaves dropping from their tree
In a still afternoon,When no wind whirled them whistling to the sky,
But thickly, silently,
They fell, like snowflakes wiping out the noon;
And wandered slowly thence
For thinking of a gallant multitude
Which now all withering lay,
Slain by no wind of age or pestilence,
But in their beauty strewed
Like snowflakes falling on the Flemish clay.

The Falling Leaves is a poem written by Margaret Postgate Cole in 1915. She was an activist and she wanted to speak out against the injustices she saw in the world, and used poetry as a means of doing so.The Falling Leaves captures her spirit as she observes the changing world, and the change in attitudes and beliefs that concern the Great War and the society.

She was an outsider, but also a feminist that have seen too many men dying because of the war. Moreover, she was a pacifist, strongly opposed to the war itself.

She uses the image of this apparently quiet nature, in order to reflect on the purpose of the war.

The fallen leaves represent the soldiers of the war, who slowly fall only to collapse into a field full of dead bodies. Even if their names, identities, and even physical bodies were vast, they will be simply lost forever.

The poem describes them as having died, “like snowflakes wiping out the noon.” The snowflakes represent the dead bodies of soldiers that are covering the fields.

I chose this poem, because it is not very usual to speak about war poets that are women and not men. In fact, at that time, they had not the opportunity to express themselves, even if they had very though-provoking and interesting opinions. In fact, I believe that Margaret Cole had a very clear idea on the war and on its consequences. Even if she was not on the field, fighting with the soldiers, she could feel and perceive the horror and the uselessness of the war. In addition she is a Woman, and we are generally a lot more empathic and sensitive than men.
(sources: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/57330/the-falling-leaves)
(The sanctuary of Monte Grappa is one of the most important military ossuaries of the fist world war. It is situated on the summit of Monte Grappa, near Tarvisio.)

Stefania T.

2020-01-27 17:17:19 UTC

NON GRIDATE PIU'

Cessate d’uccidere i morti,
Non gridate più, non gridate
Se li volete ancora udire,
Se sperate di non perire.

Hanno l’impercettibile sussurro,
Non fanno più rumore
Del crescere dell’erba,
Lieta dove non passa l’uomo.

Giuseppe Ungaretti, an Italian writer, poet and translator, wrote this poem in 1945, after the shelling of the roman cemetery of Verano in 1943.
This poem, which belongs to the album "Il Dolore", deals with the atrocities and the obscenities of the Second World War.

Although the two quatrains are very short, they are meaningful, thought-provoking and they include different messages.
In the first one the author calls on the soldiers to stop the violence and not to kill people already dead, while in the second stanza there's a parallelism between the grass, which is growing, and the whisper of soldiers, who lose their life.
In both of them the poet wants to show and highlight the violence of Human Beings in front of many dead people.

Furthermore, the role of Ungaretti is very important: the defender of the humanity, indeed he invites the reader to be silent, because it's the only mean to keep the dignity and the only weapon against the tragedy of war.
Moreover the main theme of this poem is the respect for people who have died, because he wants to underline the fact that everyone has to hold his identity.

The line that most shocked me is the second one: "Non gridate più", because in these three words we perceive the commemoration of peace. The poet shouts against the inhumanity and the abuse of the most important aspect that Human Beings have received from God and Nature: Life!

Martina

2020-01-27 19:34:54 UTC

MAY 1915
by Charlotte Mew

Let us remember Spring will come again
To the scorched, blackened woods, where the wounded trees
Wait with their old wise patience for the heavenly rain,
Sure of the sky: sure of the sea to send its healing breeze,
Sure of the sun, and even as to these
Surely the Spring, when God shall please,
Will come again like a divine surprise
To those who sit today with their great Dead, hands in their hands
Eyes in their eyes
At one with Love, at one with Grief: blind to the scattered things
And changing skies.

The poem “May 1915” was written by Charlotte Mew during the First World War.

Charlotte Mary Mew was an English writer. Although nowadays she is best remembered for her poetry, she also wrote short stories and she took part in a lot of volunteer social activities. Of course she didn’t fight during the years of war but through her poems she shows her feelings during that horrible and bloody period of time.

The poem cites the "scorched, blackened woods" as a visible reminder of the war's devastation, but also as an exemplar for responding to that destruction. In fact, these lines suggest a desire of “renaissance” after a long period of pain and sufferance. The poet wants to share with us hope along with a feeling of trust and faith in nature. She’s confident that spring will bring new growth and life, that the rain will clean the blood left by dead soldiers and the sun will heal the wounds of those who survived.

Emma

2020-01-27 19:41:02 UTC

I saw the brown leaves dropping from their tree

This is a line taken from “ The Falling Leaves”, which first of all caught my attention for its author, Margaret Postgate Cole.
Indeed, it is not so common to read war poems written by women, because they didn’t FIGHT on the battlefield. Nevertheless, they experienced the war in a less direct way and presented it to us from another perspective.
Margaret became increasingly politically engaged during World War 1: she helped her brother secure conscientious objector status and generally took part in the campaign against conscription. During that time she wrote “ The Falling Leaves” , one of the first anti-war poems from a women perspective.
The leaves are the metaphor for young soldiers in trenches: the whole poem is an extended metaphor and shows the fate of the poor young men: once they fall on the ground, they are forgotten, and innocent lives keep piling up like snowflakes on the dirt.
Despite the harsh realities that fit the historic context of November 1915 ( which is the subtitle) , the poem is apparently a calming piece and this is the main reason it struck me: it contains no mention of weapons or violence, indeed the soldier’s bodies seem to have a “beauty “ and are described in an almost romantic way.
At first, the poem could appear a peaceful description of the seasons, if we don’t know what the metaphors allude to, but if we think of how quickly the snowflakes melt, “die”, the poem is no longer poetic and peaceful.
This is the example of how a literary work can arouse strong emotions without resort to strong images.

Emma Brumat

Marta P

2020-01-27 20:04:47 UTC

SONO UNA CREATURA

Come questa pietra
Del San Michele
Così fredda
Così dura
Così prosciugata
Così refrattaria
Così totalmente
Disanimata
Come questa pietra
È il mio pianto
Che non si vede.

La morte
Si sconta
Solo vivendo.

"Sono una creatura" is a poem written by Giuseppe Ungaretti, an Italian modernist poet, journalist, critic and accademic.
Ungaretti was the leader of the experimental trend known as "Hermeticism", which is a literary movement characterised by the research of a pure and essential Poetry.
In the hermetic poems we can see Men who have lost their faith in their values.
Like lots of poets, Ungaretti took an irredentist position during World War I. Moreover he fought in the Great War, and so he experienced the life in the trenches. He published his first piece during the war.
The most important apect to know about Ungaretti's poetics is that for him Poetry is the only Art that brings Humanity into the human soul.

Thin poem can be divided in two parts: the first one, in which the author compares the arid and stony land of "Carso" with his unseen weeping; the second part, in which he deals with death and life.
In the first part we see the inhuman pain caused by the horrors of the war.
The last two lines are the most meaningful: "death is espiated by living", death is a punishment and life is a sentence.
For him, we, Human Beings that have experienced the war, are condamned to live in the pain that war has left in our soul, with the memory of the horrors we have seen, with death in our eyes and in our hearts. We are condamned to live, with this images fixed in the eyes, to atone our punishment, that maybe one day it will give us relief.

Melissa

2020-01-27 20:14:10 UTC

WHO'S FOR THE GAME

Who’s for the game,
the biggest that’s played,
The red crashing game
of a fight?
Who’ll grip and tackle the job unafraid?
And who thinks he’d rather sit tight?

Jessie Pope was an English poet, writer and journalist, known for her patriotic motivational poems published during the World War I.
Pope's war poetry was originally published in The Daily Mail, a low quality tabloid, very popular, in which she encouraged the enrollment, she tried to convince young people to join the war. Nowadays, this poem is considered jingoistic: this term is used to refer to extreme patriotism. She believed that she had the right to use aggressive threats to safeguard their own country! “Who is for the game “ is a conversational poem through which we understand Pope’s opinion: war was fun, jovial and full of glory that every young man could have won if only he had had the courage.

This stanza is based on the comparison of the war with a sports game, in lines 1 and 2 we can see this metaphor created with the words "... the game, the biggest one played" and "the game of a fight". It is clear to the reader that Pope represented war as a noble and glorious game, furthermore the use of the superlative “biggest” suggests that no other game can compete with war. She believed passionately in the causes of war and wanted to be her bit for the war effort: writing poems is the only way she could contribute to war.
This text makes me feel shocked, the horrors of war are described as a fun game. I think that if some soldier wanted to save himself, he would have had to become cruel and greedy. I chose this poem because I was surprised when I read that a woman had patriotically talked about the war, but it wasn’t her fault, because she didn’t know what war was like.

Alessia M

2020-01-27 20:34:20 UTC

U2, SUNDAY BLOODY SUNDAY

"There's many lost,
but tell me who has won?"

This is what the Dubliner singer of the rock band U2 writes in 1982. His name is Bono and he wants to share to the whole world a message: war kills innocents.

This amazing song deals with the events that happened in North Ireland on Sunday, the 30th January 1972, more precisely in the city of Derry. In fact during the early morning of this sunny day, the British troops shot and killed unarmed civil right protesters. Fourteen innocents embraced the death and this consequently caused the nationalist riot against the government of London.

Ten years later, the nightmare of the bloody Sunday is still alive in Bono and his members group's minds. Thus, they decided to dedicate a piece of their album to this brutal event, still unknown nowadays. As a matter of fact, most people just sing the song, without knowing the historical background and the sufference that Dubliners still feel today.

Besides that, what really impressed me as I first heard this profound song was that all words of the lyrics perfectably suit in any time of history, for example World War First. It might be that human beings continue not to understand the value of the actions, the words and the life. We believe that the only way to solve problems is war, because we can establish a winner and a loser, but is it necessary to kill millions of people to make peace? U2 are extremely clear about the answer:
"The trenches dug within our hearts"
Cit. Sunday Bloody Sunday

Silvia S

2020-01-27 21:30:44 UTC

ZOMBIE- THE CRANBERRIES

Another head hangs slowly
child is lowly taken
and the violence caused such silence
who are we mistaken?
but you see it’s not me
it’s not my family
In your head, in your head they are fighting
with their tanks and their bombs
and their bombs and their gungs
in your head, in your head they are crying
in your head, in your head
zombie, zombie, zombie
what’s in your head, in your head?
Zombie, zombie, zombie

These are the first lines of the song Zombie by Irish alternative rock band The Cranberries, released in September 1994.

This is a protest song against the violence caused by the conflict in Northern Ireland. More precisely, it tells about the tragic event that happened on 20^th March 1993 in Warrington city centre.

Irish republicans planted in a litter bin a bomb and when it exploded two children Tim Parry (12 years old) and Jonathan Ball (3 years old) were killed and some people were injured.

This terrorist attack shocked people a lot, especially the sensibility of O’Riordan ( member of The Cranberries), who during a quiet night wrote this song with strong and meaningful words.

Besides being the title of the song, “Zombie” is also one of the most repeated words in the text. This term emphasizes violence and its inhuman character, in fact it probably represents people who are unable to see and stop this brutality.

Another poignant detail, that this song analyzed, is the fact that during these wars innocent people are often hit, as in this case, where two children died.

Personally, the first time I listened to this song, even if I didn’t understand the meaning completely, it moved me thanks to the melancholy and at the same time pressing melody.

I chose this song because I consider it as one of the songs with the most exciting text that affects people’s sensitivity even if it deals with bloody topics and inhuman violence.

Silvia Sclauzero

Carol B

2020-01-27 22:16:01 UTC

"STRANGE MEETING" by W. OWEN

“I am the enemy you killed, my friend.
I knew you in this dark: for so you frowned
Yesterday through me as you jabbed and killed.
I parried; but my hands were loath and cold.
Let us sleep now. . . .”

These are the final lines of “Strange Meeting”: poem, written in 1918 by Wilfred Owen, which deals with the atrocities of World War I.

The poem is narrated by a soldier who escapes from the battle through an underground tunnel, where he finds many sleeping soldiers. One of them suddenly recognizes him and he identifies as a ‘strange friend’. The two men start a conversation about their tragic war experience, which has stolen all their hopes and dreams (here we understand that both the soldiers are dead and they find themselves in hell). In the end the other soldier reveals to the narrator that he is the enemy, whom the narrator killed in battle the day before. However he invites his mate to forget the past and sleep forever in peace.

This poem is extremely moving and thought-provoking, the writer shows how the two soldiers, who share the same harsh war experience, are empathetic one another, even thought they were war enemies. The ‘enemy’ even apologizes his murderer. Both the soldiers are tired of hostility, their only consolation is peace.

Moreno C

2020-01-27 22:23:07 UTC

AUSCHWITZ

"Son morto con altri cento,
son morto ch'ero bambino,
passato per il camino
e adesso sono nel vento..."

This is the first stanza from the song "Auschwitz", written and sang by Francesco Guccini, a very well-known Italian singer of the second part of 1900.

In this masterpiece, he sings about the cruelty of the German people against those who were considered 'trash' because of their faith, their political party or their sexual tendency. He doesn't use symbols in order to describe what's going on, it is just a little kid is burned in a chimney with another hundred peolpe. Despite his death, the kid says that he's forever living in the blowing wind, as he became dust.

The message Guccini wants to convey is clear: because of the violence of the wars and the millions of INNOCENT PEOPLE who die everyday, we'll always have to coexist with the oppressing sense of discomfort.
The Remembrance day of the 11th November 1919 was the first day in which the whole UK stopped his life for two minutes in order to think of what the war has done and of what the conflict brought, negative speaking. As the years were passing by, not every one couldn't remember the horrors described by the war poets, so the cruelty started again with the Second World War.

In conclusion, we might say nowadays, in 2020, that after 60 years of "peace" a world conflict won't begun anymore, but ignorance, egoism, stupidity and madness of Men who have too much power don't reflect the idea of "peace" we were aiming at.

That's why I wonder WHETHER the remembrance of those who died brought a negative effect to the peolpe in the end.

Giulia P

2020-01-27 23:40:35 UTC

IN MEMORIAM

“You were only David’s father,
But I had fifty sons
When we went up in the evening
Under the arch of the guns,
And we came back at twilight
-O God! – I heard them call
To me for help and pity
That could not help at all.

Oh, never will I forget you,
My men that trusted me,
More my sons that your fathers?,
For they could only see
The little helpless babies
And the young men in their pride.
They could not see you dying,
And hold you while you died.”

-Ewart Alan Mackintosh

These are two of the five stanzas of “In Memoriam” by Ewart Alan Mackintosh, one of the most heartbreaking war poems I’ve read so far. Mackintosh was an English officier and a war poet, who lost his life during the first world war in 1917, like many other young men. In his poem “In Memoriam”, Makintosh remembers a boy, David, who died fighting against the Germans and he focuses on the consequent pain that his father could have felt. Eventhough the author does not belittle the feelings of David’s father, in my opinion the poem becomes really moving when Makintosh compares the pain of the boy’s father to his pain, because, as we can understand reading the stanzas I chose, there is a special connection between the soldiers and their officier, which goes even beyond the one between father and son; the officier is the one who sees the young man dying, whereas the father is the one who will never see him growing and becoming an adult. As far as my opinion is concerned, this poem is particularly touching and significant not only because of the images that are presented, which are extremly thought-provoking due to their cruelty, but also because it makes clear the fact that war prevented the boys from having a normal growth path. Indeed before being an officier and a poet, Mackintosh himself was a young boy just like the others, who was invested with a task that most of the times even adults can’t handle and who did not have the possibility to grow and become a man because of the monster of war.

Simone QL

2020-01-28 23:56:59 UTC

SOLDATI

Si sta come
d'autunno
sugli alberi
le foglie

This poem was written by Giuseppe Ungaretti in 1918, while fighting in the trenches near a forest in Courton, Reims, as a soldier.
The poet experienced war and, therefore, he wanted to convey a message and to raise awareness of in-human conditions and feelings during the war through his poetry. The short poem "Soldati" is an emblematic example of this.

Here we find the essence of Ungaretti's poetry: the tragedy of existence, but especially the tragedy of war.
The whole poem, in its brevity, is built through the use of a simile: indeed, the author in this poem wants to compare soldiers' living condition in the trenches to the situation of the leaves during Autumn. As in Autumn the leaves are always in danger of falling from the branches of the tree, so the soldiers always risk their lives in the trenches. The author therefore suggests all men are not different from the leaves that in Autumn fall from the branches, following the natural course of nature.

I chose this poem because, despite the use of very few words, Ungaretti is able to convey uncertainty and precariousness of the soldiers' lives in the trenches during the war. The message of this meaningful poem is extremely thought-provoking and captivating, because Ungaretti makes us think about the fact that War has nothing honorable, given the fact that the violence of War degrades and kills people.

In conclusion, I would like to affirm that this poem nowadays should be read and understood, in order to become aware of these tragedies and so as not to make the same mistakes again.

Massimiliano A. GENERALE - F. De Gregori

2020-01-30 15:36:47 UTC

Generale dietro la collina
Ci sta la notte crucca e assassina
E in mezzo al prato c'è una contadina
Curva sul tramonto sembra una bambina
Di cinquant'anni e di cinque figli
Venuti al mondo come conigli
Partiti al mondo come soldati
E non ancora tornati
Generale dietro la stazione
Lo vedi il treno che portava al sole
Non fa più fermate neanche per pisciare
[...]
Generale queste cinque stelle
Queste cinque lacrime sulla mia pelle
Che senso hanno dentro al rumore di questo treno
Che è mezzo vuoto e mezzo pieno
E va veloce verso il ritorno
Tra due minuti è quasi giorno, è quasi casa, è quasi amore

"Generale" is a song written by Francesco De Gregori, a great Italian singer, in 1978. It's full of bitter and melancholy words and it's considered a bulwark against war. De Gregori wrote this song to remember his years spent doing military service.
The hill described at the beginning of the song is in Val Venosta, a tragic scenario of death and desolation during the period of South Tyrolean independence terrorist attacks.

"Generale" is a peace song: it is a succession of images in the highest poetic language, which makes you feel all the joy for those who are going back home after months of war.
Listening to this song you can almost see the train and those who are in it, and the landscape from the window; you can see the dreams of those who are going back home as if you were the protagonist of the story.
There is a reference to the "murderous night" that reminds of the bloodbath that happened in the night between the 18th and the 19th June 1961.
The "peasant woman bent over the sunset" (oppressed by the burden by the amount of work she has to carry on), and the train that "led to the sun and does not stop, not even to piss" (since it has to go fast!).
This war leaves a mock glory: it leaves five stars for worthless recognition, transformed into tears by the silence of a half empty train that goes home never to look back.
This is "Generale": a great song of Peace.

I chose this song because of its realistic representation of the feelings you can experience at the end of a war: it makes you aware of how useless war is.
"War as a failure" is perfectly represented here in the image of the half empty train: all the soldiers are almost dead and the train is going home without looking back.

The poet's words make you feel sad for the dead soldiers, but at the same time grateful for the ones who managed to return to their families...

Camila

2020-01-30 21:58:18 UTC

"To his Love", Ivor Gurney

He's gone, and all our plans
Are useless indeed.
We'll walk no more on Cotswold
Where the sheep feed
Quietly and take no heed.

His body that was so quick
Is not as you
Knew it, on Severn river
Under the blue
Driving our small boat through.

You would not know him now ...
But still he died
Nobly, so cover him over
With violets of pride
Purple from Severn side.

Cover him, cover him soon!
And with thick-set
Masses of memoried flowers— Hide that red wet
Thing I must somehow forget.

"To his Love" was written by Ivor Gurney, one of the many British War Poets, in 1917.
In the poem, the soldier speaks to the fiancée of a dead comrade, mourning his loss and regretting that he will never have the pleasure of the dead soldier’s company again.
The poem was probably inspired by the death of Ivor Gurney’s best friend Willy Harvey in August 1916.

I must admit I usually don't like poetry, but somehow this poem really struck me: I think what makes it so incisive is the contrast between the style and the
meaning.
Whereas other War Poets used to write extremely rough verses, at first sight this poem may almost look like a classic, traditional elegy, elegant and delicate.
And yet, it is one of the most powerful, heartbreaking and even bitter poems I've ever read.
It is a musical poem, structured by soft sound, through using alliteration and assonance.
Instead of using violent words and describing raw scenes, Gurney only gives hints of what really happened, by using euphemisms, ellipsis, resulting in a subtle and yet extremely clear message.

In the first part, the poet ~~talks about~~ portrays the stunning English countryside: a nostalgic memory darkened by the horrors of war. The lines "his body...is not as you knew it" and "you would not know him now..." are extremely appalling: the reader clearly understands that the soldier died in a violent way, his body was probably blown apart by bombs.
The fact that the poet decides to "censor" the naked truth is what makes the poem so tragic and moving.
On one hand, the ~~speaker~~ poetic voice is announcing the death of the soldier to his lover, so he tries to be as delicate and as thoughful as he can. On the other hand, it seems like the poet himself couldn't handle the truth, as he's traumatised by what he's been through, by the unspeakable violence he's witnessed.
This feeling appears again in the last lines, when he tells to "hide that red wet Thing i must somehow forget". It really shows the tension between two opposites:
remembrance, the wish to mourn the death of his friend, contrasted to the need of "burying", together
with the dead body, the hurtful memories in order to survive.

In conclusion, although at first Gurney's poem could seem less impactful and meaningful than other famous War Poems, I think it ends up being much more effective in fact in conveying the horror of war, and the feelings soldiers had, the psychological consequences of such unthinkable violence.

Francesca

2020-02-02 21:14:38 UTC

“Auschwitz” by Guccini

Son morto con altri cento
Son morto ch'ero bambino
Passato per il camino
E adesso sono nel vento
Ad Auschwitz c'era la neve
Il fumo saliva lento
Nel freddo giorno d'inverno
E adesso sono nel vento
Ad Auschwitz tante persone
Ma un solo grande silenzio
È strano non riesco ancora
A sorridere qui nel vento
Io chiedo come può un uomo
Uccidere un suo fratello
Eppure siamo a milioni
In polvere qui nel vento
Ancora tuona il cannone
Ancora non è contento
Di sangue la belva umana
E ancora ci porta il vento
…
Io chiedo quando sarà
Che l'uomo potrà imparare
A vivere senza ammazzare
E il vento si poserà

One of the most well-known songs by Francesco Guccini, Auschwitz was written for a reason: the singer was born the day the first train of prisonersleft for Auschwitz. Indeed,he presents the theme of the Holocaust in order to denounce human brutality.

There are two voices involved: one is the writer’s and the other, which is the most impactful, is the voice of a child - the main 'character' of the scene.

The first stanza examines the episode: the narrator is a child who died through the chimney and now is in the wind. Guccini chose impersonal words so as to express as well as possibile the message. The second one refers to the atmosphere: it’s cold because of the winter and the snow, which generally is something that makes children excited, different for those who lived the Holocaust.
In addition to that, smoke is usually associated with family moments in Winter time when families meet in the evening after a full day; however, in this case it’s a negative a reference concerning gas chambers.

How is this possibile? Why do men keep killing their brothers? This is the central message of the text and still it is what happens nowadays: we see violent conflicts on the news or read articles about that. So maybe humans haven’t learned from past mistakes yet.

The singer is pessimistic in the whole song except in the end where he seems to leave enough room for Hope. That’s why the future is chosen.

Even if it’s a short text, stanzas are full of concepts and feelings: the lines I chose make me feel extremely sad and powerless in front of what happened during the last Century, and keeps happening today in various forms....

...food for thought...

patriziamalausa — 2020-02-03 18:10:36 UTC

For those who want to dig deep into this moving topic: the Poetry of World War I...

patriziamalausa — 2020-02-03 18:36:06 UTC