Here was the world's worst wound. And here with pride 'Their name liveth for evermore' the Gateway claims. Was ever an immolation so belied As these intolerably nameless names? Well might the Dead who struggled in the slime Rise and deride this sepulchre of crime.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- The memorial glorifies the war effort while ignoring the pointless suffering and anonymous deaths of soldiers.
- In plain terms
- Monuments honor the war but hide the true cost of lost lives.
- What can you take from it?
- Question official narratives that celebrate conflict without acknowledging human loss.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- How do societies remember war?
- Who decides which sacrifices are honored?
Another view
Some argue memorials are necessary to honor the dead regardless of the war's justification.
More from Siegfried Sassoon
Who will remember, passing through this Gate, The unheroic Dead who fed the guns? Who shall absolve the foulness of their fate, - Those doomed, conscripted, un…
Permalink to quote #10 What voice revisits me this night? What face To my heart's room returns? From the perpetual silence where the grace Of human sainthood burns Hastes he once mor…
Permalink to quote #12 You smug-faced crowds with kindling eye Who cheer when soldier lads march by, Sneak home and pray you'll never know The hell where youth and laughter go.
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