{"id":1844,"date":"2014-10-29T15:58:24","date_gmt":"2014-10-29T15:58:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/warpoets.org.uk\/splashpage\/?page_id=1844"},"modified":"2014-10-29T15:58:24","modified_gmt":"2014-10-29T15:58:24","slug":"world-war-i-and-religion","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/warpoets.org.uk\/splashpage\/resources\/for-teachers\/world-war-i-and-religion\/","title":{"rendered":"World War I and Religion"},"content":{"rendered":"

It might be worth comparing Wilfred Owen\u2019s poem \u2018The Parable of the Old Man and the Young\u2019 with two short extracts from the novel The Good Soldier \u0160vejk<\/em>:<\/p>\n

So Abram rose, and clave the wood, and went,
\nAnd took the fire with him, and a knife.
\nAnd as they sojourned both of them together,
\nIsaac the first-born spake and said, My Father,
\nBehold the preparations, fire and iron,
\nBut where the lamb for this burnt-offering?
\nThen Abram bound the youth with belts and straps,
\nAnd builded parapets and trenches there,
\nAnd stretched forth the knife to slay his son.
\nWhen lo! an angel called him out of heaven,
\nSaying, Lay not thy hand upon the lad,
\nNeither do anything to him. Behold,
\nA ram, caught in a thicket by its horns;
\nOffer the Ram of Pride instead of him.
\nBut the old man would not so, but slew his son,
\nAnd half the seed of Europe, one by one.<\/p>\n

Preparations for the slaughter of mankind have always been made in the name of God or some supposed higher being which men have devised and created in their own imagination.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

(Penguin edition p. 125)<\/p>\n

An old reservist looked at the raw recruit and said: \u2018Nice hope that a shrapnel tears off your head! They\u2019ve pulled the wool over our eyes. Once a deputy from the Clerical Party came to our village and spoke to us about God\u2019s peace, which spans the earth, and how the Lord did not want war and wanted us all to live in peace and get on together like brothers. And look at him now, the bloody fool! Now that war has broken out they pray in all the churches for the success of our arms, and they talk about God like a chief of the general staff who guides and directs the war. From this military hospital I\u2019ve seen many funerals go out and cartfuls of hacked-off arms and legs carried away.\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

(Penguin edition p. 153)<\/p>\n

Ian Brinton October 21 2014<\/h4>\n

The text of Owen’s poem is from The First World War Poetry Digital Archive, University of Oxford (www.oucs.ox.ac.uk\/ww1lit<\/a>); \u00a9 The Estate of Wilfred Owen. The Complete Poems and Fragments of Wilfred Owen<\/em> edited by Jon Stallworthy first published by Chatto Windus, 1983. Preliminaries, introductory, editorial matter, manuscripts and fragments omitted.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It might be worth comparing Wilfred Owen\u2019s poem \u2018The Parable of the Old Man and the Young\u2019 with two short extracts from the novel The Good Soldier \u0160vejk: So Abram rose, and clave the wood, and went, And took the fire with him, and a knife. And as they sojourned both of them together, Isaac  Continue Reading »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":1845,"parent":817,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"template-poet-bio.php","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\n\t\n