The Battle of Gheluvelt took place on 31 October 1914. The Worcesters' heroics in closing the line, when all had seemed lost, inspired Housman's 'Epitaph on an Army of Mercenaries', MacDiarmid's ignorant riposte, and this updating of Simonides' epitaph by the poet laureate, Robert Bridges:Gheluvelt
Epitaph on the Worcesters. October 31, 1914
Askest thou of these graves? They'll tell thee, O stranger, in England
How we Worcesters lie where we redeem'd the battle.
No comments:
Post a Comment