Pieces of the Past

Sunday, January 10, 2010

The USS Indianapolis

I thought the guest speaker was very interesting and I enjoyed hearing about his experience. It helped a lot that he gave detailed answers to the questions asked. I can not begin to imagine what he must have seen and gone through, and I have much respect for him. I think it was time well spent and I would like to do more stuff like this in the future.

Poets of World War 1

Siegfried Sassoon (1886-1967) "How to Die"
Dark clouds are smouldering into red While down the craters morning burns.The dying soldier shifts his head To watch the glory that returns;He lifts his fingers toward the skies Where holy brightness breaks in flame;Radiance reflected in his eyes, And on his lips a whispered name.You'd think, to hear some people talk, That lads go West with sobs and curses,And sullen faces white as chalk, Hankering for wreaths and tombs and hearses.But they've been taught the way to do it Like Christian soldiers; not with hasteAnd shuddering groans; but passing through it With due regard for decent taste.

This poem explains in great detail what a soldier's last moments would be like. When it says "The dying soldier shifts his head to watch the glory that returns; he lifts his fingers toward the skies Where holy brightness breaks in flame" It seems to me that the soldier is watching the bombs explode in the sky. This contrasts greatly with the proud images used to get people to join the war that we found in the last blog entry. It shows the darker side of war from the point of veiw from someone who was actually there.

Siegfried Sassoon was born on September 8th, 1886, in a place called Kent. He went to several colleges but did not get a degree. He lived a simple life writing poetry that made very little impact on the public until WWI when he enlilsted. In the war, he was considered very brave, and given the nickname "Mad Jack." After being wounded in 1917, he was forced to go back to England. He became angry with the way the war was being fought, and thought it should have been ended by now, and published a Soldier's Declaration which stated his opinion. And from then on his poetry reflected his anger towards the war.

World War 1 in Pictures

http://digital.library.unt.edu/permalink/meta-dc-481:1

I think this poster is attempting to motivate people to join the war by saying that if we dont join together and be active and do something, we will fall and everything we have worked for will be destroyed.

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

World War 1 Song

Naturally, I picked the song Rooster by Alice in Chains.
This song is not only amazing, but it relates to the wars America has been in.
When they say "Here they come to snuff the rooster." It symbolizes the enemy country coming to invade or fight against America (The Rooster). Throughout this song, it talks about some of the hardships American soldiers went through, and how they survived throughout it all. The singer's (Jerry Cantrell) father was in the Vietnam and refused to talk about it to his son. But one night he did, and that was how Jerry was inspired dto write this song.

Here are the lyrics:

Ain't found a way to kill me yet
Eyes burn with stinging sweat
Seems every path leads me to nowhere
Wife and kids household pet
Army green was no safe bet
The bullets scream to me from somewhere

Here they come to snuff the rooster, aww yeah, hey yeah
Yeah here come the rooster, yeah
You know he ain't gonna die
No, no, no, ya know he ain't gonna die (x2)

Walkin' tall machine gun man
They spit on me in my home land
Gloria sent me pictures of my boy
Got my pills 'gainst mosquito death
My Buddy's breathin' his dyin' breath
Oh god please won't you help me make it through

Here they come to snuff the rooster, aww yeah
Yeah here come the rooster, yeah
You know he ain't gonna die
No, no, no ya know he ain't gonna die

I enjoyed this blog, I would love it if you did more blogs like this that included finding songs.

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Age of Imperialism, I think I did it right this time..

1.)

2.) Err...I hope this is right.

3.) The Commitee of Safety along with he American Minister to Hawaii helped overthrow the monarchy.

2. This article basically explains how Joseph Pulitzer wrote this newspaper, what he wrote about, and how it was expressed. He revealed some of the corruption in the economy, and he used sensationalism. He mainly expressed these ideas through pictures, or cartoons mostly.

3. For one, Hearst published pictures in his newspaper called The World and blamed the Spanish for sinkinig the Maine. Pulitzer's newspaper, The Journal, did the same. The newspapers were pretty much the only way for the public to get informed on what was going on so they believed what they said. The two newspapers competed for the reader's attention, they stretched the truth on some stories just so the readers would stay interested. The conflict between the Spanish and Cuba was soon blown out of proportion and spread throughout both newspapers.

http://www.smplanet.com/imperialism/remember.html

Only needed one website...