The Bishop tells us: ‘When the boys come back
‘They will not be the same; for they’ll have fought
‘In a just cause: they lead the last attack
‘On Anti-Christ; their comrades’ blood has bought
‘New right to breed an honourable race,
‘They have challenged Death and dared him face to face.’
Jake Frommer, a junior English major who recited Siegfried Sassoon’s poem “They” in McKeldin Library yesterday, was joined by people from across the university community to honor the university’s hundreds of veterans.
The university libraries held the daylong reading, which used to be a regular event, for the first time in more than a dozen years, said Eric Lindquist, a librarian who specializes in history at McKeldin. Students and others spent much of the day reading poems and texts related to wars throughout world history.
Lindquist said he came up with the idea for the public readings after organizers from the Semester on War contacted the libraries and asked for their participation. Librarians thought it was fitting to hold the event on Veterans Day.
Michael Olmert, a lecturer in the university’s English department who brought his ENGL379M: Plays In Performance: Plays about World War I class to the readings, said the readings allowed his students to share the true meaning of the poems with other people.
“This is an intellectual campus, so we try to do intellectual things,” Olmert said.
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