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, unvictorious ones?"
Siegfried Sassoon, 'On Passing The New Menin Gate'
November has for many centuries held a place for Catholics as the Month of the Dead, a time to reflect and pray for the departed. In the last century it has also become the month of commemorating The First World War as well as soldiers and veterans more broadly. In this episode of Risking Enchantment, Greg Daly joins us to discuss The Great War, how we remember it, how we commemorate it, and the complexities surrounding these commemorations.
We discuss the prevalence of poppies in Remembrance services, where that tradition comes from and why there is more to commemoration than paper flowers. We look at the experiences of those on the Western Front in the First World War and the soldier’s own complex feelings about topics such as heroism, morality and commemoration. Finally we also touch on the importance of incorporating their Christian faith into our remembrance of them.
Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod
Hosts: Rachel Sherlock, Greg Daly
Follow me on social media: @seekingwatson
Follow the podcast on Instagram: @riskingenchantmentpodcast
Follow Greg on social media: @GregDalyIC, @thirstygargoyle
http://thethirstygargoyle.blogspot.com/
Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com
Find out more about Leaven Magazine at https://leavenmagazine.ie/
Works Mentioned
“Why has Remembrance become weird?” by Niall Gooch
“The Future of Memory: Remembrance In Years To Come” by Niall Gooch
“In Flander’s Field” by John McCrae
“We Shall Keep the Faith” by Moina Michael
“On Passing the New Menin Gate” by Siegfried Sassoon
Blueprint for Armageddon - Hardcore History, podcast by Dan Carlin
They Shall Not Grow Old, dir. Peter Jackson
The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien
Now It Can Be Told by Philip Gibbs
What we’re enjoying at the moment:
Greg: Fraiser, Purgatorio, and Hell Boy Mark Minola
Rachel:
O Brother Where Art Thou,
The Hound of Death, by Agatha Christie, audiobook read by Christopher Lee
Heavenly and Hellish Creatures in The Great Divorce feat. Pints with Jack co-host David Bates
Kingship in Camelot: The Quest for Justice in Arthurian Myth
The Cross and the Beatitudes: The Sermon on Mount Calvary
The Prince of Egypt: An Epic in Animation
Martyrdom and its Moral Dilemmas
The Heavenly Banquet and the Fictional Feasts that Make it a Reality
A Pilgrimage in Paintings: Tissot's “Life of Christ"
Books of Revelation: The Grace and Burden in Moments of Epiphany
Dracula: The Presence of Evil and the Power of Sacramentals
Nostalgia or Nihilism: The Need for Historical Honesty
Piranesi: Science and Stewardship in God’s Creation
The Lost Art of Medieval Preaching: A Dominican Perspective
Elizabeth Lev: Founding Christian Art and Redeeming Roman Myth
The Sense of Longing in The Wind in the Willows
Howl's Moving Castle and the Fascination of Fairy Stories
Sophie Scholl: Christian Conscience and the White Rose Resistance
Easter in Old English Poetic Imagination
Sacred Songs for Sorrowful Times: Music for Holy Week
Roald Dahl: Delight and Darkness
Time and T.S. Eliot: Modern and Eternal Poetry
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