“Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori” translates “It is right and fitting to die for one’s country.” It’s from an ode by the Roman poet Horace that enjoyed heavy rotation during the first world war. It’s also the last line of a poem written about that war by Wilfred Owen in 1917 … Bent […]
Poet Wilfred Owen warned against telling children “the old lie” that it’s “sweet and fitting to die for one’s country.” Isn’t the old lie as insidious today as it’s ever been? When we “support the troops,” don’t we promulgate the lie? And what about the “warriors?” If they’re heroes, what does that make the people […]
