Tag Archives: poetry

Anti-War Poetry in Canadian Newspapers at the Beginning of the First World War

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By Russ Chamberlayne The war fever has reached an acute stage. It has now attacked the poets. – “Pertinent and Impertinent,” Calgary Daily Herald, August 4th, 1914 Readers of ActiveHistory.ca may be surprised at the deeply emotional and mixed reactions to the opening of World War I in Canadian newspapers, and the forms they took. While many have described the… Read more »

Podcast: Ian McKay and What’s Wrong With Flanders Fields

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This past Remembrance Day, historian Ian McKay gave a lecture titled “What’s Wrong With Flanders Fields.” He argues that Remembrance Day in general and the poem in particular have been conscripted as part of what he calls the “right-wing militarization of Canadian society.” McKay delivered the talk to the Queen’s University Institute for Lifelong Learning on November 11, 2012. You… Read more »