‘The Blood Swept Lands And Seas Of Red’

Click HERE to read an article from the DAILY MAIL (+ video)!

Click HERE to read an article from THE GUARDIAN (+ video)!

The field of ceramic poppies at the Tower of London has caught the public imagination. But does such a beautiful memorial to those killed blind us to the horror of the First World War?

Contemporary art provokes many responses among the public, but overwhelming and heartfelt approval is not often among them. However, last week tens of thousands of people visited an art installation at the Tower of London. So many, in fact, that buses were diverted and the nearest underground station closed to avoid dangerous congestion.

The work is made of hundreds of thousands of ceramic poppies planted in the dry moat of the Tower. Its title is ‘The Blood Swept Lands And Seas Of Red’ and each poppy commemorates a British or colonial serviceman or woman killed in the First World War. The first of 888,246 flowers was planted on 5th August, 100 years since the first full day of Britain’s involvement in the war. The last will be installed on Armistice Day, 11th November.

Each poppy was sold online for £25 and the £15million raised will be divided between six service charities. (After Armistice Day the artwork will be dismantled and each poppy delivered to its sponsor.)

Not everyone admires it however. Jonathan Jones, the art critic of the Guardian newspaper, called it a ‘prettified and toothless war memorial. It is all dignity and grace. There is a fake nobility to it, and this seems to be what the crowds have come for – to be raised up into a shared reverence for those heroes turned frozen flowers. What a lie. The first world war was not noble. War is not noble. A meaningful mass memorial to this horror would not be dignified or pretty. It would be gory, vile and terrible to see. The moat of the Tower should be filled with barbed wire and bones. That would mean something.’

Many object to this view. A writer in the Daily Mail observed that ‘I saw the poppies back in the summer and wanted to bring my children before the whole thing disappears. I could think of no better way to impress upon them the enormity of the Great War than to show them this crimson moat and explain that every single one of the 888,246 poppies equals a real person who lived and died for this country.’

Remembering and forgetting

Some think commemorations like this simply disguise the revolting brutality of war. Dressing it up as some holy, national sacrifice hides the ignorance, selfishness and stupidity which brought about the unnecessary death of millions of young people across the world.

On the other hand, many have been deeply moved by this work and feel conscious of the link it makes to those members of their families who fought, and some of whom died, in wars over the last century. To remember them in this way is not to glorify war, but to appreciate what they did to try to ensure peace for future generations.

The above article was published in THE DAY.

To do (in pairs!):

1. Translate into French the above article and list new words and phrases (LEARN THEM!)
2. Research what the Tower of London is.
3. Send a short comment to either THE DAILY MAIL or THE GUARDIAN expressing your opinion on the installation in the Tower of London (click on the links below the photo above); keep a copy of your message for your ring binder!
4. Describe a war memorial that you know and say why you like or dislike it.
5. Give a 60-second oral presentation on ONE of the following topics:

• "War memorials should show the horror of war!"
• "War memorials should show that it is sweet and fitting to die for your country."